Morrison’s novels are all motivated by an idea: some complex knotty inquiry that she could work through in the space of a novel. As Morrison described it, the idea for Beloved began when she read a newspaper article about Margaret Garner—a 19th-century woman who fled slavery with her children. Facing capture, Garner killed one of her children and t... See more

No matter how much wisdom you gain from the pages of your favorite author, if you haven’t experienced the visceral events that led to that wisdom yourself, then it’s just knowledge. Sure, you can leverage the hard-earned wisdom of others to help you, but understanding only happens when you earn that wisdom in the tumultuous arena of real life.

Obama's career advice for young people -- Just learn how to get stuff done. What I mean by that is I've seen at every level people who are very good at describing problems, people who are very sophisticated at explaining why something went wrong or why something can't get fixed. But, what I’m always looking for is, no matter how small the probl... See more

Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.

When a manager assigns a team a difficult but achievable job, the moderate stress of the task releases neurochemicals, including oxytocin and adrenocorticotropin, that intensify people’s focus and strengthen social connections. When team members need to work together to reach a goal, brain activity coordinates their behaviors efficiently. But this ... See more

I think this is probably an experience that many, many, particularly women but probably others feel, is the sense of loss of who we essentially are because of the requirements of what we do. And so I think a lot of people were really funny, and I think a lot of people were really silly, and I think a lot of people were really playful.