From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I am in favour of quotas and targets. I think affirmative action works, and we've had affirmative action in the opposite direction for centuries. So sometimes we have to shock the system. We have to do it to normalise things, to get to a tipping point and then let the system just takes care of itself.
Building financial systems from the ground up in a context that emphasises current money movements and digital transactions presents an opportunity to bypass these historical biases. This approach focuses on real-time behaviours, offering a dynamic and inclusive way to assess creditworthiness. It's interesting to note the impact of newly implemented credit systems in regions like Africa, where, given equal opportunities, women and small to medium-sized businesses have demonstrated significantly higher credit repayment rates.
I'm advocating for a right to cognitive liberty, a new international human right that would be the right to self-determination of our brains and mental experiences.
In a world where we have 168 million full-time child labourers, we have just over 200 million adults who are jobless. Studies have shown empirically that there is a parallel between child labour and adult unemployment.
In my experience, unless you are directly affected by a human rights abuse, you are unlikely to give it a second thought. How many times do you draw breath a day? It's about 22,000 times – you don't think about it until you can't. That's exactly how most people view human rights- they are generally apathetic and may express some concern or sympathy when they hear about something on the news, but they don't mobilise unless it affects them directly.
You cannot trust Russia, that Putin is rebuilding the Russian Empire and they are fighting not to win, but to rebuild their empire as an ideological way to resolve domestic issues, and further feed evil.
The venture capital industry exists to get capital in the hands of deserving entrepreneurs, but the data tells us that venture capitalists often have only a narrow definition of what 'deserving' means—and it often corresponds to being white and male.
The sad reality is that if we tried to pass that declaration today, the UN General Assembly would fail to do so. Firstly, we don't have someone like Eleanor Roosevelt as an advocate for human rights, and where previously the US played a leadership role, Trump would no doubt block virtually every human rights pillar associated with the declaration.
I think you're going to see impact models that challenge many of our incumbent industries. The most vulnerable in our society are currently overcharged because the system assumes, they are higher-risk, and so those in our society who are least able to afford charges, are being charged huge overdraft and borrowing rates.
To break the silence around sexual abuse, more people need to speak about it… normalise it… and by doing so, hopefully we can start to get our children talking, and make some real progress to eliminate these acts from our society.
As war ravaged Liberia, I realized it is women who bear the greatest burden in prolonged conflicts. We began organizing Christian and Muslim women to demonstrate together, launching protests and a sex strike to help oust Charles Taylor.
The climate crisis disproportionately affects the poorest countries and communities, small islands, and indigenous peoples—who contribute least to the problem. This crisis also embodies racial injustice, as those most affected are often people of colour.