Synopsis of Ebay Founder, Jeff Skoll's, BBC Interview

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BBC Interview with Jeffrey Skoll
May 2009
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/05/090526_theinterview_230509.shtml

1. Notable points of interest from this interview.

It's difficult to say what you may have found to be notable. However, I have listed some points that I found to be of interest, and these may help you decide on a few that you found to be the most interesting. Whichever points you choose, be sure to explain why they were notable to you.

a. Jeffrey Skoll said, "If you give people the opportunity to be good, they will." I found this assertion to be interesting because this reasoning, in his opinion, is what drives people to trust one another on Ebay. I also thought that it was interesting that he believes that this statement can be proven by Ebay's success. This brings me to the second point that I found interesting.

b. Jeffrey Skoll said that approximately 3/1,000,000 Ebay transactions go badly. I thought that this figure was astoundingly low, and that it defied the common belief that many people in business intend to swindle others.

c. Jeffrey Skoll seemed to place very little value in the accumulation of personal wealth. For instance, he had no salary for the first year that he worked at Ebay. During the second year, he only earned a $20,000 salary. He shared a home with six other men and lived from their leftovers. After he became phenomenally wealthy, he said that he focused all of his time on improving the world. He mentioned that money was a "side effect" of wanting to do what he could to bring about the changes that he wanted to make in the world.

d. I found it to be quite notable that Jeffrey Skoll repeatedly stated that one can never know with certainty which projects are going to do well and which ones are not. He stated that at one time, he believed that one particular project would remain very meager while another particular project would bloom. In reality, the opposite effects took place. This lesson seemed to be very ...