We Are the Tip of the Spear | The Adrenaline Zone, Ep. 24
About Thomas Pritzker
Thomas Pritzker, executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels and chairman of the Pritzker Organization, has continued to discuss his work in business, philanthropy, and Himalayan archaeology. In a 2023 podcast interview, he described his archaeological contributions as being "the tip of the spear," bringing back information for professional scholars, and noted that he has published articles but does not consider himself a scholar. He also discussed his approach to understanding history by "following the money," applying a business perspective to analyze why a Tibetan king imported Buddhism as a strategy for power rather than military force. Pritzker has emphasized the importance of empathy in business, stating that "empathy is a critical business skill set," and has articulated his "Pritzker corollary" that the three critical factors in the hotel business are "people, people, and people." In other appearances, Pritzker has spoken about his early experiences conducting business in China, beginning with his first trip in 1976, and has reflected on the challenges of operating there, including navigating state-owned partnerships and the lack of profit motive in the early 1980s. He has also discussed his philanthropic work, including the establishment of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, which he described as an opportunity to "turn discoveries into inventions for the betterment of mankind." At the 2019 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony, he invoked Virgil's phrase "there are tears in things of stone" in reference to the Notre-Dame fire, and praised the resilience of that year's laureate, Arata Isozaki.