Psychology

When you've founded a business, the last thing you want to do is let-go. It's part of the psychology of most founders- but let-go you must, and if you handle it right, it can work extremely well.

Research has shown that when you compare the effect of a 1% change in unemployment rate and 1% change in the inflation rate; a 1% increase in unemployment has a bigger impact on people's happiness than a 1% increase in inflation.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

Happiness is a measure that reflects the success with which people achieve their personal objectives of living levels, happy and healthy families and satisfying work.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

Steve Jobs forced me to figure out what was important to me, and who I was. He demanded that everybody in the room had to be at the top of their game, the best in their field.

They all had a wilful denial of reality… against all evidence to the contrary they had to believe they would succeed.. that's ultimately what entrepreneurs do.

Guess what, it turns out that you can't make big-breakthroughs without crazy optimism and idealism! With the exception of Elon Musk, that attitude is largely missing right now.

Stress doesn't come from what's going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what's going on in your life.

Don't make the mistake of confusing net worth and self-worth.

On one hand, competitive high-pressure jobs lead executives into many situations that can induce worry and fear (anxiety), hopelessness and despair (depression), and urgency (stress). On the other hand, some people are drawn to high pressure jobs by their adventurous personalities, their ability to tolerate risk, and their motivation for achievement.

We end up living in the world virtually through the ideas that we conceive.

Educational reformer & TED speaker on creativity in schools

Human beings have very powerful imaginations; and we don't live in the world in the same way that other creatures seem to. We don't live in the world quite so directly, we live in the world of ideas… we have concepts, artefacts, languages, music, images, theories, philosophies, faiths and values which we work-on, inherit, construct, challenge, change and form.

Educational reformer & TED speaker on creativity in schools

For me, our sophisticated way of communicating- with words- is that crucial difference. It meant that for the first time, we could teach another about something that wasn't present… whereas young chimps just learn by observing. We can read books about the distant past, and plan the distant future.

Primatologist & Ethologist Who Revolutionized Study of Wild Chimpanzees

What failure really means is that you are trying to live life, and the fact that you fail means that you are trying. As soon as you try to avoid failure, you are facing the wrong direction.

Co-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics

Understanding truly why a failure occurred and making peace with it is the first step to being able to move-forward- it allows you to identify where the gaps where in you and your enterprise, and hopefully will give you insights into where you need more support, education and attention.

They took a relative view of risk... They had an understanding of the risks of something going wrong, but balanced that against missing an opportunity. When that opportunity exceeded the risk of going wrong? That's when they jumped.

Entrepreneurship means a constant willingness to keep learning. It's about maintaining that start-up spirit—where you're forever young, and forever in crisis. It's about always having your mind on the business.

Founder and CEO of Baidu, China's leading search engine company