Disruptive Entrepreneur

A charismatic leader with a bad team will fail, but an uncharismatic leader with a great team is more likely to succeed. So, to me, that's just the proof that leadership is over-glorified because it makes for a more interesting story, but the truth is it's the team that makes things happen.

Business is not business plans; it's not financial plans; it's not spreadsheets; it's not profit and loss statements. Business is just serving people.

In business, persistence is polite because the alternative is to contact somebody once, and if you don't get what you want, you give up and you curse them and say bad things about them for years to come. Whereas, instead, if you understand that a rejection is nothing personal at all [and] has nothing to do with you; it's just their current situation... Well, then [it's] actually very thoughtful and polite of you to just politely persist.

The thing that separates the really appealing businesses from those that aren't is generosity.

True friendship is almost purely emotional. I don't care what somebody's achieved in their life or how book smart they are; it's all about your emotional trust with somebody. That's what makes a real friendship. The most smart, intellectual, interesting famous person, if you don't feel an emotional safety with that person, isn't really a friend; they're an acquaintance.

You don't need a great idea. Ultimately, business is just helping people. It's just being a public servant. You're just helping people with whatever they need help with.

I think that our actions reveal our values much better than our words do.

Success is whatever makes you feel proud.

I'm not money ambitious. I'm not the kind of person that would say 'Drop me anywhere on Earth with a dollar in my hand, and I'll turn it to a million within a year.' I'm not that guy because I don't care that much. I'm ambitious in my ideas, but not in my bank account.

TED Talks are only interesting if they surprise you. If somebody gets up there, no matter how emotional they may be... If they only tell you stuff you already know, or especially if they only tell you their own life story, to me, it's just not interesting. You don't remember those. The ones you remember are the ones that make you go, 'Huh, that's weird. That's completely opposite of what I would have thought. That upends my expectations on this thing.'

I think the best thing you can do to get anything you want is to want much, much less.

Shallow happy is just doing what I want now; deep happy is doing what I want most.

Amplify your quirks instead of downplaying them. Set yourself apart from the crowd at every step.

I'm just a natural introvert. I really, really like solitude. I just love doing things by myself, so this idea of having a team of people reporting to me and all that... I don't really want that again.