Matthew McConaughey: CEOs have more power to lead country

Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey has said that chief executive officers are more powerful today than they ever have been to lead the country.

McConaughey was speaking with anchor Carl Quintanilla at CNBC’s @Work Summit on Tuesday.

During the interview, the actor was asked if there are things that he thinks workers today should avoid.

“We, as people, what we don’t agree on right now that I think is the essential thing we’ve got to agree on, whether it’s in the workplace or whether it’s just as humans in society, we’ve got to agree on facts again. F-A-C-T-S,” replied the “The Gentlemen” star, according to the interview’s unofficial transcript US and Global News received from CNBC parent NBCUniversal. “We’re delusional about what facts are. We’re not even arguing from the same reality right now. So if we can agree on facts, then I believe we can start building trust. Trust in facts can lead to trust in others and trust in ourselves.”

The Oscar winner continued, “Remember, part of that coming back to the workforce is that we’re living in the most untrustworthy times. And when we don’t trust our leaders and we don’t trust the media and we don’t trust others, we start to not trust ourselves.”

McConaughey suggests calming down and agreeing on some facts to build some trust.

“Let’s settle a minute and agree on some facts so then we can build some trust,” said McConaughey. “You know, you’re going to have polarization, you’re going to hear it. It sells. It’s the headline, it’s the graphic, it’s the image. We love to rubberneck! We don’t rubberneck when we see success and health. We rubberneck when we see disease and problems. That’s human nature. Let’s realize that, and admit that.”

Quintanilla asked, “Yeah. So you’re getting now to a really interesting point, and that is leadership in this country, whether it’s corporate, whether it’s political, I wonder if you think that playbook that has been used in recent years, where you’re trying to get people to rubberneck and get attention, do you think that is still the predominant playbook in leadership? Or are we getting closer to a place where it seems you’re trying to go; that is, being aggressively centrist in your words, thinking about the ‘we’ and not the ‘me.'”

McConaughey replied that rubbernecking and mudslinging still sell.

“But as long as more money at whatever cost, and fame at whatever cost is the top two priorities of what we deem you to be successful for, how you win a blue ribbon, how you get a gold medal; bank account only, forget the souls account,” said Matthew McConaughey. “As long as that’s the measuring stick, if that’s at the height, in the end we’re all going to lose.”

He then reminded that he is for money and fame. However, he said how we achieve money and fame and treat others and ourselves “fills the souls account along the way.”

“That’s long-term ROI that I think CEOs need to double down on more,” he continued. “We’ve seen in the last year CEOs be much more functional than the government in many ways. Are CEOs ready to take the responsibility to say, hey, I’m going to pay my tithe, I’m going to give back to the shareholders and the stakeholders. I’m going to pay back to the city that I’m in, that I moved to because I left a place that I didn’t want to be in, and I don’t want to turn this city into why I left that one.”

The actor then said his city, Austin, is dealing with that situation.

“Don’t come here and try to turn this place into why you left where you came from,” said McConaughey.

He concluded his answer, saying, “So, CEOs are in a position of more power right now than I think they ever have been to lead where we’re going to go as a people and as a country.”

Watch the full Matthew McConaughey interview on the website of CNBC’s @Work Summit, here.

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