From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Film is a reflection of society, both present and past.
I'm always searching for that black-swan, what is that project, or who is that artist that feels specials, and feels counter-culture. Who is that artist that feels interesting and has a bold, unapologetic point of view? That's what pulls me in- and you know what, if you find that and put the right strategy around it? You can disrupt culture.
More than most artforms, music is the one that can't be beaten, tamed or matched. It just impacts your soul. I love producing music that gives people hope, makes them feel good, and gets them dancing and moving.
Growing up in Pakistan, I saw so many people with heart disease and having heart attacks – it felt almost biblical – it was catastrophic. Unlike a lot of diseases, there wasn't much a cultural footprint for heart disease – it's not something you hear about on news or TV shows…. You don't see much advocacy done around it.
Our world needs a more reflective way of communicating, something which the media are not promoting. We need an antidote to the current shooting-from-the-hip, and outrage sparking emotive content that is causing mutual incomprehension, it's a tragedy.
Right now, only 2% of Europeans have studied outside of their home country – I would want to raise that to 45%. The provincialism that reigns in so many countries would be considerably lessened if it was just considered normal that you would spend at least a year in some other country.
I'm extremely proud of the fact that we have driven social and cultural change. I have always wanted women to be empowered, and we've given them that opportunity. At the beginning, we said our events were going to be for women only, it enabled women to talk to each other about their sex lives in private, in a safe and unintimidating environment, and that was part of women's sexual empowerment as a movement.
'Brand,' is what journalists and industry-people say… we say culture movement. As artists we say culture! Movement! And analysts say brand. I don't know what a brand is, but I know what a freakin' movement is….
Upon arriving in Germany, swimming became my sanctuary during a time when I had no other home. Being new to the country and unfamiliar with its swimming culture, the sport offered me solace and a sense of belonging. It provided a common language that allowed me to connect with others effortlessly, facilitating a smoother integration into German society.
Even if there's no profound cultural difference between brown, black and white Britons… they speak the same language, eat the same food, abstain from going to the same churches… identity culture assigns significance to their bodily differences, and so race exists.
I define culture is three primary parts. The first part is behaviour. It's the behaviours of your employees that get embedded into all the processes we are already doing. The second part is processes. Think of the interview process – hiring, onboarding, recognition, promotion, feedback. All of those should have the behaviours integrated in them, ideally. The last piece is practices. These are kind of the daily, more informal ways that that we interact and connect – how we meet, how we communicate, how we make decisions and even how we learn.
The key both in the US and the UK is to have hand-raisers – people who want to take a chance, and get involved. That is a spirit that you see both in the UK and in America.