From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I have learnt that situations in themselves are not inherently stressful. Our perception of situations is what creates stress for us. Some players thrive in the biggest sporting occasions and others struggle to cope.
Steve Jobs
Time is a very valuable thing, when you contribute your time to others- you've contributed something of great value.
I had this burning passion in me to prove to myself, and on behalf of other women, that if my voice was being stifled... and if I was being treated a certain way... that I had to stand up. What type of example would I set to other women and girls? I had to show that if you get knocked off the horse, you get right back up.
You are as good as your highest level of preparation in any negotiation. In any negotiation, you develop trust by putting in time where you don't have any skin in the game; that means you need to watch negotiations happen- and get a feel for how it's done. You can't just throw yourself in at the deep end and hope you can swim.
All the talks I give are about failure, how hard it is, how much this job kinda' sucks and genuinely how tough it is. People often go into this world thinking it's all roses, and it's not.
Entrepreneurship is the relentless drive to carry-on, no matter what. Entrepreneurship is tolerance, focus and dedication. Entrepreneurship is this 'true north' belief that whatever this 'thing' is that you want to bring to culture, that you will see it through… and that you are the one here to usher it into existence.
People think these founders are all brilliant and can't make mistakes, we've found that; there's a sense that they can fix everything or have the answers for everything… they don't, and they can't.
I believe that culture isn't a continuous act. At key inflexion points, it's vital to look at your culture – do our values really represent who we are today and who we want to be?
We have to create systems that make people think twice before they behave badly. People need to credibly believe that there will be consequences to their actions if caught in random stings. If you are in a position where you are uniquely able to wield power- politics, police, corporate leadership- you should be randomly subject to attempts to see if you behave badly when offered the opportunity to do so.
I have always believed in the principle that what comes easily can leave just as easily. Instead of merely 'buying' talent, which could later be 'bought' by another company, it is more impactful to create opportunities for potential talent. We need to see talent in more humanistic terms.
There's a compelling mission—both because of the enormous economic opportunity it represents, if it succeeds, and because of the broader impact it can have on the world. The mission is defined by a stubborn technical challenge. It has to be hard. No one wants to work on something that isn't difficult, and in a sense, choosing the hardest problems becomes a moat.