Todd Park Quotes

Traditional hackathons are fun and focused on skill and competition, but we believe that events which focus on the positive social impact of technology engage a wider and more diverse set of participants.

Startups are often best at solving the personal problems of their founders. The more diverse the founders, the more types of problems can be solved - and the more people who will be positively impacted by technology.

In an age of exponential change, we need the power of diverse thinking, and we cannot afford to leave any talent untapped.

As a government leader, I'm not going to sit on the sidelines and watch all these other sectors innovate. I'm going to do everything I can as a leader to be in that innovation, to be a provocateur for that innovation.

If you're in government, the right thing to do is be focused on solving real problems and asking what's the best solution to a particular problem.

We could go work on curing cancer. We could go work on building spaceships. We could go work on art projects. What's fun about working at Asana is we get to work on all of them at the same time.

I draw pleasure in governance, in doing new things and bringing people together. That pleasure is all I need from life.

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

The social entrepreneurs are governments' best friends.

We know that diversity can sometimes be more uncomfortable because things are less familiar - but it gets the best results.

Innovation is all about people. Innovation thrives when the population is diverse, accepting and willing to cooperate.

The aim of open government is to take advantage of the know-how and entrepreneurial spirit of those outside government institutions to work together with those inside government to solve problems.

The best work for creative folks on the team is when the problem is big and the solution escapes everyone.

There is a possibility of fresh talent coming to work for the government. Millennials are the most public-spirited generation since the 1960s. There is an opportunity to harness that generation and make government service cool again.

To succeed in the tech industry, you start businesses, make money, and make smart investments. But to succeed in the tech community, you do and build awesome things, are generous with your time and efforts, and make a point of making space for strangers - without any expectation of payback.

I only want to work with transparent ideas and accessible technologies that 'spotlight' the individual's role in society through creativity. I try to live an open-source life.

We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.

We have no hope of solving our problems without harnessing the diversity, the energy, and the creativity of all our people.

An open society invests in people and new ideas, rewards talent and hard work, values dialogue and learns from dissent, operates to high standards with transparent information, looks for common ground, sees problems as opportunities for creative change, and encourages those who are fortunate to help others get the same chance, because service is the highest ideal.

Both a societal infrastructure and the talent of ab individuals or individuals are necessary and dufficient conditions for success in a modern democracy.

We need the best and the brightest to go into public service.

The best way to promote and protect opportunity is through collaboration, consensus-building, and pragmatic problem-solving. Throughout nearly 30 years in public service, I have approached tough challenges by making room for as many people as possible around the table in search of common ground.

The power in Washington, D.C., is centered on the status quo - outdated systems, models, and programs built for a previous century. With more silicon and less concrete, we can open up those models to return power and independence to every man, woman, and child.

I really believe that the raw ingredient of any creative business is the set of experiences that the team has, the set of skills. I think a simple fact is that if you have a different set of experiences based on how you grew up or how other people perceive you, or if you have a different set of skills, that will produce a better company.

Innovators reimagine our world in so many areas. We need them to help reimagine what government can and should be.