From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Over 70% of the labour force in sub-Saharan Africa is involved in agriculture. This means the sector forms a lynch-pin of society.
We must start by eliminating a culture that falsely implies the existence of agency where there is none and condones differential treatment of individuals based on a misguided notion of self-control.
So many of the things our culture pushes us to pursue for happiness don't actually work the way we think they will. Material possessions, more money—if you're on social media, you get this strong sense that you should go after more of everything and then you'll feel better.
Data is showing that the amount of information we're sending them without hope, and the ratio of hope versus negativity, is shutting down the next generation, which is terrifying. They're like, 'Oh my gosh, what's the point? The fire is too big.'
We need to change our hearts and minds, not just our behaviours. Forget even the moral argument, discriminating is such a waste. It is from our diverse cultures and communities that we could find the cure for cancer, where we could find all of the solutions for some of our most pressing problems.
On our Sahara Desert crossing, there was a man, who was dying of thirst, who urinated in his hand and shared some with me when he needed it to survive. The world is about sharing and giving to others.
It took me 10 years to secure a seed round, even with existing customers. Meanwhile, my Columbia peers would raise millions with just a pitch deck. I've had well-meaning partners suggest that appointing a white CEO would make fundraising easier.
The EU needs reform. Countries have transferred jurisdiction over legislations to a centre that makes decisions in somewhat of a vacuum, featuring a European Parliament that cannot itself initiate legislation. We have a paradox therefore where national parliaments give certain powers to the centre, without being compensated through the creation of an essential federal sovereignty; this is ineffective, and denying this is not helping us debate what is wrong with the EU and how to fix it. We need to work together as nations to reform and democratise EU institutions.
Ultimately, we want to make it unnecessary to be a B Corp – we want it to be just the norm of how all businesses are run, but that means we have to change the rules of the game and the role of business in society.
As a collective, we tend to look at progress as being linear, especially where it concerns women's rights. This is a huge mistake and breeds complacency because we risk losing the hard-won gains.
We have become robots, instead of humans with feelings… with conversations… with letter writing, you know.
If we consider the United States, where potentially 40 million people could discover through brain imaging or blood tests that they have amyloid in their brains, the question arises: how can healthcare systems afford to provide a $100,000 per year therapy to so many people? It's simply not feasible.