Wisdom in fragments

People find that you don't have to go around managing the maintenance of a building with a tool belt anymore, you can go around with an iPad. You've still got to operate buildings, but our buildings have to be technically oriented as we're challenging them to be greener. So, how do you go from a tool belt to an iPad?

Mayor of San Francisco (2011-2018) & First Asian-American Mayor

People don't have to fear the innovation age as being victims of it. They can actually embrace it by saying 'okay, I've got to have some additional skill sets I can go back to, and maybe truck driving is not going to be the whole thing but maybe it's other mobility things so that I can actually use my background of skillsets to get involved in'.

Mayor of San Francisco (2011-2018) & First Asian-American Mayor

San Francisco is the city of love and compassion, will always be, and will never change that. I know that's a very broad response, but I do think that's what motivates me the most in terms of the vision and feeling I have for the city.

Mayor of San Francisco (2011-2018) & First Asian-American Mayor

As a nation, our brains deceive us into thinking we're going to be safer with a gun when in fact we typically endanger ourselves.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

Even if we end up with better regulations, we'll still have 300 million guns washing around the US, and that's going to be a huge problem for decades, because guns last a long time.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

There are two key advantages of thinking of guns as a public health issue. First of all, it removes some of the emotion from the issue because it's no longer about banning guns, it's no longer about guns being awful things. Secondly it moves the debate to be about evidence; where we can empirically show what works, at what cost.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

When it comes to guns, the trend of covering of mass-shootings leads the public to think the big problem is mass shootings. However, the big problems are suicides, domestic violence, known people, and gangs shooting at each other.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

The recent politicisation of guns, which I think the NRA is partly responsible for, has been incredibly debilitating for the country.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

We all share the same 'planet in space'. When you take the time to think about it, that 'we're all in space' part is pretty compelling. I would argue though that small does not mean insignificant. It is a bit of a contradiction – seeing the beauty of Earth from space and the reality of how small our planet is in the grand scheme of the universe, but at the same time recognizing the significance in how perfectly placed in the universe our planet is to take care of us.

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

Art is a universal communicator, it is one of the ways that allows me to engage with audiences that might not otherwise think about what we're doing in space every day that's helping improve life here on Earth. And it's a way to help them consider the view from space and do a little bit of Earthling and Earth appreciation.

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

Without their encouragement though, I don't think I ever would have had the confidence in myself to even pick up the pen. That one small bit of encouragement had such a huge impact on my life. It made me realize how sometimes it really is the little stuff that's most important, and we never know how significant our encouragement can be in someone else's life.

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

Going to space gave me the opportunity to separate from our planet, but in doing so it allowed me to feel more connected to it than I ever had on its surface in the middle of it all. I carry that with me all the time now.

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

There's a moment when you look at good art when time changes… It's as if time no longer exists, becomes longer, or is suspended. There's a moment of reverie when you're fully immersed in something apart from yourself. One experiences this sometimes in meditation. These inexplicable, wonderful and mysterious experiences we have never leave us.

Contemporary artist known for monumental sculptures and Vantablack installations

The need to express abstract registers of time and deep space, and something of the life of the body, has never altered. Art is not a luxury, an object of exchange, a profession or a career; it is an intrinsic part of being human.

British sculptor known for large-scale iron body cast installations

Scaling up is incredibly challenging; it's definitely been the hardest part of my own entrepreneurship journey. You might be familiar with The Peter Principle, which states that people are promoted to the level of their incompetence. It's exactly the same in the real world: if you're good at your job, it leads to advancement in your career, and then you don't get to do those things anymore that made you deserve that advancement.

Co-Founder of Slack, Former CEO & Creator of Flickr

If there's one thing that thematically aligns all startups: a tolerance for innovation in how the companies are run. This means there's a little bit more risk taking and attacking problems in a way that hasn't been done before.

Co-Founder of Slack, Former CEO & Creator of Flickr