“I believe that culture isn't a continuous act. We talk about strategizing. We don't just talk about our strategy. I believe that we also need to review our culture, maybe not as much as our strategy, but at key points of a company changing. It is essential to also look at how we are working together.”
— Melissa Daimler

The quote archive

Psychology

A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.

It's difficult to describe to people who aren't curious, just what curiosity is. Imagine explaining to a robot or a computer what curiosity is! For those of us who experience it however, it's almost a primal-pull.

— Adam Riess

Astrophysicist who discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe

The change I'm most passionate about – because of the impact it's had on my own life – is creating a healthy transition to sleep that begins before you even step into your bedroom. I treat my own transition to sleep as a sacrosanct ritual. First, I turn off all my electronic devices and gently escort them out of my bedroom.

— Arianna Huffington

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

My own life has improved in pretty much every way. These days, 95 percent of the time I get eight hours of sleep a night. Now, instead of waking up to the sense that I have to trudge through activities, I wake up feeling joyful about the day's possibilities. And I'm also better able to recognize red flags and rebound from setbacks. It's like being dialed into a different channel that has less static.

— Arianna Huffington

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

Great entrepreneurs are people with tremendous passion. Without passion you cannot go on a journey that requires such huge personal sacrifices, looks bleak, risky and impossible in the beginning…

— N. R. Narayana Murthy

Founder and Chairman of Infosys, Indian IT Pioneer

Just before my father passed away, the company had grown considerably. He said to me, 'I have six children, and who would have believed that you, Frederik, out of all my children would have been the one that succeeded!' I'm not sure that was a compliment!

— Frederik Paulsen, Jr.

Today, entrepreneurship is fashionable, it's something you can develop in your character and strengthen. I'm not so sure… I believe that entrepreneurship is something you're born with, or not. I've met many highly intelligent, and incredibly bright people who have not been able to develop their ideas into sensible businesses. Entrepreneurship is not related to intelligence, it's something you have or don't have.

— Frederik Paulsen, Jr.

I'd had 20 years of the most indescribable intensity and focus; and not many people can appreciate what that means, because there are very few people that have grown a business organically from one person to over 10,000. After 20 years of that, I had sort-of 'had enough.'

— John Caudwell

Billionaire British entrepreneur and founder of Phones 4u mobile retailer

In line with most highly-tuned talents, I absolutely believe that entrepreneurship is a genetic gift that you're born with. What you do with that gift depends on your upbringing, opportunities and inspirations; you either make them massively better or neglect them. That combination of genetics and sheer hard work is the 'secret' of getting to the top.

— John Caudwell

Billionaire British entrepreneur and founder of Phones 4u mobile retailer

It is natural that a society would want to keep what they think works, the status quo. We are also acutely aware that technological changes alters society in unpredictable ways. It is the uncertainty associated with change—especially the fear of losing what we value—that leads to resistance to change.

— Calestous Juma

Harvard Professor of International Development & Innovation Policy Expert

My mother's unbelievable parenting in deploying enormous self-esteem and confidence meant I believed in myself in a way that was blind. The best entrepreneurs are the most optimistic and completely out of tune with reality right? Why would you do it otherwise. My father made me a word-is-bond, word-is-everything, shake a hand and stick to it kinda' guy. That combined with blind faith and belief has become an amazing concoction and something I live-off even today.

— Gary Vaynerchuk

Serial Entrepreneur, Author & Digital Marketing Strategist

To be an entrepreneur, you need a love for process and to be comfortable with adversity. If you love process and you're comfortable with adversity, and if you love the journey over the fruits and riches of that journey- then you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is on a pedestal; everyone wants to be one. Here's the truth, it sucks. Entrepreneurship is hard and almost everyone loses.

— Gary Vaynerchuk

Serial Entrepreneur, Author & Digital Marketing Strategist

When I was a door to door salesman, I learned a very valuable lesson. 1 in 10 people would talk to you, 9 out of 10 would slam the door in your face. Sometimes you would get 30 doors in a row slammed in your face, but that means that there are 3 yes' coming your way.

— Thor Björgólfsson

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. Here's the thing about life. You will fall, stumble and fail- that's inevitable. You need to analyse it when it happens, learn from those mistakes, and move on.

— Thor Björgólfsson

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.

— Thor Björgólfsson

Icelandic billionaire businessman and former chess player

The first one is to believe in the 'otherisation'. The otherisation states that anybody who is looking at the world through their lens is on one group, and everybody outside of this world view is another. And they are different and separate.

— Haras Rafiq

ISIS and Al Qaeda don't radicalise anybody, what they do is tip people over the edge. The online phenomenon just speeds it up.

— Haras Rafiq