A note to young leaders. All the great leaders I know enjoy their own company. It’s a rare quality – especially in the hyper-stimulated, screen-saturated world we live in. Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and philosopher once observed: “All of humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Is this […]
Building a business starts not with millions of users, but with genuine connection to a devoted few. The lesson from Airbnb’s early days is clear: before you can scale, you must first get close enough to your customers to truly understand them. Love is what goes viral, not just like. […]
Read More… from The Airbnb Lesson Every New Business Needs to Hear
Great public speaking is not about filling time, it is about sharpening your message until it cuts clean. When your audience grows restless, brevity is not a retreat but a sign of respect. A leader who knows when to stop speaking has already said the most important thing. […]
Read More… from Brevity Is the Soul of Great Public Speaking
We always get the leaders we deserve, and tolerating mediocrity in politics guarantees it. Plato believed the best governments are led by those most reluctant to govern. If you care about the future, your duty is to participate in politics rather than leave it to others. […]
In January 2009, Airbnb was on the verge of collapse until its founders showed Paul Graham something more powerful than a great idea: determination. They had hand-made and sold cereal boxes just to keep the lights on. Their refusal to quit turned a failed pitch into a billion-dollar company. […]
When you help charity, the impact can be as tangible as a hot meal on a cold night. Kids Giving Back feeds thousands of Sydney’s homeless each year through its school programs. Now they need the community to rally so they can keep cooking. […]
To be aware of your flaws is already to be partly free of them, but to be aware of your virtues is to begin losing them. Self-awareness, applied rightly, is a path out of vice and into growth. Applied wrongly, it turns your best qualities into performance. […]
Read More… from All Things Self-Conscious Are Only Half-Alive
A note to young leaders. I recently caught up with a thoughtful and talented member of the NSW Parliament. He asked me whether I had any bold policy ideas that his party should consider. Here’s what I told him: “Payroll tax is a terrible tax at the best of times – but in the age […]
Read More… from Bold Tax Reform Starts With Abolishing Payroll Tax
Oscar winners outlive their peers not because of money or status, but because winning reinforces self-belief at a cellular level. The good news is that you do not need a trophy to access the same effect. Genuine self-belief, the kind rooted in knowing your own worth, is the most powerful health intervention available to you. […]
Read More… from Self-Belief Is the Statue You Award Yourself