Why Sam Altman takes his hardest questions to Nikesh Arora

Nikesh Arora has a knack for piercing directness. 

I profiled the Palo Alto Networks CEO for our latest issue. A tech veteran leading the only pure-play cybersecurity company in the Fortune 500, Arora has a “tell it to you straight” posture that has made him a sought-after mentor. Case in point: When he needs advice, Sam Altman has for years turned to Arora. 

“I think it’s hard to get direct, actionable advice,” Altman told me. “Most people aren’t sure, aren’t confident, are busy, or aren’t going to spend enough time. Maybe they don’t want to offend you.”

Arora doesn’t mind. He’s been known for that hard-driving rigor since his days at Google (he joined months after the company’s IPO, rising to chief business officer under Eric Schmidt). As I write in the story: 

At Google, Arora developed a reputation for tear-inducing toughness, and he doesn’t deny it. “If people show up in this room unprepared, they’ll leave the room knowing they were unprepared,” he says. “I say to the people who come into this room, ‘If you have a lot going on, give it to me, and I’ll deal with it—but don’t show up here looking dazed.’” 

An exacting attitude is necessary, Arora says, when the work has such high stakes. 

“Would you want to get on that rocket that was built by somebody who was hungover and decided to not tighten the screw?” he asks rhetorically. “Would you ever excuse the person who didn’t do all the checks on a plane before it took off with 200 lives at stake? You expect that from these people. You expect them not to screw up. So why is it tough that I expect my team to not screw up? In every business we work, there are life-threatening or life-ending things that can happen if people don’t pay attention.”

It’s intense, yes. But that sort of intensity is perhaps warranted in the seat Arora occupies: AI has upended the cybersecurity landscape, with escalating stories of “agents gone rogue” and the looming prospect that there may be more cyberattacks than ever. Arora—also one of cybersecurity’s omnipresent acquirers—is right in the center of a generational moment, for cyber, for AI, and by extension for us all.

Read the whole profile here. 

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: [email protected]

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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com