Business

I got into boxing promotion by accident. One of my cousins was a boxer, so I used to go watch him fight as an amateur and then when he turned pro. He had a fight, I went to watch it… he got beat and had a return match… he beat the guy… they had another match, but they wanted to pay them crap money. I went to the meeting, turned around and said, '…I don't need you, we'll promote it…' I don't know why I even said that! The next minute, I was in the promotion business and helping to get this thing together; I got bitten by the bug, and it went from there.

Founder of PostSecret, anonymous confessions project & book series

All you've got to do is- to their face- call yourself every name that they are harbouring about you, it's that simple; it means you're demonstrating understanding. Whatever adjective from your culture best describes the worst possible name they could think of for you- all you've got to do is look them in the eye and say you feel I am – that's super simple, right? The thing is, it may sound easy- but it's hard to do- but if you can do it- it can unlock a situation in a heartbeat.

Former FBI Hostage Negotiator & Author of "Never Split the Difference

Mirroring is a crazy skill, it's so insanely effective. If you explain mirroring to people, they're like nah, that shit'll never work – but it's huge. Just repeating the last 3 words of what someone said or picking out 1-3 words from the middle of the statement, can get you the outcome you need. Using mirroring, you feel like you can work Jedi mind tricks!

Former FBI Hostage Negotiator & Author of "Never Split the Difference

Control and leverage are two-dimensional concepts that can lead you to leaving money on the table. By trying to get control you can drive deals away but if you know that the other side is control-oriented? You can get all the leverage by saying, 'wow… you're so powerful, you're in charge… you have all the leverage…' and once you know that's what turns the other side on? You can get them to give you want ever you want!

Former FBI Hostage Negotiator & Author of "Never Split the Difference

You are as good as your highest level of preparation in any negotiation. In any negotiation, you develop trust by putting in time where you don't have any skin in the game; that means you need to watch negotiations happen- and get a feel for how it's done. You can't just throw yourself in at the deep end and hope you can swim.

Former FBI Hostage Negotiator & Author of "Never Split the Difference

I'm constantly bemused when I hear about some amazing energy or agricultural company that is for profit, but works with low-income people and a non-profit leader says, 'you know Jacqueline, charging people who are poor is immoral…' – you know what else is immoral? 700 million people who have no electricity.

Founder of Acumen Fund & social entrepreneur focused on global poverty alleviation

I went from knowing the value of a dollar to forgetting the difference between $10,000 and $30,000 because everything was expensive. I certainly I got hoodwinked sometimes: people would Google me and the business and charge me astronomical prices.

Founder of Nasty Gal & Author of "#GIRLBOSS

Success means having a lifestyle that I enjoy. It means slowing down, enjoying what I do, and having as few stakeholders as possible. I don't want a bunch of investors. I don't want a ton of employees.

Founder of Nasty Gal & Author of "#GIRLBOSS

We've ended up with organizations that are less capable than the people inside them- which is a little ironic when you think about it. Research shows that 89% of people are happy with the actual tasks of their work yet are frustrated with the work-environment- they are bothered by how they're managed not what they do.

Management theorist & author who revolutionized strategic thinking

In large organizations, a small group of leaders can hold the organization's capacity to change hostage to their own personal willingness to adapt and change – they are the gatekeepers – and even if they have the best will in the world, there simply will not be enough of them to deal with the complexity that we have in the environment around us.

Management theorist & author who revolutionized strategic thinking

We've had hierarchical and bureaucratic structures as far back as we can go in human history. The Chinese civil service goes back to at least 2000BC and militaries have always been structured as hierarchical. Modern bureaucracy is a mash-up of two ideas. Firstly, the command and control structures which have been core to organized human activity for millennia and secondly, the principles of industrial economics.

Management theorist & author who revolutionized strategic thinking

Navigating complexity and uncertainty requires long-term thinking, not long-term planning. Long-term thinking requires accepting, even enjoying, the challenges of unpredictability, builds the flexibility required to navigate it, and rejects simplified narratives that lose the nuance of this reality.

Founder of Kickstarter, crowdfunding platform pioneer

I believe businesses need to move away from having profit as their primary reason for existing, that's why we built Kickstarter as a public benefit corporation and encoded our mission into our fiduciary responsibility. Profit primacy can be replaced by mission primacy.

Founder of Kickstarter, crowdfunding platform pioneer

For large corporations, globalization opened up opportunities without the correlate responsibilities which usually travel with that- so things that banks must do at home (in terms of being carefully regulated) they didn't have to do abroad... This took globalization out of balance, into a vicious cycle – and we're now dealing with the consequences of that.

Director of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University

In the midst of a global health and economic crisis, in the midst of a racial justice uprising, and in the absence of effective government, business leaders must take a stand on issues that matter to society and to their stakeholders!

Co-Founder of Bridgewater Associates & Pioneer in Radical Transparency

Ultimately, we want to make it unnecessary to be a B Corp – we want it to be just the norm of how all businesses are run, but that means we have to change the rules of the game and the role of business in society.

Co-Founder of Bridgewater Associates & Pioneer in Radical Transparency