Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.

Corporations find themselves in a bind, torn between clinging to the notion of solely enhancing shareholder value and making vague promises to cater to all stakeholders, which can be perilously misleading.

Different things energise different people. I get energised from building things that people like. I've met people who are totally motivated by being in the press, or motivated by money, and so many things… but for me, it's about making sure people enjoy the things we're building.

As humans we need to evolve constantly because the behaviours that got us to a certain level won't suffice to even maintain this level let alone to take us to the next. If this sense of growth and contribution isn't experienced in our lives, difficulties will arise.

This is a very tough question because the correlation between growth and returns on assets in China has been completely non-existent. You have had this tremendous growth, with fairly lame returns for equity investors!

If you go into a new situation where you don't know anybody and you want to be more influential, don't look around the room and say hmmm… who can most help me here?… instead, look around and say hmmm…. Who can I most help here? You will put that person in a position where they will be standing on the balls of their feet to help you!

Songs are like a cleanse for the nervous system. I was walking through London the other day, and my mind was full of my to-do list, work, and so much more. I put on She's Always a Woman by Billy Joel and I just suddenly felt psychologically lifted.

For me, success is about harmony, and it has several dimensions. The classic three; intellectual, physical, and spiritual – when those three are in harmony, I feel my life is a success. Money isn't really a part of that. Many people use money as a measure of success, not as their umbrella for a rainy day.

I define authenticity as the consistent practice of choosing to know who we are and embracing who we are. For a lot of us, we come to know who we are, but then we rail against our identities.

I was only 9 years old, but I loved ski racing. I loved skiing in general, and was lucky enough to meet my idol, Picabo Street. I met her at an autograph signing at a ski shop in Minnesota, and I said that's it… that's what I want to do… and this is who I want to be like. From then on, I made ski racing my focus, and my dad helped me create a ten-year plan to make the next Olympics.

I've worked with many entrepreneurs and billionaires and I see the same trend over and over again. What they want is someone to manage the liquid side of their portfolio, and they want to take a huge chunk out and use it as their risk capital on things they know and can control. The money didn't just drop-in… it arrived through creation and building! These individuals are always going to be about growth….

I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or as a .400 baseball hitter. But now I would like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody…