From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I personally want to throw up every time I hear some completely senseless and baseless statement like 'we need more of Europe, not less'. It means nothing, and those slogans simply drive people crazy – It goes to show the intellectual vacuousness of the people who say them.
There's only so much our world will become richer by surrounding ourselves with clones of ourselves!
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. The key both in the US and the UK is to have hand-raisers – people who want to take a chance, and get involved.
Having negotiation skills means that you can weaponize emotional intelligence. If you want people to cooperate with you… if you want to connect with people who you don't share any common-ground with…. If you want to get a deal done without regrets…. That's where negotiation techniques can work, across all cultures.
Even if it's not your mistake, it could still be your responsibility. That's one element of maturity – owning up to things even when they weren't caused by your actions. What you should truly be striving for as an entrepreneur is creating new standards of success, redefining what success means beyond monetary wealth.
In a world where everything is connected, there's bits and bytes moving, and leaders need to understand what happens when functions inside a company interact. What happens when your company is interacting with others inside of its ecosystem? There's a flow to business and leaders need to be able to see that flow.
I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach for talent, you have to approach every individual and opportunity from a bespoke perspective.
Being creative is about being a collective. It's not something unique. That's why we can nurture each other's creativity.
It's strange though, I never feel this as a weight when I'm around kids – I feel so much lighter. They have an impact on me, as much as I hope to have an impact on them. It's a real mutual benefit.
To me, the very definition of success is living up to your potential – and the very definition of failure is not living up to your potential, simple.
I had to remain in war mode. I had to continue confronting my captors, not accept what was happening to me. The relationship I had with my captors was based on suspicion.
How many CEOs or heads of government agencies have taken the trouble today to say, 'Who are my five most-thoughtful antagonists? How have I reached out to them, and what efforts do I have in place to create a listening community across those antagonists for when I really need it when the crisis hits?'