Peter Agre Quotes

Not being a genius, I believe in collaboration, and my background as a problem solver means I've never been afraid to work with people cleverer than myself.

In an undergraduate business environment, the best learning experience is the interaction students have with each other. They need to learn from each other as much as from professors and lectures and other teaching tools.

Any problem can be solved using the materials in the room.

To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?

The natives of Silicon Valley learned long ago that when you share your knowledge with someone else, one plus one usually equals three. You both learn each other's ideas, and you come up with new ones.

I've always been a collaborator. For me, it's, 'What's the issue I'm trying to solve? Who are the people we need to bring around the table to solve it?'

Diverse groups do best at complex problems and innovation when the facts aren't clear: each individual's perspective allows him or her to tackle challenges differently and, when stuck, rely on others' differing points of views to progress.

When you have different kinds of scientific and mathematical minds approaching problems, you will get more solutions. This leads to more innovation and more creative design.

What I like best is sitting in a room together with really smart engineers thinking about a problem.

I do a lot of brainstorming with my editors.

I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them.

The hardest problems of pure and applied science can only be solved by the open collaboration of the world-wide scientific community.

Joint committees are heat generators rather than light producers.

We keep saying we have no other course; what we should be saying is we are not bright enough to see any other course.

I not only use all the brains I have but I borrow what I can from everyone about me.

I have been an editor at Commentary for a number of years and the thing that we all agree about is that we are much better at identifying problems than at solving them.

Most decisions are not binary, and there are usually better answers waiting to be found if you do the analysis and involve the right people.

Often the most important moment in the design process is figuring out what the right question is.

Curiosity at work isn't a matter of style. It's much more powerful than that. If you're the boss, and you manage by asking questions, you're laying the foundation for the culture of your company or your group. You're letting people know that the boss is willing to listen.

I believe that the ability to innovate and to be creative are teachable processes. There are ways by which people can systematically innovate or systematically become creative.

I've actually come to respect the most irritatingly challenging people I've worked with as really valuable in improving group decision-making and what to do and what to invest in.

Dad was an outstanding leader. He'd bring in top thinkers from a wide array of fields - how to fix the Detroit schools, for example. I watched him in these meetings. He listened and probed.

I love leaving the door open to good ideas. I love the collaborative swirl. I get charged by problem-solving, usually under some kind of stress - the sun is going down, and we have eight minutes, and we have to solve it. Great things come out of it.

One of the fastest ways to find the solution to an issue or challenge you are facing is to ask the right questions.

When you need to innovate, you need collaboration.