Charles M. Geschke is co-founder and current chairman of graphics and publishing software company Adobe Systems.
Forbes: Tell us about a time when lessons learned from the ancients contributed to your success.
Geschke: When my partner, John Warnock, and I founded Adobe, we wanted to build a company for which we would like to work. We decided that rather than try to codify a collection of rules of conduct and behavior, we would invoke a simply stated principle: "Treat each individual with whom you interact as you would like to be treated. This fundamental principle applies to customers, vendors, fellow employees, shareholders and the community." This concept is based on an admonition first written in the Old Testament's book of Leviticus--"Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself." While the idea is drawn from an ancient religious author's writings between 550 and 400 B.C., we have plenty of evidence over the past 25-plus years of Adobe's history that it is an excellent business principle as well.
If you could invite one classical figure to dinner, who would it be and why?
This is not a simple choice, but I would pick Aristotle. I can barely imagine the thrill of being in the presence of an intellect that was educated by Plato, who, in turn, was a student of Socrates. I would love to listen to him speak about his thoughts on ethics, virtue and happiness as well as logic and rhetoric. My biggest fear would be that he would lose patience with the companionship of a dinner companion of greatly inferior intellect.
Who is the most powerful person in your life?
This is an easy question for me--my wife Nan. We have been married for 45 years. She has always been my biggest supporter and my most honest critic. In the early years of our marriage, when I was considering leaving my career as a college professor and returning to graduate school in computer science, her advice was simple: "Chuck, you must follow your instincts and your dreams. The kids and I will support you." I am so fortunate to be living with an incredible woman, sharing our successes and failures, enjoying the companionship of our children and grandchildren. Nan provides the loving foundation for our family.
What is your secret ambition?
The flippant answer to this question is that I would love to be a scratch golfer. On a more serious note, as an engineer, my ambition has always been to build something that millions of people would use. The success of Adobe's products has let that secret "out of the bag."
What price glory?
"What does it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your soul?" The origin of this question is obviously in the context of religion. While I understand its implications in that context, I believe it also has a much broader context. What if the quest for glory or success destroys your relationship with your wife and family? What if you perceive that the path to success in your business requires you to destroy someone else's enterprise? The list of related questions could go on forever.
Greeks or Romans?
My romantic side picks the Greeks. My pragmatic side picks the Romans.