David Lidington Quotes

One of the main lessons I have learned the last five years as Secretary-General is that the United Nations cannot function properly without the support of the business community and civil society. We need to have tripartite support - the governments, the business communities and the civil society.

But I'm a big believer that government does not have a monopoly on good ideas.

By simply capitalizing on core strengths and knowledge, companies and entrepreneurs can engage in an emerging business model that will enable them to create - and demonstrate - real, sustainable social impact in society.

The social entrepreneurs are governments' best friends.

Over the past decade... while many businesses have pursued what I call 'business as usual,' I have been part of a different, smaller business movement, one that tried to put idealism back on the agenda.

I have realised more and more that great companies, founded for a long-term purpose, such as Google or Facebook or SpaceX, may do more good in the world than any other vehicle that we have.

Everyone says you've got to do a foundation and legal structure to finance social change. What nonsense!

The world's biggest problems are the world's biggest market opportunities. And that's a huge thing. Solve hunger, literacy and energy problems, get the gratitude of the world and become a billionaire in the process.

If you had told me when I was at high school that one day I would be working for a for-profit company, let alone running one, I would have said you were crazy. But I am interested in how you can empower individuals to make change, and Causes is doing just that.

We've already gotten a significant grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and a university consortium. I think the whole sector of Foundations, potentially with government support, is promising - more than promising, I think, it's substantial.

The main message of 'Smarter Than You Think' is an attempt to look at the productively new and interesting ways that we have begun to learn about the world, to think about what we found, and to mull it over and argue about it with other people as we use technology.

Good entrepreneurs can manage, but no one but an entrepreneur can entrepreneur, let alone help build and lead the world's community of leading social entrepreneurs and their top business entrepreneur allies.

I think we need to rethink a lot of business skills. In finance, for example, social impact bonds are potentially a way of providing capital for investments that save the public money in a context in which government often doesn't invest in things that would save it money.

Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance.

While governments are not off the hook, the charity world needs to innovate and find new ways to attract outside investment to boost our social productivity.

The worlds of art, philanthropy, and business are absolutely intertwined.

There's a lot of buzz words in the business world these days - Design thinking, innovation, fast-failure, disruption, cross-functional leadership - and at the heart of every one of these concepts is the ability for people to make small moves forward, learn, iterate.

What's interesting about collaborations is the possibility for one plus one to equal three.

I am willing to do business and I'm willing to play ball with anyone, for I am very open-minded.

Purpose has always been part of Unilever's DNA. Our founder, William Lever, built a business around the sale of Lifebuoy soap that was not only profitable and sustainable but also helped transform the health of the poor in Victorian Britain.

I like to learn from everyone I perform with. I have learnt a lot from Paritosh Tripathi, my co-anchor on 'Super Dancer,' and also my good friend Ravi Dubey.

Look at what is broken in society, figure out how to make it better, and then, around that, formulate a business.

It's helpful to get feedback on your work, and I think you learn a lot from reading other people's work and giving them feedback.

The biggest sources of opportunity are collaboration and partnership. And today, with digital communication, there is more of that everywhere. We need to expose ourselves to that as a matter of doing business.

The world has many very smart people who are doing interesting and different things, and there is no better way to learn than to interact with them.