“There simply isn't enough creativity and bandwidth at the top to deal with the level of complexity and change in today's world. A century ago, information was expensive to acquire and move- bureaucracy was a logical way of bringing information together. The world simply doesn't work like that anymore.”
— Gary Hamel
Management theorist & author who revolutionized strategic thinking

The quote archive

Innovation

A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.

Inventors shouldn't be afraid to take risks. They should embrace failure and learn from their mistakes. I created 5,127 prototypes of the first Dyson bag-less vacuum cleaner and only the last one was right! Not being afraid to fail is something I think all successful entrepreneurs have in common.

— Sir James Dyson

Inventor & Founder of Dyson Ltd, Bagless Vacuum Pioneer

Being an entrepreneur, an inventor, is about having ideas and having the doggedness to see them through. As an inventor your ideas should be based on creating a solution to a problem – a solution which focuses on function over form.

— Sir James Dyson

Inventor & Founder of Dyson Ltd, Bagless Vacuum Pioneer

My best ideas, and most successful opportunities have come- usually- from the most unexpected areas.

— Not specified

The more dots you give your brain, the more of them it will connect!

— Not specified

People have regarded as a paradox- the fact that Newton spent most of his time doing alchemy, which doesn't sound very scientific, and only part of his time doing mechanics and gravitation. Of course, his discoveries in mechanics and his law of gravitation were absolutely foundational to all of quantitative science, engineering, technology and, indeed, everything that came after

— Neil Turok

Theoretical Physicist & Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Had the first astronauts or explorers listened to advice, chances are they would never have embarked on those world-changing adventures. The same is true of entrepreneurs. First and foremost, entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs because their gut had an insight or an idea that's driven them.

— Not specified

The sleep revolution is finally hitting the workplace. The business world is waking up to the high cost of sleep deprivation on productivity, health care, and ultimately the bottom line. I expect the nap room to soon become as universal as the conference room.

— Arianna Huffington

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

Small companies will get an idea and try to scale up. Big companies have to decide when to extend, when to extend and scale, and when to do something new. They need to build capabilities in terms of insight and execution to do the new thing.

— Steve Ballmer

Former CEO of Microsoft & Owner of Los Angeles Clippers

Never was wealth the driver for me. – it was always hey, there's a cool idea here, let's make something of it. It was nice to be well rewarded, but the interesting part was working the problem, thinking about new things and how to bring them forward from being ideas to being products or new ways of doing things.

— Steve Ballmer

Former CEO of Microsoft & Owner of Los Angeles Clippers

The Internet is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies, it's becoming our typewriter and our printing press, our map and our clock, our calculator and our telephone, our post office and our library, our radio and our TV.

— Nicholas Carr

Technology writer & author of "The Shallows" and "The Big Switch

It's the convergence of technologies at any given time that allow individuals to achieve the things which simply were not possible before. Your smartphone can be used to diagnose diseases for example – every disease has a pattern.

— Naveen Jain

Entrepreneur & Founder of Moon Express, Infosys Technologies Co-Founder

My mind just never stopped thinking about what we could be doing next.

— will.i.am

Grammy-winning rapper, producer, and member of The Black Eyed Peas

You have to keep reaching, keep thinking about what the next-level is.

— will.i.am

Grammy-winning rapper, producer, and member of The Black Eyed Peas

One of the greatest learnings in my life has been the fact that the sky is really not the limit, after all, there are footprints on the moon. The future of our species will see us travel further, and achieve more, than we could ever predict- so we have to keep our minds open to all possibilities.

— Buzz Aldrin

Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11; Second Person to Walk on Moon

I wasn't thinking about success or being 'big' or creating a huge business. I was thinking about answering a need, a void, creating something that wasn't there before.

— Donna Karan

Renowned Fashion Designer & Founder of DKNY Brand

Entrepreneurship is a way of life. For me, entrepreneurship has always been about being a builder. Whether it's about undiscovered artists or working with companies pre-launch, the build process is what attracts me.

— Troy Carter

Music executive and manager, founder of Meadows and Q&A platform