“The people who influence the best are the ones who take the advice of the ancient Chinese military expert, Sun Tzu. Every battle is won before it's fought. If you put people in a mindset that is congruent with the major focus of the message you are yet to send them, it opens the door to persuasion.”
— Robert Cialdini
Influence & Persuasion Expert; Author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

The quote archive

Business

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

You have to get under the skin of every employee, becoming a chief meaning officer, giving your team purpose, getting everyone on the same page. You have to make sure your entire team knows where they're going, how they're going to get there, and what's in it for them.

— Jack Welch

Former CEO of General Electric; Pioneered "Jack Welch Management" Techniques

Your corporate's social responsibility is to win. You cannot be generous from an empty wagon! This nonsense about giving when you're broke is ridiculous. Corporate responsibility, first and foremost, is to win. You can then take those resources from winning and allocate them as you see fit. That's not a popular statement, but it's the truth!

— Jack Welch

Former CEO of General Electric; Pioneered "Jack Welch Management" Techniques

Establishing a culture of truth and trust is absolutely critical to being a great leader, and that takes effort and energy every day. You have to ceaselessly reach for truth and trust every day, and you have to be relentless in your pursuit of trust, and show your people that you have their back.

— Jack Welch

Former CEO of General Electric; Pioneered "Jack Welch Management" Techniques

The sleep revolution is finally hitting the workplace. It's not in full swing yet, but you can see the evidence all around. But now the business world is waking up to the high cost of sleep deprivation on productivity, health care, and ultimately the bottom line. I expect the nap room to soon become as universal as the conference room.

— Arianna Huffington

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

Sleep became not just devalued but actively scorned. After all, every hour spent sleeping was another hour spent not working—therefore another wasted hour. And despite a growing awareness of the importance of well-being, so many of our modern attitudes still reflect this.

— Arianna Huffington

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

This crisis is rooted in the collective delusion that burnout is the necessary price we must pay for accomplishment and success. Recent scientific findings make it clear that this couldn't be less true. Our golden age of sleep science is revealing all the ways in which sleep plays a vital role in our decision making, emotional intelligence, cognitive function, and creativity. Not only is there no tradeoff between living a well-rounded life and high performance, performance is actually improved when our lives include time for renewal.

— Arianna Huffington

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

Countries trade with each-other, and trade is in the context of goods, services, labour and many other things. They trade with each other because they're different, and have different tastes and preferences, different attitudes towards risk, different technological frontiers, different resources, different climate and ecologies and so on. It's differences in tastes and preferences, resources and technology together with ways of thinking (manifesting in managerial and design differences) which are the reasons countries benefit when they trade with each other in goods, services, finance and labour.

— Catherine Mann

To rephrase John F. Kennedy, we are choosing to go to the Moon, not because it's easy, but because it's a great business!

— Naveen Jain

Entrepreneur & Founder of Moon Express, Infosys Technologies Co-Founder

The first trillionaires are going to be created through space exploration. Imagine the mineral wealth on planet Earth, and then realise that Earth is just a tiny blue dot in our whole galaxy… which is just one galaxy in a universe, which could be part of many universes. Everything we think is rare on Earth, is abundant in space.

— Naveen Jain

Entrepreneur & Founder of Moon Express, Infosys Technologies Co-Founder

You may become rich, engage in philanthropy and help a million people but the only way you can help a billion people is by building a profitable business. Making money has almost become a taboo! People say, 'oh my god! You're making money?' and I say, 'you know what? I'm so proud that my business makes money… it's the only way I can scale and make a huge impact…'

— Naveen Jain

Entrepreneur & Founder of Moon Express, Infosys Technologies Co-Founder

Well, do you remember those Venn Diagrams from school? Those overlapping circles to represent what two things do and don't have in common? The overlap of these two is incredibly fertile territory and this is exactly where businesses in the U.S. and UK see each other – places where they both need to do business and want to do business.

— Matthew W. Barzun

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom

I don't micro-manage, I give them enough rope to hang themselves. If I trust you, I'll let you find your way, because that could lead to something I hadn't thought of. Lastly, I don't work with anyone I don't like.

— Donna Karan

Renowned Fashion Designer & Founder of DKNY Brand

A brand has to be authentic and be born of a personal passion. If you, its creator, doesn't want the product, no one else will. If you want it, chances are it will be wanted around the world. Desires are universal and speak in every language.

— Donna Karan

Renowned Fashion Designer & Founder of DKNY Brand

The founder is the innovator, the one who sets the wheels in motion. Once it's up and running, the founder's job is to empower and inspire others with the message, to nurture and make believers out of everyone who comes close, internally and externally.

— Donna Karan

Renowned Fashion Designer & Founder of DKNY Brand

I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach for talent, you have to approach every individual and opportunity from a bespoke perspective.

— Troy Carter

Music executive and manager, founder of Meadows and Q&A platform

Passion matters… It's rarely a straight-line to success, usually it's a roller-coaster.

— Steve Case

Co-Founder of America Online (AOL) & Venture Capitalist