“When we look at talent, and particularly capabilities, around the world, we have a lot more places to look for it today than thirty years ago. There’s the fall of the Iron Curtain … and great institutions are being built. We have a lot more places where you can get great talent, capabilities, where you can get manufacturing and services done. The world is much more diverse than what we had before.”
Hans-Paul Burkner, President and CEO, the Boston Consulting Group
“Communication doesn’t mean homogenization. Just because we can figure out ways to talk to teach other doesn’t mean we’re all saying the same thing.”
Jerry Webman, Chief Economist, OppenheimerFunds
“Diversity is here, complexity is here, and that puts a premium on tolerance, empathy and being open-minded.”
Mostafa Terrab, Chairman, OCP Group, Morocco
“It took me some time to have the courage to say, ‘I don’t know.’”
Arun Jain, Founder and CEO, Polaris Software, India
“We need to change this word failure and talk about experience. From good things you take energy and from bad things you take learning.”
François Barrault, Chairman, FDB Partners, former President, BT International
A lot of leaders are not using the technology that is shaping the society that we live in. So there’s a gap. How can you lead in this world if you’re not attuned to the tools that are shaping it?”
Bonin Bough, Global Head of Digital, Pepsico
Federico Restrepo, CEO, EPM Empresas Publicas de Medellin: “It has actually become an advantage to come from an environment with a lot of risk. We have an advantage against companies in Europe and the US in our expansion, since we are more accustomed to handling that risk.”
Karl Sauvant, Executive Director, Vale Columbia: “There are about 3,500 ‘multilatinas,’ though most people only know the top companies like those represented here (i.e. Cenepolis, Odebrecht). That shows immediately a need to identify who the players are in the FDI market headquartered in Latin America becoming serious players in the world investment market.”
“All forms of leadership need a little bit of time and space for reflection…I’m not sure I want to live in a world where every communique is published.”
–Tom Glocer, CEO, Thomson Reuters
“I do think this crisis was wasted, because we didn’t rise up as a nation. If we want to put people back to work in this country, we do need an industrial nation.” – Lynn Tilton, CEO, Patriarch Partners
“What is going on in the Arab world is that people want a better life. But in Tunisia and Egypt today, they are now grappling with, ‘OK, it’s not as easy as we hoped it would be…’”
–Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive, Bahrain Economic Development Board
“It is critically important for China to have more auditing, law firms and financial services firms to help China have the kind of
business and regulatory environment consistent with the world
standard.”
–Long Yongtu, Chairman and General Secretary, Boao Forum for Asia
Steve Case: “We need to double down on supporting our entrepreneurs, the secret sauce of the economy. They are the most essential part of driving innovation and driving the economy.”
“Think of a business goal for the next 18 months. Who are the three people with whom better relationship strength would allow you to have stronger success in that goal? Write them down for a Relationship Acceleration Plan associated with a particular goal.”
– Keith Ferrazzi, CEO, Ferrazzi Greenlight
Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chair, Ernst & Young: “As an economic force, women constitute an emerging economic market only third behind China and India.”
“This country has a set of problems that won’t solve itself. On the other hand, there is no country that we’d like to trade problems with.” — David Leonhardt, Economics Journalist, The New York Times
“Let’s be honest here, the promises that have been made to people over 65 in this country, we can’t do it … our system is completely outrageous” — Mike McCallister, CEO, Humana
“We have a large long-term fiscal imbalance which is unsustainable. Economists on the right and the left have made the argument that it would be perfectly possible for the US to adopt a multiyear credible tough-minded deficit reduction path and plan to bring the debt-to-GDP ratio over time and not to withdraw fiscal support for the economy which is already in place. Economically speaking we need to worry about the fact that if the economy remains weak through the end of this year and we start pulling out support from the government we will slow the economy down further.” — Laura Tyson, Professor of Economics, University of California Berkeley
“It’s often said that a crisis is too important to waste. I don’t think most of the world feels our political leaders are rising to the occasion.” –Michael Oreskes, Senior Managing Editor, Associated Press
“We are now in the youth of our development in the markets with China,” said Feng Lun, Chairman, Vantone Holdings Company. ”Just like a child whose muscle, bone and thinking is imbalanced as it grows, we are working towards maturity and towards hope.”
“There’s a hunger and ambition [in places like China], a desire to grow and improve that used to define our country,” said Jeffrey Kindler, former Chairman and CEO of Pfizer. “Entrepreneurs in Rio or Istanbul who are more [into] the American dream than Americans are. But we still have the ability.”
Beyond being a place to start a company, New York has been my own personal research lab over the past ten years, which helps me find out: What is the magic sauce that makes people want to use these things we are building? The diversity of New York makes it the best lab to test these things not just for early adopters but for real people who are going to use it. – Dennis Crowley, CEO Foursquare
“This [the uprising in the Middle East] was an apolitical revolution. It was about freedom. In a connected world, power has gone from power over people to power through the people.” – Dov Seidman, Chairman and CEO, LRN