You can't build a bridge or an aircraft using postmodernist feminist epistemology.

I told them, 'My mom is visiting from Ohio today. If you can look her in the eye and tell her it's impossible to build a place for me to stay on the space station during my mission, then we're done here. If not, we have more to discuss.' They suggested my mom come to dinner instead, and we ended up going to Home Depot together.

What the 1% of SMEs in a region that can really grow desperately need is local risk finance. We can think of this as venture capital. But we need venture capital that will work for SMEs, and that means it's got to be locally based. We've got a lot of venture capital, but it's nearly all in London and the Southeast.

The greatest innovators spend a disproportionate amount of their time figuring out how to engage with the decision makers who need to green-light their work early so they can build confidence. Innovation can feel scary to a business- old and stable is less worrisome.

A lot of aid goes to displacement camps, which are necessary in the immediate aftermath of a crisis but are short-term and frankly undignified band-aids. The community feels hopeless in that environment where every day is the same and there are no opportunities to rebuild their lives.