Wisdom in fragments

I believe that culture isn't a continuous act. At key inflexion points, it's vital to look at your culture – do our values really represent who we are today and who we want to be?

The silver lining of this pandemic in the last couple of years is we have realised that culture is not relegated to an office, it's agnostic of a physical office. It is how we work with each other.

I don't think culture is the bean bag or the Ping-Pong tables or the free food or the happy hours. Those are great opportunities to connect as individuals and have a little fun, but I do not think those things define what a culture really is.

Culture is much bigger than that. Culture goes beyond values. I define culture is three primary parts. The first part is behaviour. It's the behaviours of your employees that get embedded into all the processes we are already doing. The second part is processes. The third piece is practices.

You have to make decisions throughout your life and be prepared to accept responsibility for those decisions. There is also confidence that comes from learning a set of skills – and that confidence allows you to challenge the status quo.

Former President of Nintendo of America, led iconic console era

I took the fact that I felt I wasn't good enough as a challenge. This is where I give some of my early bosses and mentors a lot of credit. They invested their time in my training and development.

Former President of Nintendo of America, led iconic console era

He had the grit and determination to go, to tell that story, and to tell the world what was happening. His experience shaped me – and shaped my own mentality of being tough, resilient, picking myself up from disappointments, and continuing to move forward.

Former President of Nintendo of America, led iconic console era

Innovative companies are not afraid of failure – they're willing to take risks, fail forward, learn from missteps, pivot, and keep going.

Former President of Nintendo of America, led iconic console era

Innovation is a skill, a teachable skill, just like management. If you focus on a handful of key principles, you can effectively drive innovation in any type of business.

Former President of Nintendo of America, led iconic console era

Education exponentially multiplies advancements in every other sector. And critically, it empowers communities with the skills to shape their own futures, build their own economies, and advocate for their own rights.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Yazidi Genocide Survivor Advocate

Empowering women to be decision-makers in their families and communities makes everyone safer, more successful, healthier, and more educated.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Yazidi Genocide Survivor Advocate

The truth is that stable societies are built on the backs of women. Attacking women has a crippling impact on communities.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Yazidi Genocide Survivor Advocate

Rape is one of the oldest weapons of war and it remains so to this day. For so long, it has been viewed as an 'unfortunate' side effect of war. But really, it is a tactic.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Yazidi Genocide Survivor Advocate

Beyond the atrocities of mass murder and rape, ISIS also set out to systematically destroy the Yazidi community by ensuring that we did not have the resources to survive in our homeland. They poisoned wells, burned farms, took out electrical grids, and destroyed schools, homes, temples, and hospitals.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Yazidi Genocide Survivor Advocate

Philanthropy is very much like business, there's not such a huge difference. In business you have a mission statement, in philanthropy you have a vision. I believe in philanthropy we want to do things that give back as much as we give, otherwise it doesn't have permanence.

Pioneering Software Engineer & Founder of Freelance Programmers Ltd

I lived the change. My company was a way of, as they say, 'scratching my own itch.' I wanted to be able to go on working myself, and I realised that a lot of other women would have had comparable aims and desires.

Pioneering Software Engineer & Founder of Freelance Programmers Ltd