Leadership

Focus is critical when you are building a business. The whole NFT industry is moving incredibly quickly. What happens in a month in the crypto-world, may take a couple of years in other industries.

Co-Founder and CEO of OpenSea, leading NFT marketplace platform

The biggest mistake is thinking that some people at the top make strategy, while everybody else executes it. It feels intractable at this point, it's so ingrained in our way of thinking. You don't want people who sit there faithfully executing strategy, you want people who lead their part of the organisation and who engage in good communication.

Management theorist & former Dean of Rotman School of Business

If those assets are not being productively converted into goods and services that make the world a better place, it's a missed opportunity. Over the past half-century, we've standardised on a 'way' to do things – and that's clearly flawed but continues. We need managers and leaders to up their game if we're going to hope to tackle the environmental, inequality and other crises we face.

Management theorist & former Dean of Rotman School of Business

Think about anything you've ever achieved in your life that you're proud of... It will have taken a huge amount of sustained focus and attention. When your ability to focus and pay attention breaks down, so too does your ability to achieve goals.

Journalist and author known for books on addiction and depression

When most people are asked questions, they try to jump into the other person's mind and second-guess what they're supposed to be saying. They want to sound interesting… they want to sound smart, like a mogul who's on the cover of Forbes. I just want to tell it like it is…

Reality TV Star & Founder of Skinnygirl Cocktails Brand

I genuinely don't care about scrutiny – it's a zero on a scale of 1 to 10 for me. If the table goes cold, I'll walk out of the casino. I'm good… I've got my nest-egg… I'm happy. I do this every day because I like it and want to accomplish my goals.

Reality TV Star & Founder of Skinnygirl Cocktails Brand

The only way for you to discover something new is to acknowledge the ocean of ignorance in which you are just an island. Experts have a problem with that – they want to get prizes, and get recognised by their colleagues and peers as being very smart. So, when something new comes along... an anomaly... it often gets dismissed for the sake of reputation management.

Harvard astrophysicist who studies interstellar objects and extraterrestrial life

Our lives have a first and second curve. The first is your me curve - fluid intelligence that peaks around 40. The second is your we curve - your wisdom, teaching, and ability to bring out the best in others. It requires you to serve others.

Social Scientist & Author on Happiness, Meaning, and Conservative Values

When I decided to climb Everest, the reason was simply to draw attention to what was happening with the glaciers but also, when I talked about sustainability, it was hard to keep people's attention. You start talking and 5 minutes later, it's an abstract topic. The audience start checking their emails or yawning, and this really frustrated me.

Before I felt leadership was something you earned. Mount Everest, I think changed my opinion quite dramatically. When I came back from that expedition, I realised that all leadership really is, is empowering people to find their purpose, because the only way people are fully engaged and productive and happy is when they are working towards a higher purpose.

I nearly died several times. I shared everything openly with everyone. I shared how my whole thought process and character had changed in that expedition, but also how my own purpose had completely changed. I was going to do everything I possibly could while I manage this platform to make it the cleanest business that exists.

A resilient position means that you are not always on the brink of war. The cost of war is so great that being on the brink is a deeply uncomfortable place to be. We have to make leaders and societies pay more attention to the costs of conflict.

Economist specializing in conflict, development, and poverty research

One of the key things to look out for is the centralisation of power – in most of the places we see conflict, there is highly centralised power, and often few checks and balances on whoever is in control. Unchecked interests can lead people to ignore the costs of war.

Economist specializing in conflict, development, and poverty research

Most leaders are running human organisations, not financial organisations. This means they need to understand how to motivate, inspire and organise people first rather than capital first. This requires a set of skills that traditionally have not been taught in business schools.

Editor of Fortune Magazine & Wall Street Journal columnist

Today, information is omnidirectional – you have to respond to it immediately- and you have to empower people, in the field, to make decisions, or you will fail. Leaders today are far less involved with telling people what to do, and much more involved with setting goals and providing guardrails.

Editor of Fortune Magazine & Wall Street Journal columnist

Whatever you are going through, could lead you to something even better. You cannot often control what happens to you- but you can control your response to it. In a way, serendipity is about taking agency over your life more!