From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
We advocate for a 'feminist moonshot' approach, symbolized by the dandelion. The dandelion, a resilient flower and weed found on all continents, symbolizes our efforts. Despite its reputation as a nuisance, it's a plant I've grown to admire for its beauty, deep-rooting ability that rejuvenates the soil, and its edible qualities. Its seeds, spread by children, represent the spreading of our positive narrative towards a cleaner, healthier, more equitable world.
Undeniably, joining a flourishing company vastly differs from joining a struggling one, just as there's a significant contrast between building a company with the intention to sell and constructing one with the goal of passing it on.
The clearest thing about being a diplomat is the knowledge that you aren't in control. The problems you're dealing with are huge – with multiple players and facets. Nobody involved in diplomacy can kid themselves that they are in charge, or in control.
The single most important thing someone can do for a talk is to plan three or four rehearsals in front of people who are like the audience who will be receiving it; it may be one person or three, but you really should do that and discover what works, what doesn't, what's clumsy, what resonates.
I remember taking my daughter to a speech I gave when she was just 5 years old, I wanted her to see mummy on stage as a way of showing her that she could be whatever she wanted to be.
Be ashamed to die unless you have won some victory for humanity. Nobody should make the world worse off for their having lived in it. Everyone has the obligation to add their brick to the edifice of civilisation, and whether that brick is big or small, it means you have contributed to building- not destroying.
We believe innovation should be a continuous activity. It should be a capability that you are developing and attending to regularly. It requires a kind of fodder of new problems all the time in order to be refining and developing.
In fact, imposter syndrome is a symptom that we are leading because leaders are doing something that's never been done before and so of course you will feel like an imposter, because you are one! Who can guarantee something is going to work? Not you, not anyone.
The key to being successful in business is trust, you have to trust the people you work with. This trust must co-exist with competence. First and foremost the people in your business have to be extremely competent at what they do, and then it's up-to you as a leader to have trust in them.
My aspiration, both pre- and post-accident, has always been to fully embrace life's offerings. For me, success isn't about the endpoint; it's about the journey – the growth from where I began and the rich stories gathered along the way. I'm passionate about setting ambitious goals, committing fully, and approaching them with courage and audacity.
I hope that the totality of what I've done, or that which Freada and I have done together, really gives people a sense of hope and possibility, in a practical way, that business can be a constructive force in the world and genuinely help make the world a better place for everyone.
Just as you wouldn't want a surgeon to go from one operating theater to the next without having washed their hands, you don't want a manager to go from one context to the next without being in a position where they can actually do some good—or at least do no harm.