George Saunders is a New York Times bestselling American writer of short stories, essays, novellas and children’s books. In 2000, The New Yorker named him one of the “Best Writers Under 40.” He writes regularly for The New Yorker and Harper’s, as well as Esquire, GQ, and The New York Times Magazine.
My Definition Of Success | For me, real success would mean becoming more clear and loving in all things – more generous and less anxious. I also want these qualities to show up in my writing – to make my stories more big-hearted and spacious.
I Am Driven By | I think it’s just a very natural feeling that life is beautiful and very interesting. I wake up in the morning feeling that way and eager to get to work, and sort of pay tribute to that feeling of love for life.
A Key Talent | One thing you can learn by working on writing is to be in touch with your own reactions to your work, and trust those reactions. This lesson can move out into your life as well. You can learn to watch your own mind as you move through the world, and trust your reaction, and adjust your actions accordingly. The only thing that stops progress is our (very natural) tendency to deny or suppress our reactions to things. As long as we listen to those feelings, things are always workable.
Principles I Live By | Try to really believe, with all your heart, that other people are as real and valid as you are. They want the same things, love the same things, fear the same things, even if they seem not to. You might not always be right about them, but it’s a good place to start.
How I Use My Mind | I believe strongly in meditation – in our ability to observe our own minds and thus learn who and what we really are. I also believe in trying to suspend judgment as long as possible. I love this quite, from the movie “Philadelphia Story”: “The time to make up your mind about people is never.”
Performing At My Peak | Well, I think it’s important to understand that you won’t always perform at your peak. If you are doing something worthwhile, you will encounter all sorts of peaks and valleys. So I think the trick is to keep your sense of humor so you can ride through the bad times. I guess this amounts to a kind of slow patience: you are interested in the task and are willing to take it just as it is – if it turns out to be harder than you thought, well, good – that means it is even more worthy than you first thought (i.e., it is a worthy opponent).
My Future Dreams And Ambitions | I’d like to write a really beautiful book. I mean a REALLY beautiful book.
The Meaning Of Life | To grow in love. That’s it. We exist in a state in which we have access to infinite love and luminosity but our habits and obstructions keep us feeling only a tiny portion of it. So I believe this life is a mad dash to open ourselves up to that light within us.
I Am Inspire d By | I am inspired by the writers Chekhov, Tobias Wolff, Tolstoy, Toni Morrison, Nikolai Gogol. Also by Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama, and by my wife and children.
The Legacy I Would Like To Leave | I’d like to be known as a kind person who felt a lot of love for life, and conveyed this in the way I lived and related to other people.
Tessa Plen is a highly accomplished global change-agent for growth and development of individuals, companies and products. She has worked in senior positions at blue-chip multinationals like Colgate Palmolive (associate Director of Innovation) and Unilever in South Africa, Paris, London, Sydney and New York before recently returning to South Africa. She has implemented growth and […]
Penny Heyns TLP is, without doubt, the world’s greatest female breaststroke swimmer of the 20th Century. She is the only woman in Olympic history to win both the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke events in Atlanta 1996 and broke 14 individual world records during her career. Her achievements brought her personal audiences with Nelson Mandela […]
Emily Bell is the first girl to kayak the length of Britain as the crew captain on Sean Conway’s record-breaking swim. Stand-up paddle boarded 1001 miles down the Missouri River as the writer on Dave Cornthwaite’s big swim. Back in London, she is Deputy Editor of new adventure magazine, Avaunt. With many other adventures up […]
Stefan Antoni is South Africa’s very own “Howard Roarke” – creatively brilliant, outlandishly bold and prolific. He is today, without doubt, one of the most formidable and most decorated architects that South Africa has produced in recent times. Together with his partners and colleagues at SAOTA, he has continued to stretch the boundaries of creative […]
Jason is one of the leading thinkers, consultants, strategists and educators in the emerging world of social media marketing. Jason Falls is a leading digital strategist, author, speaker and thinker in the digital and social media marketing industry. He is an innovator in the conversation research segment of social analytics, having published the first-ever Conversation […]
Francisca Kakra Forson is an international freelance journalist with Voice of America and West Africa Democracy radio based in Ghana and a consultant for the Institute for Statistical, Social & Economic Research at the University of Ghana. She is also fast becoming a powerful social activist and in-demand motivational speaker with a passion for matters […]
David Grier – TLP is a speaker, chef and dedicated athlete and adventurist. He´s was born on the 16th of January 1960 into a Cape wine farming family in South Africa, here his love of the outdoors, food, wine and adventure began. He set out to take all his passions to the extreme and explore […]
Designer and Technologist Jessi Baker (b.1984) creates user-centered experiences. She is particularly interested in the relationship between individual and collective decision making and emerging technologies. Jessi studied Engineering at Cambridge University (2003-2007) receiving sponsorship from Arup Consulting engineers throughout her degree. During her time at Cambridge, she won numerous awards for entrepreneurship and design, notably […]
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