Anna Deavere Smith Quotes

I am kind of like the guide, the leader of this discussion. It could be from me, it could be from other people, it could be a mixture. It's a real sort of guild. I lead it and direct it and inspire it.

I don't expect to be a ‘leader’ with this thing. I'd rather be a builder. I'd like to build a way for people doing good work to connect, to learn from each other, protect each other, and then I want to get out of their way.

You don't want to be the smartest person in the room; you want to be the dumbest in the room. You want to be surrounded by other thinking people who are going to say something that makes you think, "Oh, my God, that's an amazing idea. Why didn't I think of that."

Talk to people... everything good I've done has come from conversations with people. Science is a very social phenomenon.

I love the collaborative process. Getting to meet new people and really building something with them is such a wonderful way to get to know someone.

As a producer, you have an opportunity to see the whole and bring people together.

The thing I noticed, have learned the most about directors, is: when they're very confident in themselves, they're open to creativity from other people. If they're scared or nervous, then they shut off and nobody's ideas [count].

You just have to connect with people who believe in your vision and who will work with you and advance your cause.

Any kind of vision needs people.

You can inspire people to give you greatness, or you can micro-manage them into your own one specific kernel of an idea. To me, I think that when you inspire people to give their best, then you're going to get the best result.

We should invest in people not ideas. A good idea is often destroyed by bad people and good people can always make a bad idea better.

Hollywood is so small that everyone has either worked with someone or knows someone who knows someone and so it was kind of easy and fun. And I think there's something exciting about being, like, "Hey! Welcome to the set!" and making everyone feel welcome, and making it fun, 'cause everybody knows what it's like to be the new kid.

If you're a leader at any level and your people aren't challenging you, you've got to change that or you can't be a leader here because you're not going to be using ideas, you're not going to have innovation, you're not going to fully develop your people. And if you're working in a group and you don't challenge, then you're not really doing your job.

Producing is nothing more than bringing all the elements together, connecting people.

Business is about people. It's about passion. It's about bold ideas, bold small ideas or bold large ideas.

While some doubted that connecting the world was actually important, we were building. While others doubted that this would be sustainable, you were forming lasting connections. We just cared more about connecting the world than anyone else. And we still do today.

My peers and colleagues inspire me.

While a lab Director can get done the things that he regards as important, he has the more important job of bringing out the best ideas of the broader scientific community.

I'm an engineer turned entrepreneur who's passionate about connection.

Leaders understand the ultimate power of relationships.

The best ideas start as conversations.

Ideas are cheap. The difficult part is finding the team to execute them.

Everything in the world we want to do or get done, we must do with and through people.

I don't plan in terms of career ambitions. The only career ambition I have is to work with people who are going to bring you up and elevate your performance. They'll let you know things that you didn't know already and bring you places that you might not have gotten to otherwise.

I love bringing people together. I think that the environment is so important in terms of what kind of relationships you might be able to create, how people get to know each other.