MARCELO CLAURE

It [being an immigrant] gave me a huge advantage. Being an immigrant is the best of both worlds. You’re programmed two different ways. You’re bringing the best from your culture—and Hispanic culture has so many great things—and mixing it with the greatest country in the world. That gives us an advantage in comparison to somebody who was born in the U.S., went to school here, and the U.S. is all they’ve seen. We’ve seen the other side.

I met with President [Hugo] Chávez at one point, because he was very concerned that Brightstar had a 70 percent share of the Venezuelan market. He said, “Explain that to me, when you’re an American company.” I said, “No, we’re not an American company. We are a Venezuelan company, with Venezuelan employees, with a Venezuelan leader, owned by an American company, and that is very different.

In the U.S., we are doing ourselves tremendous damage by having such bad immigration policies. We have built the best educational institutions on the planet, and we educate the brightest minds from all countries, and then we kick them out when they want to stay here. I think well-planned and well-executed immigration reforms, especially for students, would be one of the biggest drivers of entrepreneurship and innovation—something as simple as allowing the bright minds we’ve educated to stay and contribute to the American economy.

The U.S. is probably the easiest country in the world to operate in. Most of the time, there are clear rules of engagement. The laws are clear. There’s transportation. There’s logistics.

Every adviser told me to study the company, learn the business for the first 90 days and don't make any decisions. I couldn't resist seeing broken things and immediately taking action.

You cannot foster a collaborative environment when people's offices are completely locked, where you cannot even see the assistant because the offices are so big.

If you have nothing to hide, if you're actually working for eight hours, or 10 or 12 hours, however long people decide to work, it's OK to have windows around conference rooms, it's OK to have cubicles. Because you're actually working. If you're not working, doing social media and spending half the day for personal stuff, then an environment like this will actually bother you.

In the American family, most of the time, at age 18, the responsibility ends—not the parenthood but the support. In Latin families, the responsibility never ends.

Everybody likes to win. I don't care if you work for a small plumbing company or the most successful company in the world. There's a special flavor to winning.

Where you need to make fast decisions, people have to work in an open space where I can just walk to somebody's cube, so we don't need to schedule meetings for absolutely everything.

Where the rules of the road are not there, then there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity for entrepreneurs to bring in their innovation and their different way of thinking.

The U.S. is probably the easiest country in the world to operate in. Most of the time, there are clear rules of engagement. The laws are clear. There’s transportation. There’s logistics.

I met with President [Hugo] Chávez at one point, because he was very concerned that Brightstar had a 70 percent share of the Venezuelan market. He said, “Explain that to me, when you’re an American company.” I said, “No, we’re not an American company. We are a Venezuelan company, with Venezuelan employees, with a Venezuelan leader, owned by an American company, and that is very different.

In the U.S., we are doing ourselves tremendous damage by having such bad immigration policies. We have built the best educational institutions on the planet, and we educate the brightest minds from all countries, and then we kick them out when they want to stay here. I think well-planned and well-executed immigration reforms, especially for students, would be one of the biggest drivers of entrepreneurship and innovation—something as simple as allowing the bright minds we’ve educated to stay and contribute to the American economy.

It [being an immigrant] gave me a huge advantage. Being an immigrant is the best of both worlds. You’re programmed two different ways. You’re bringing the best from your culture—and Hispanic culture has so many great things—and mixing it with the greatest country in the world. That gives us an advantage in comparison to somebody who was born in the U.S., went to school here, and the U.S. is all they’ve seen. We’ve seen the other side.

In the American family, most of the time, at age 18, the responsibility ends—not the parenthood but the support. In Latin families, the responsibility never ends.

Where you need to make fast decisions, people have to work in an open space where I can just walk to somebody's cube, so we don't need to schedule meetings for absolutely everything.

Every adviser told me to study the company, learn the business for the first 90 days and don't make any decisions. I couldn't resist seeing broken things and immediately taking action.

Everybody likes to win. I don't care if you work for a small plumbing company or the most successful company in the world. There's a special flavor to winning.

You cannot foster a collaborative environment when people's offices are completely locked, where you cannot even see the assistant because the offices are so big.

If you have nothing to hide, if you're actually working for eight hours, or 10 or 12 hours, however long people decide to work, it's OK to have windows around conference rooms, it's OK to have cubicles. Because you're actually working. If you're not working, doing social media and spending half the day for personal stuff, then an environment like this will actually bother you.