From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
A revealing statistic is that 80% of ten-year-olds in these countries struggle with basic comprehension, even though they can technically read individual words. This lack of understanding severely hinders their future productivity.
We are all creative beings, but we're brought up being told not to colour outside the lines – but why? It's OK to be different…. It's more than OK to be different, and we need to encourage that. Art has been the most freeing and therapeutic thing I can do.
The most important form of power is human capital, people.. and their education. In today's world it is easier for people to amass education and communicate their ideas than it has ever been before.
The process can kill their musicianship. The process can drown-out the music so much that you can't hear it anymore… you end-up so cut off from your intuitive self that it's a series of obstacles playing a piece of music rather than something which is an expression.
Skiing gave me purpose, and a goal. As a kid, there are so many distractions, and so many different paths to take. I saw a lot of my friends, who were perhaps more talented than I was, without the same goals and determination- and it caused them to veer off course.
There has been a pathetic failure of governments to invest in educating people about the rights that they hold and enjoy; I suspect because if people knew their rights, they would claim them and put the governments of the world under pressure.
As an entrepreneur, I got my education out in the world – real life learning is the way forward for young entrepreneurs. And this is what we must encourage and support.
Only the educated are free.
We have these myths about genius. We think those people have extra powers that we don't... that they were born differently... that they went to the right schools. I wanted to demystify this process. If you don't understand the process, you will never, ever, get there.
Numerous studies including recent ones from Stanford and Harvard Universities show that young girls, by the age of six, in the U.S. feel they are less intellectually capable than boys. Why? Because when they open a history book, they are predominantly exposed to male innovators.
The truth is that we live in a very unethical society. We don't teach ethics at home, schools or university. As a consequence most businesses don't have a code of ethics or conduct.
Each time we learn something new or encounter a fresh experience, we trigger a reconfiguration of our brains. Neuroplasticity is highest during youth, explaining why children and young adults up to the age of 25 absorb knowledge so rapidly. Their learning capacity is immense, akin to sponges soaking up water.