From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I'm not about legacy, I sweat the small stuff and don't think too much about the big picture. I don't have big lofty goals, I just have goals I can execute, and sometimes experiments I run.
Without the existence of Europe, smaller countries like mine [Estonia] would have a difficult time to survive economically or even from a defence perspective. The internal European market is absolutely vital for the functioning of the very different economies of the continent.
Silence is not an option. Businesses have an obligation to make sure their products and services meet the needs of humanity in a way that is not damaging, but healthy.
Entrepreneurship is not for everybody, and it's also worth noting that you're not entitled to be a great entrepreneur. You're not entitled to be successful if you start a company, in fact the most likely outcome is that you won't be. Sometimes I meet founders and entrepreneurs who complain about how hard their fundraising or engineering challenges are… Guess what… yes…. It's really f***ing hard. That's the truth.
Trust is the golden thread that runs through not just a kidnap negotiation or a business deal, but life in general. It takes a long time to build, but it's lost in an instant. Trust is about following through—doing what you say you're going to do.
I never started off with money, I started off with love. The love of being an entrepreneur. The love of being a lawyer. The love of being an athlete. When you start off with love, people will love and respect you and you will always be monetarily rewarded.
Our apps and platforms are addictive by design. We know this both because the tech titans behind them have admitted it publicly, and because the dominant apps and social media platforms use the same suite of techniques that are well-proven to ensnare us.
People underestimate their personal probability of encountering negative events. It is not so much that individuals believe that negative events will not happen, but rather that these events are relatively unlikely to happen to them.
She corrected me, saying, 'Dad, it's not just about avoiding the negative; I want my investments to contribute positively.' The rise of impact investing is undeniable. This generation seeks a hands-on approach to their wealth deployment. They're astute enough to demand both positive societal impact and good returns.
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!
The biggest challenge is a lack of confidence. Confidence is preventing businesses from investing significant amounts of their balance sheet strength, they simply do not feel they will get returns on that investment, and so they're holding cash.
I've done a few very-right things in my life that I'm proud of, and one of them was getting to know Joey and bringing him into the business. Joey was a gift, and we knew we shouldn't miss out on him.