Wisdom in fragments

During the crisis and immediately thereafter the focus was less on infrastructure and more on, 'I need to find a manager, any manager, who can make some damn money!'

I think transparency in this sense is a red-herring. A multi-strategy hedge fund could give an investor or the SEC it's daily trade blotter and accomplish 'transparency,' and the recipient would have no idea what to make of the trades.

After Amaranth, I think to a significant extent, the business side became more important and of greater focus for institutional investors than the investment side.

Hedge funds don't have that asymmetric risk profile problem because, in general, the interests of the hedge fund managers are aligned with their investors. I think only people who are pandering to perceived public passions are blaming hedge funds for the financial crisis.

I personally think that it's only the ignorant and populism pandering politicians who treat the hedge fund industry as a scapegoat for the financial crisis. It was the extremely heavily regulated investment banks who, risking their shareholders' money, levered their firms up to 40:1!

I think it's down to what Jeremy Bentham said which is, '…the question is not can they reason? Or can they talk? …But can they suffer?'

Founder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

They have maternal instincts and look after each other as we do… it's not an intellectual thing when a mother protects her child; it's an instinctive behaviour. We value all those things in the human being because we are human beings! But that's pretty short sighted and narrow minded.

Founder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

To me the question is, why are we denying them the obvious rights they should have? They are flesh and blood, they feel pain as we do, they experience joy, they have their own behaviours and their own languages among themselves that they understand and we don't.

Founder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Early stage investing is very difficult and financially risky meaning that a lot of what we invest in won't work. A lot of what we do is, in effect, pilots to see if individual projects or funds can generate some positive return.

In the same way that business entrepreneurship has transformed industry since the early 1970's, social entrepreneurship can transform the social sector by having people who are willing to take risks and innovate to help address social issues.

The social sector offers this middle-ground where you've got organisations that have a social purpose. They care about the level of service in a real way, but also have the financial disciplines of a for-profit company as they must be sustainable.

Impact investing starts from the other end. It starts with an issue… this could be a problem, a social issue or so on. Impact investors start with an issue and then try to build a viable, sustainable financial model around that.

For businesses to survive, let alone brands, you need a secure and stable base. You need secure economic and social conditions to reduce risk.

Leading brand strategist and founding partner of Interbrand

Brands create demand and, most importantly, they create secure demand. If you have a loyal customer, that gives you more security of income, earnings and employment.

Leading brand strategist and founding partner of Interbrand

China realises that he who owns the brand, owns the wealth… For nations, brands give economic control, security and choice and are therefore extremely important.

Leading brand strategist and founding partner of Interbrand

The starting point is to realise that brand, in whatever type of organisation, is the most important and sustainable asset you've got. People may leave or die, buildings may dilapidate or fall down, products and services may become obsolete… The thing that lives on is brand.

Leading brand strategist and founding partner of Interbrand