Harman International's dedication to research and development, as well as its strict adherence to quality manufacturing, are well known throughout the corporate world. The opportunity to lead a company with such high standards, worldwide reputation, and outstanding growth potential is extremely appealing.

I know firsthand that the characteristics of a great engineer - problem-solving skills, a deep understanding of technology, and a results-driven mindset - are the exact same things that any executive, in any industry, must have in order to succeed.

What we're looking at is a future where cars will be comfortable and safe and offer the luxuries of both home and office. That means lots of sensors and software, as well as the critical safety systems to protect the car's information from hackers.

Every good business story has a conflict and triumph at the core and a turning point where a transformation takes place.

You take a number of small steps which you believe are right, thinking maybe tomorrow somebody will treat this as a dangerous provocation. And then you wait. If there is no reaction, you take another step: courage is only an accumulation of small steps.

We're going to need to absorb some pain. The Republicans want to pile all the pain on people who can least afford it and the middle class and Democrats under his leadership want to make sure that we can address deficit reduction and continue to make investments and shared sacrifice is going to be imperative in order to be able to do that.

We need business leaders who have a respect for technical issues even if they don't have technical backgrounds. In a lot of U.S. industries, including cars and even computers, many managers don't think of technology as a core competency, and this attitude leads them to farm out technical issues.

Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive - and then being able to take people with you.