When you experience a failure as a leader, don’t hide it – talk about it. Your missed opportunity will encourage others to take risks. – Naveen Jain
I have seen humility in many of the finest leaders I have met the world over. And indeed, it is embodied in the warm, engaging and quintessentially successful spirit of Sir Richard Branson. – Naveen Jain
Humans have always used our intelligence and creativity to improve our existence. After all, we invented the wheel, discovered how to make fire, invented the printing press and found a vaccine for polio. – Naveen Jain
Education should not be about building more schools and maintaining a system that dates back to the Industrial Revolution. We can achieve so much more, at unmatched scale with software and interactive learning. – Naveen Jain
Success is not about how much money we have in the bank, but it’s about how many peoples’ lives we have impacted through it. Success is experienced when we do things which are never done before. – Naveen Jain
The United States of America became the envy of the world because we welcomed the best and brightest minds from anywhere on the planet and gave them the opportunity to succeed. – Naveen Jain
Go where your customers take you! For example, did you know that Sony’s first product was a rice cooker? Since abandoning the rice cooker, it has merely managed to become the world’s biggest consumer electronics company. – Naveen Jain
The real metric of success isn’t the size of your bank account. It’s the number of lives in whom you might be able to make a positive difference. – Naveen Jain
Successful entrepreneurs find the balance between listening to their inner voice and staying persistent in driving for success – because sometimes success is waiting right across from the transitional bump that’s disguised as failure. – Naveen Jain
My children have been learning lessons about entrepreneurship since they were in kindergarten, and these lessons are paying off: even though they are only 22, 18, and 15, they have already collectively launched three nonprofit organizations and several new businesses. – Naveen Jain
Why is it that our young kids all across America can solve the most complex problems in a video game involving executive decision making and analytical thinking, yet we accept the fact that they can’t add or read? – Naveen Jain
Because I was poor I had one special advantage. When you are poor, and basic survival is your concern, you have no alternative but to be an entrepreneur. You must take action to survive just as you must take action to seize an opportunity. – Naveen Jain
Philanthropy is not about giving money but about solving problems. While well-meaning, the idea of writing a check and calling it ‘philanthropy’ is extremely short-sighted and unfortunately, extremely pervasive. – Naveen Jain
Each one of us has the power to be the change we want to see in the world, making the world a better place. – Naveen Jain
As a child I experienced firsthand the severe effects of poverty and illiteracy, especially upon women and children. My parents taught me the importance of education and that it was a key to improving an individual’s life. – Naveen Jain
The human brain works as a binary computer and can only analyze the exact information-based zeros and ones (or black and white). Our heart is more like a chemical computer that uses fuzzy logic to analyze information that can’t be easily defined in zeros and ones. – Naveen Jain
We are now living in a fast paced technological era where every skill that we teach our children becomes obsolete in the 10 to 15 years due to exponentially growing technological advances. – Naveen Jain
I came to the United States in the early ’80s and was welcomed with open arms and given the opportunity to pursue my dreams. God has been very kind to us. My family and I are fortunate enough to be successful and we feel a tremendous responsibility and obligation to give back to our great country. – Naveen Jain
I believe that entrepreneurs play an unmatched role and the accelerating pace of innovation is transforming the face of global challenges. You must think about the solution differently when you’re trying to impact 1 billion people rather than affecting 1 million people. – Naveen Jain
Being a father has been, without a doubt, my greatest source of achievement, pride and inspiration. Fatherhood has taught me about unconditional love, reinforced the importance of giving back and taught me how to be a better person. – Naveen Jain
Our education system was developed for an industrial era where we could teach certain skills to our children and they were able to use these skills for the rest of their lives working productively in an industry. – Naveen Jain
Once humans traded their hunter-gatherer existences for more settled communities, we began a quest to make our lives better and more comfortable, but we’ve also been sucking precious finite resources from our environment ever since. – Naveen Jain
I worked for Microsoft until 1996, till I had a different angle to view life. I wanted to be an entrepreneur and control my own destiny. – Naveen Jain
Governments take too long to get things done and there are far too many varied interests at stake. If you were starting a business today and needed a partner, you would never choose a large bureaucratic institution like the government. – Naveen Jain
We begin to change the world when we stimulate long-term prosperity using technology. There is not a problem that’s large enough that innovation and entrepreneurship can’t solve. – Naveen Jain
I believe our legacy will be defined by the accomplishments and fearless nature by which our daughters and sons take on the global challenges we face. I also wonder if perhaps the most lasting expression of one’s humility lies in our ability to foster and mentor our children. – Naveen Jain
I understand human needs. I grew up where far too many people lived day to day without elemental needs like food and shelter. – Naveen Jain
Don’t wallow in brainstorming. Time spent fiddling with a business plan or filling up whiteboards with ideas is time that you could spend actually launching your business and seeing if the idea floats. Launching gives you real, solid feedback, instead of the imaginary ‘what if’ scenarios dreamed up in a conference room. – Naveen Jain
Athletes at all ages are bigger and stronger than ever before. And they are being encouraged – sometimes even incentivized, as we recently learned was the case on at least one National Football League team – to play to injure. – Naveen Jain
