Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL Interviews the world's leading thinkers, and the people shaping the century.

Paying attention is a crucial human skill, yet many of us have forgotten how to listen carefully and observe intentionally. Deluged by social media and hobbled by the increasing social isolation it fosters, we need to rediscover the deeply human ways we connect with others. In this interview, I speak…

 

Susan “Lucia” Annunzio is an acclaimed leadership coach, author, President and CEO of the Center for High Performance. Lucia, known by her clients as the “CEO-Whisperer,” has spent over 25 years observing, analysing, and coaching CEO, C-Suite, and Board dynamics.  She has discerned that an organization is only as great as…

 

Ozwald Boateng has been at the forefront of fashion for over 25 years. He conceived a new silhouette and palette for international menswear, creating a concept of style and luxury for men not previously envisaged but desired by men everywhere. Always the revolutionary, Ozwald Boateng’s collections now see an evolution…

 

Myleene Klass has had a remarkable career. She is a classically trained musician, TV & radio presenter, businesswoman, and designer. In 2023 however, she changed history. Following four of her own ‘tortuous’ miscarriages, Myleene joined forces with MP Olivia Blake and spent over four years campaigning for changes to the…

 

John Chambers is an extraordinary leader. During his 25 years at Cisco, he took the business profitably from $1 billion, to over $49 billion in annual revenues. Not only is this one if the internet-era’s greatest success stories, but one which built much of the infrastructure of the modern internet.…

 

Bryan Johnson is the world's most measured human. Johnson sold his company, Braintree Venmo, to PayPal for $800m in 2013. Through his Project Blueprint, Johnson has achieved metabolic health equal to the top 1.5% of 18-year-olds, inflammation 66% lower than the average 10-year-old, and reduced his speed of aging by…

 

Sridhar Vembu is the CEO and Co-founder of Zoho Corp, which he describes as “...a state-of-the-art tech company with a very old-fashioned approach to company building.” Founded in an apartment, in 1996, Zoho now has over 15,000 employees, more than US$1 billion in annual revenues, and over 100 million users. All…

 

Explore an archive of more than 3,000 quotes.

Entrepreneurship is not for everybody, and it's also worth noting that you're not entitled to be a great entrepreneur. You're not entitled to be successful if you start a company, in fact the most likely outcome is that you won't be. Sometimes I meet founders and entrepreneurs who complain about how hard their fundraising or engineering challenges are… Guess what… yes…. It's really f***ing hard. That's the truth.

We found that those who enjoyed the best health, and not just the greatest happiness, were the individuals who had nurtured stronger relationships with others. From this, we deduced that those who put considerable effort into maintaining their relationships navigated life's challenges with greater ease.

— Robert J. Waldinger
Director of Harvard Study of Adult Development & Psychiatrist

What failure really means is that you are trying to live life, and the fact that you fail means that you are trying. As soon as you try to avoid failure, you are facing the wrong direction.

— Ed Catmull
Co-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics

I firmly believe that a society cannot heal from the wounds of war without accountability for serious international crimes. How can a society move towards a shared future while fundamental disagreements about the past and about responsibility for past crimes persist?

— Dr. Serge Brammertz
Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

There's a concept in psychology called naïve realism. We think we see the world perfectly and assume that everyone sees it the way we do. If they don't? if they disagree? Our assumption is that they are wrong, and that they are misinformed. It's a natural inclination we all have which stops us putting ourselves in the other's shoes.

— Amy Gallo
Harvard Business Review contributor & workplace dynamics expert

Browse all quotes →

Long-form Interviews with the World's Leading Thinkers — Thought Economics


The Wisdom Series

Ten in-depth articles distilling insights from over 550 interviews with the world's leading thinkers, creators, and changemakers.

The Wisdom of Leadership The Wisdom of Entrepreneurship The Wisdom of Creativity The Wisdom of Technology The Wisdom of Meaning The Wisdom of the Mind The Wisdom of Justice The Wisdom of Science The Wisdom of Geopolitics The Wisdom of Health
Explore the Wisdom Series →