Wisdom in fragments

One of the defining experiences I had with CNET, a digital media company where I was the fourth employee back in the dawn of the internet, was recognizing the power of asking for help.

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom

One of the ideas you hear often is that in America there is a culture where not only is it ok to fail, but it's almost expected – like a badge of honor. This is true to a point but that implies a cut-throat culture that is more legend than reality.

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom

The key both in the US and the UK is to have hand-raisers – people who want to take a chance, and get involved. That is a spirit that you see both in the UK and in America.

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom

Too often I feel there is also a search for 'the next' Steve Jobs or Joanna Shields. These are extraordinary people and yet I believe we should not treat entrepreneurialism as requiring a narrow checklist of certain characteristics.

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom

The overlap of these two is incredibly fertile territory and this is exactly where businesses in the U.S. and UK see each other – places where they both need to do business and want to do business.

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom

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

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

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

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

What I've learned about tech is that it's cold and robotic; you don't know any of the people who make the stuff you live on.

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

'Brand,' is what journalists and industry-people say… we say culture movement. As artists we say culture! Movement! And analysts say brand. I don't know what a brand is, but I know what a freakin' movement is….

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

Entrepreneurship is the relentless drive to carry-on, no matter what. Entrepreneurship is tolerance, focus and dedication. Entrepreneurship is this 'true north' belief that whatever this 'thing' is that you want to bring to culture, that you will see it through… and that you are the one here to usher it into existence.

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

Mental health conditions are extraordinarily common, conservatively 1 in 4 of us will suffer from one or more in our lifetime, and I defy you to find someone who hasn't seen the impact firsthand.

We have to start breaking the toxic hyper-masculine alpha male attitude that has become the norm across businesses that you should always be hustling, never sleep, that rest is for wimps.

I have anxiety and depression, I don't 'suffer with them' as the description would normally go. I have them in the way I have arms, legs, eyes and a mouth, they are a part of me.

As business-leaders we have to start taking responsibility to speak-out about our own struggles, so that others do the same- and by doing so, make our teams and our peers realise that it's fine to not be fine.

By 2025, we're going to see 40-50% of all tech entrepreneurs being women, and that's good news.

I see it as my moral obligation in this world to help these people unlock their potential so they can start working on humanity's grand challenges.