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

How we can fix our broken nations, economies, societies and cultures.  In these exclusive interviews we speak to Professor Theodore Zeldin (International Best-Selling Author and Scholar), Rutger Bregman (Author, ‘Utopia for Realists’), Paul Mason (Award Winning British Journalist, Broadcaster and Author), Andy Stern (President Emeritus, Service Employees International Union) and…

 

In these exclusive interviews we talk to Dr. Vint Cerf (Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet"), Professor Robert ‘Bob’ Metcalfe (Co-inventor of the Ethernet, founder 3COM), Dr. Jeff Jaffe (CEO, W3C – The World Wide Web Consortium), Kevin…

 

Steve Ballmer served over 20 years at Microsoft.  During his tenure, the company pioneered personal computing and democratized enterprise computing, growing from a small start-up to a company that today employs more than 110,000 people, with a market capitalisation approaching $100 billion.  After retiring from this role in 2014, he…

 

In these exclusive interviews, we speak to Dr. Christopher Wild (Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC - an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organisation of the United Nations), Prof. Nic Jones (Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre and former Chief Scientist of…

 

In this exclusive series of interviews, we speak to four world experts on religion and science.  Fr. José G. Funes (Director of the Vatican Observatory), Prof. Alister McGrath (Director, Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University), Dr. Deborah Haarsma (President of the BioLogos Foundation), Prof. Justin Barrett…

 

In this exclusive series of interviews, we speak to six world experts on theatre and performance. Sir Howard Panter (Founder of the Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd, Chairman of Rambert Dance Company), Gilles Ste-Croix (co-founder of Cirque du Soleil), Joanna Read (Principal of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art…

 

The story of how education shaped, and continues to shape, humanity.  In this exclusive series of interviews we learn about how education has, and continues to shape our world.  We speak to Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin (Chair of the Board, Nobel Foundation), Sal Khan (Founder, Khan Academy), Professor Lino Guzzella (President,…

 

Before I start, let me be clear that I realise the irony of an entrepreneurship-advice column which advocates taking less-advice.  However, wrapped in that paradox is an important element of truth. The Plague of Uncertainty In the past few years, I’ve seen a disturbing trend amongst CEOs and start-up-founders that…

 

I have spoken at a few conferences lately where I’ve noticed entrepreneurs focus completely on the ‘social good’ of their business, as opposed to the ‘old school’ factor of making money. Now… I’m going to start this piece with a huge caveat.  I am a huge advocate for social-enterprise, charity,…

 

Explore an archive of more than 3,000 quotes.

We don't always see change and activism from the perspective of what we're giving, it's too often about taking things away… Don't eat that… don't do that… don't drive that car… we have to reframe and rethink. Imagine if we told people we could give them the universe back, it's a beautiful gift- but also allows us to save energy, birds, insects and more.

— Ziya Tong
Canadian science broadcaster and host of Discovery Channel's Daily Planet

The physical world isn't going away. We are a physical species. While digitisation is enabling incredible things – the best companies seem to be combining the physical and digital; they seem to understand what it means when products and services are connected.

— Robert E. Siegel
NPR Host and Senior News Correspondent for Over Three Decades

Western management styles and Eastern management philosophies are not mutually exclusive. In fact, blending the best elements of each can be highly effective. It's not about choosing one philosophy over the other. It's about selecting and integrating the best aspects of both to enhance how you run a business.

He was a powerful figure who amassed considerable wealth for a select few—if they were fortunate and early enough in his scheme. Despite the exorbitant returns that should have raised eyebrows, those benefitting often turned a blind eye, choosing not to question the source of their profits. Yes, there were individuals who asked probing questions, but Madoff had crafted such an aura of invulnerability around himself that any questioning was met with swift exclusion from his investment circle. He was effectively untouchable.

— Bernie Madoff
Perpetrator of Largest Ponzi Scheme in US History

The layers of compliance that appear in companies are basically what the company does to protect itself against bad judgement. They build guardrails. At Netflix, we decided to flip that around – rather than building systems to protect ourselves from bad decisions, we built systems of judgement.

— Marc Randolph
Co-Founder of Netflix & Streaming Pioneer

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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
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