From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
The idea that you will sit down with someone who's had 30 or 40 years of lived experience in a particular situation, and has been conditioned to analyze the world that way, and then somehow get them to change their mind in one sitting is implausible.
For me, it's about the power of storytelling. Everything we do is rooted in story. People resonate with stories. I can't tell you how many times I've sat with some of the most famous or richest people in the world, and when you share a story, you can see them reflecting on their own families, their own experiences.
You have to be your own hero; that doesn't mean sticking your head up your own ass- but being accountable for who you are as a person and finding strength from within.
Success is working on things important and valuable to you with people you like and respect. Since I became financially independent, I work on things that I find interesting and where I can have impact.
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 see myself as someone who seeds ideas well, but others execute them far better. I learned this the hard way; if I'd continued running everything, neither business would have survived. So, my approach was simple: spend three years as a controlling megalomaniac, then completely let go.
Those who criticise China have a case to complain about the contributory role the country's authoritarian system played in the spread of the pandemic, but that very system also allowed authorities to get a quick grip on it and bring it under control with impressive efficiency.
So, the lesson I eventually learned was to distinguish between which teams are sincere in promoting true teamwork, and which are jingoistic self-serving pretenders. Teamwork does make the dream work, but not every team is worthy.
A less experienced, less comfortable, version of myself would get angry and then realise they were angry. The meditative version of me can anticipate when I'm going to get angry- and then, it becomes a choice. Do you want to be angry? Or have a different attitude? It's been enormously powerful, and I've been doing it for 8 years.
We compete not to just make up the numbers, but to do it right, with a full programme to achieve success on the track and meet all our other measures of success, too.
In the midst of a global health and economic crisis, in the midst of a racial justice uprising, and in the absence of effective government, business leaders must take a stand on issues that matter to society and to their stakeholders!
If your strategy is to do everything, you have no strategy at all.