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Google cofounder Sergey Brin has now spent $100 million to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax—he could owe $13 billion if he loses

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After donating $8 billion, Steve and Connie Ballmer create three regional philanthropies so people closest to the work can decide how the money is spent

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U.S. Treasury is paying $3 billion a day in interest on national debt, says the CBO—having spent $10 billion to prop up the currency of its top lender
LeadershipFortune 500

The No. 1 Fortune 500 leadership trait is…

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Patricia Sellers
Patricia Sellers
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By
Patricia Sellers
Patricia Sellers
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June 5, 2015, 6:00 AM ET
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“First, be a learner. Second, be resilient,”

This is what General Electric (GE) CEO Jeff Immelt said when I asked him the following question on The Chat, Fortune‘s new video interview show: What is the most important trait for a leader to be successful today?

“If you want to be successful, you’ve got to have an antenna up all the time, and you’ve got to be open to new ideas,” said Immelt, whose company ranks No. 8 on the 2015 Fortune 500.

“You’ve got to be grabbing every new thought you can come up with,” he explained. “And you can never feel like you’re safe in anything you do.”

Immelt’s answer reminds me of the reply I recall Jack Welch, his predecessor, giving to the same question before he handed over the CEO job at GE in 2001. “Curiosity,” Welch said, is an essential ingredient of great leadership.

The lesson for bosses in the Fortune 500 and anyone else striving to get there? As the world changes at an increasingly fast pace, learning will always be what you need most to succeed.

Watch Fortune‘s Leigh Gallagher, Geoff Colvin, and me talk about leadership traits and lessons from the Fortune 500 on Fortune Live today at 3 p.m. on Fortune.com.

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