“I think both examples share one glaring mistake. They overlook the fact that even though knowledge diffuses, it is also agglomerative—it tends to concentrate. When it comes to the growth of knowledge, you need to double down on the capacities you already have; you want to build on cities that possess a foundation.”
— César A. Hidalgo
Director of MIT Media Lab; expert in network science and complexity

The quote archive

Wisdom in fragments

A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.

Entrepreneurship means the unrelenting belief that there has to be a better way. There has to be a better way of doing things... If it was obvious that things were already being done in a great way that couldn't be improved? There wouldn't be any need for entrepreneurs to step-in and create new ways of doing things that don't rely on the baggage of the past.

— John Sculley

CEO of Apple Computer Company during the 1980s and 1990s

The first one is to believe in the 'otherisation'. The otherisation states that anybody who is looking at the world through their lens is on one group, and everybody outside of this world view is another. And they are different and separate.

— Haras Rafiq

ISIS and Al Qaeda don't radicalise anybody, what they do is tip people over the edge. The online phenomenon just speeds it up.

— Haras Rafiq

Every single individual in the world, including you and I, have a grievance or a problem at any given moment in time. When you and I go to sleep tonight in our own beds, you'll be thinking about a problem that's affecting you and I'll be thinking about a problem that's affecting me.

— Haras Rafiq

Salman Abedi, Khalid Masood, Khuram Butt, all of these people and the people in ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab… We tend to think sometimes that they are extremism. But the reality is they didn't breed extremism. Islamist extremism bred them.

— Haras Rafiq

Islamism is an ideology that is imported from Europe in the 1930s onwards. It was fascism and communism that were imported by Qutb, who became the ideologue of modern day Islamism. He wrote a book called 'milestones' – equivalent (and sharing many similarities) to Das Kapital or Mein Kampf.

— Haras Rafiq

Our definition is extremism is the desire to enforce illiberal views which are in a dichotomy to the liberal values that we all adhere to in a Liberal secular democracy; and you can have non-violent or violent extremism.

— Haras Rafiq

BE CONSISTENT across your communication – what your values are, what you're trying to do – it's super obvious but without a single clear proposition that you communicate consistently at every contact point, you can't expect to grow an audience that believes in you.

— Kanya King

Doing something which has a social purpose gives you the motivation to overcome the hurdles and obstacles that you will meet along the way. It gives you that inner strength when you're doing something and you know it's making a massive difference and a huge impact.

— Kanya King

There's a lot of synergy between music and entrepreneurship. There's that kind of similar taking risks, that innovation. I think it's a really exciting time.

— Kanya King

We all have obstacles we think can't be overcome, but if our dream is great enough, and we work hard enough, the world is ours for the taking. Keep an open mind: look for learnings everywhere and don't be afraid to fail.

— Kanya King

Entrepreneurship is about taking risks and having the audacity to commit and persevere through all the obstacles and hurdles we have to overcome.

— Kanya King

What we're seeing is a global shift towards meaning and WeWork is helping achieve that on a global scale.

— Miguel McKelvey

Co-founder of WeWork, co-working space company

The most important lesson I've learned is that my energy level and outlook have an impact on the people around me and it's my responsibility to approach every day with positivity and excitement. We say that we are responsible for treating others the way we want to be treated, and at the most basic level, all of us can treat each other well by giving positive energy to those around us.

— Miguel McKelvey

Co-founder of WeWork, co-working space company

Our mission is to help people create a life, not just a living. Our product provides the space, community and services that creators need so they can focus on their work.

— Miguel McKelvey

Co-founder of WeWork, co-working space company

Success is different for everyone, but for me success has always been about finding meaning and personal fulfillment. While that may have meant different things at different times in my life, learning, making meaningful connections with people and helping others achieve this same level of satisfaction has been a sign of success for me.

— Miguel McKelvey

Co-founder of WeWork, co-working space company