From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I've always felt negotiation is pretty-easy. You have to look at any situation from the perspective of all sides, and find a zone of fairness in between.
That confidence and perseverance can sometimes lead you to keep charging ahead headfirst, when what's really needed is a pause and a course adjustment. I think that's the challenge when strengths get overused.
Here I am the fool looking to fail frequently. I want to either hit a homerun or walk or even strike out. This means I fail far more often than I succeed. But the important point is that what I lose when I fail is trivial, epsilon compared to what I make when I succeed.
Running a business is a challenging job, but until relatively recently, that job was simplified to the extent that you had one target – make as much money as you can for the shareholders. Now, you have to balance a multitude of targets which makes it much more challenging.
The shift to impact is like the technological revolution- in fact, it is built on technology. Shifting to impact also doesn't necessarily mean you cannot achieve even greater profits. In todays' world, given consumer, talent and investor preferences – it's actually better to go to risk-return-impact if you want to maximise profits.
Sovereign debt is reasonably unique in that there are no underlying assets one can claim unlike corporate bonds.
There is no business without creativity. Creativity for me is the first condition to establish yourself as a leader in whatever you do in life.
While many investors were caught in this crisis, the leading economists in the world saw it coming.
I typically think impact investing, on the whole, can generate better risk-adjusted yields than the alternatives.
To make those markets work well, they have to make the market thick, they have to attract enough participants to get good transaction levels. They have to deal with the problem of congestion that can be symptomatic of thick markets. You have to also make the market safe enough for people to transact in!
Nobody will fund innovation in perpetuity – you need to make money; you need to deliver value to your customers. When people ask me whether we want growth or profit, I say yes! Both!
The idea itself constitutes about 20% of the success, the remaining 80% hinges on execution. This understanding is vital for an early-stage investor to gauge the potential success of a venture.