From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Excellence is not about perfection, it's about consistency and the relentless pursuit of something better. Every dish is an opportunity to elevate the craft.
What really matters is how well you know yourself — because every aspect of your leadership is expressed through your personality. I think that single trait — self-awareness — or rather, that skillset, outweighs all the others put together.
Mental resilience is supported by practice and preparation, but it also comes from knowing, deep down, that you're supposed to be where you are. Confidence in your purpose is crucial. By focusing on the next step, and then the one after that, while keeping the big picture in mind, you can effectively accomplish the mission.
If you don't have some failures continually, it is a signal that you have retreated into the conservative past.
I think that if you care about something, then you have a mission. Knowing that, and that your specific set of skills and experience brings something special to that mission, are key.
We try to make decisions through a kind of committee-based approach around what species we're going to bring back, where we're going to invest our dollars, and what fits our core ethos. If it's not going to be beneficial to humans, if we can't do it at arm's length from humans, and if we can't do it in a way that's good for animals, then we just don't touch it.
I wanted to impart this fundamental philosophy that a person should endeavour to better the world, an aspiration divorced from monetary considerations. While some might contend that financial power is a prerequisite for effecting change, I don't subscribe to this belief.
We do have quite a bit of agency over our lives, and to the degree that we can plot our own course and choose our lives as opposed to being subject to environmental factors, that means we're leading the lives we want rather than the lives we have-to live.
As business-leaders we have to start taking responsibility to speak-out about our own struggles, so that others do the same- and by doing so, make our teams and our peers realise that it's fine to not be fine.
The most common mistake is to stop challenging when things are going well. I recognise failure as not having made a business better than when you were first involved.
When a coach gains the player's confidence and establishes a strong partnership, they can effectively motivate the player, boost their confidence, and help them break through barriers. This can elevate a player's career to new heights.
Anti-goals are all about what you refuse to give up while chasing those goals. The trap a lot of people fall into is getting so laser-focused on the target that everything else just fades away. You put on blinders.