From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Sustainability is a state of mind – every day when my team are working, they must think about sustainability. We want to be 100% sustainable by 2030 – how can you talk about 2060 or 2080? The people making the promises will be dead by then. We must act now.
The people who were there at the beginning may not be the people who are scalable... As a founder, one of the hardest things you ever may need to do is take someone into your office who was there from the beginning... but who you now recognise doesn't have the skills for the next chapter of the business' journey.
Simply put, a great business will understand its customers, have a clear, sound strategy and a business plan that can deliver against it. In order to do this it is very important to have a management team who can execute that plan.
World leaders have promised everything to everyone. But they are failing…. The UN's Sustainable Development Goals are supposed to be delivered by 2030. The goals literally promise everything, like eradicating poverty, hunger and disease; stopping war and climate change, ending corruption, fixing education along with countless other promises. This year, the world is at halftime for its promises, but nowhere near halfway.
I think in the past, it was more of a zero sum game, and now I think we can play in a positive sum game, which really plays into the whole greenhouse concept, because we can all actually grow together and not feel like we are needing to take in order to achieve.
They should foster a culture where bad news is welcomed, not just good news. Unfortunately, many leaders shy away from negative updates. However, if a leader inadvertently suppresses bad news, creating a culture where the messenger is punished, it results in a dysfunctional governance structure.
To be a great fighter you obviously have to have talent, but what really matters is dedication and discipline. I've seen so many guys with talent where I've thought, 'this guy's going to be a world champion...' but they've not had the dedication. You can't just succeed with talent.
When we open a new show, it started with about 20 creators at the table, and I will say to the rest of the company, 'leave them alone. I don't want them to be bugged by HR or finance or administrative stuff. I want them to breathe and eat and sleep only about the artistic content of the next show'.
Serendipity is about active luck, it's about the luck we create for ourselves and how we imbue meaning into the unexpected. Our reaction to unexpected moments can determine what happens in the future; that's a big component of what we perceive as 'luck.'
To change motivation, it is important to give hope and make people believe. But also to give concrete results. It is important to value the positive instead of only highlighting the worst.
Many founders delay implementing governance structures and view governance as a burden rather than an opportunity. Our key message here is that governance is not just important; it's crucial.
So not only has average pay gone down, but the job has got riskier.