From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I think it's about usefulness! People talk of 'following your passion' but there are plenty of things people are passionate about that nobody will pay them money for, so you can't just tell someone to just follow their passion. The missing piece? usefulness... We say the magic formula is: Passion + Usefulness = Success.
Western societies have to heed the strategies of the east where innovation and progress are fundamental parts of their attitudes to business. Japanese carmakers built their sustainability from their constant ability to innovate rather than being cheaper.
Not all financial contracts are created equal. We should not assume that there is one single benchmark for all types of financial transactions. There are certain transactions that should be based on market rates, and others which call for the kind of benchmark that LIBOR provides.
Social media has decreased distance and that means that we are just as passionately bothered about things on the other side of the world, as we are things in our home town. Social media transparency has had, and is having, a huge impact on stakeholder visibility.
The world is lying to you. It tells you that in 10,000 hours you can become excellent at what you do and that your strength will never wane. That is a complete, utter, falsehood. At some point, the greatness that came to define who 'you' are will wane.
We use these tools to do things quicker – but that never help us get on top of everything because they systematically increase the size of the 'everything' – It's a rigged game!
We're only just acknowledging the importance of those relationships. They're incredibly important because when they're positive, they're a source of joy, energy, productivity, and resilience. There's a lot of research that shows that when we have friends at work, we are more resilient, and we perform better.
Most of the time, startup ideas don't work. Most of the time, the world stays as it is. The status quo has an advantage; it has a built-in upper hand. For a startup to win, it has to be not merely better than what's there; it has to propose something radically different, something that never could have existed before.
Most leaders are running human organisations, not financial organisations. This means they need to understand how to motivate, inspire and organise people first rather than capital first. This requires a set of skills that traditionally have not been taught in business schools.
I believe businesses need to move away from having profit as their primary reason for existing. Profit primacy can be replaced by mission primacy.
As the great baseball star Earl Weaver once said, 'Nobody likes to hear it, because it's dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same – pitching.'
What's beautiful is when you're filling your bank account and your soul account. There are two accounts! You can't chase those goals at the expense of your own character, that makes you a paper tiger, a fool.