Psychology

We are born creative and often seek to transform our surroundings to suit our existence. Everything around us constantly changes and so creative options for adapting to this change become the only guarantee we have for a meaningful existence.

Leading African innovation and development scholar at Harvard Kennedy School

Ridicule, mockery and humour are some of the best tools of the powerless, they are weapons of the weak! Finding ways to intervene with levity and humour can build strength and sustain a movement. Humour is one of the most powerful weapons of non-violent resistance.

If people really want to do something, all they need to do is meet someone who's built something from scratch to show them that it can be done by someone just like them. That's how I started.

Co-Founder of Foursquare, Location-Based Social Networking Pioneer

Different things energise different people. I get energised from building things that people like. I've met people who are totally motivated by being in the press, or motivated by money, and so many things… but for me, it's about making sure people enjoy the things we're building.

Co-Founder of Foursquare, Location-Based Social Networking Pioneer

Entrepreneurship is on a pedestal; everyone wants to be one. Here's the truth, it sucks. Entrepreneurship is hard and almost everyone loses. You genuinely have to like getting beat-up. You genuinely have to like conflict. You genuinely have to have an enormous amount of patience.

Serial Entrepreneur, Author & Digital Marketing Strategist

You will never find opportunities in your comfort zone, you have to push yourself. You have to be hungry and willing to go into the unknown. The unknown is where you will always find opportunity.

Icelandic billionaire businessman and former chess player

We only make progress by getting up from getting kicked to the ground. How does a baby learn to walk? It falls, gets back up… falls, gets back up, and one day its running. You will fall, stumble and fail- that's inevitable. You need to analyse it when it happens, learn from those mistakes, and move on. Don't dwell on failure.

Icelandic billionaire businessman and former chess player

Are you the guy who wants to know what he gets at the end of the month? Or are you the guy who says I'll take my chances and will do very well or very badly. If you can make that distinction in your own mind, the rest is up to you. That's where entrepreneurship comes from; it means you can live with risk.

Icelandic billionaire businessman and former chess player

To me, a great leader should be empathetic, authentic, entrepreneurial, creative, ethical and lead from the front.

Terra Firma Capital founder; acquired EMI Records in 2007

People like Trump rally people behind them by pointing out threats; these may be real, but most likely are imaginary or inflated. Then he says, 'only I can protect you.'

World Chess Champion & Political Activist Against Russian Authoritarianism

Entrepreneurs are people who by nature are optimists, who can tolerate risk and who have huge curiosity.

CEO of Apple Computer Company during the 1980s and 1990s

It's almost like we have the left eye covering itself up and saying, 'nothing to see here, nothing to do with Islam', and the right eye bursting a blood vessel saying, 'it's all Islam, it's all Muslims', and Islamists saying that the divine inspiration for them is from above.

Salman Abedi, Khalid Masood, Khuram Butt, all of these people and the people in ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab… We tend to think sometimes that they are extremism. But the reality is they didn't breed extremism. Islamist extremism bred them.

Doing something which has a social purpose gives you the motivation to overcome the hurdles and obstacles that you will meet along the way. It gives you that inner strength when you're doing something and you know it's making a massive difference.

True grit is that rare strength and resilience to dust yourself off, look at what went wrong, refine your proposition and plough on. Always be prepared to adapt: an open mind is everything – but stay focused on your end game.

We all have obstacles we think can't be overcome, but if our dream is great enough, and we work hard enough, the world is ours for the taking.