From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
You get a raise, and for the first week it feels awesome, but then it doesn't have as much impact as you thought it would. Researchers call this the 'impact bias.'
Over 70% of the labour force in sub-Saharan Africa is involved in agriculture. This means the sector forms a lynch-pin of society.
Politically and practically, the Euro Zone nations cannot be seen to bail-out Greece. Not only would this set a potentially dangerous precedent, but it could also affect the overall financial stability of the system itself.
If Smith were alive today, he'd say that in addition to the openness and competition and all the wealth we are creating, we need a sense of mutual sympathy and empathy. We need to give people the ability to compete.
Measuring wellbeing solves two big problems: it tells us what truly matters (not just income or health metrics), and it lets us compare different types of charities—poverty relief, education, the arts—by how much happiness they generate. We move from vibes‑based giving to data‑driven giving.
When examining the persistence of antisemitism, it's not just about understanding how these ideas endure and are transmitted within the culture. It is also crucial to ask why these ideas are being drawn upon and why we sometimes fail to provide more convincing explanations for the economic, social, and political challenges we face.
Before we came to market, everything in retail was about how cheaply you could pay your employees- and unfortunately, particularly women. There was an attitude in retail that said, '... well, your female employees are just going to get married, have children at 23 and leave, so why invest in them?' The reality of the world was that 60% of university graduates were women- and most women were having children later, entering professional careers.
We believe that by being open, honest and transparent with communities- they are more likely to protect, respect and patronise our projects. Our primary responsibility is to make money for our investors. That however, is not mutually exclusive to making positive change.
There is a problem with business leaders and the economics profession where we have celebrated the gains from neoliberal policies whilst only paying lip-service to compensating those left-behind.
One thing that really helped us was NOT following the IMF prescription, and hence I think the fact that we insisted on having growth (alongside stability) was something that made for a big change in Brazil.
The general theory that integration is good for better allocation of resources is not the big thing, the big thing is that it makes it harder for governments to play with financial markets.
Always remember – it's best to own 10% of a big number, than all of nothing!