Wangechi Mutu Quotes

A clever, imaginative, humorous request can open closed doors and closed minds.

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.

Managers will tell people what to do, whereas leaders will inspire them to do it, and there are a few things that go into the ability to inspire.

Leadership requires a blend of strategy, persuasion, inspiration and motivation. It is based on respect more than fear.

Wherever you interact with people, you have the opportunity to influence people. This isn't something you necessarily jam down somebody's throat, but it is something you can - gently and over time - begin to cultivate wherever you are.

As the world we live in is so unpredictable, the ability to learn and to adapt to change is imperative, alongside creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Persuasiveness is really just about getting your ideas across without being forceful. It's a skill that can be learned and is useful for anyone who works in a team environment.

Your ability to negotiate, communicate, influence, and persuade others to do things is absolutely indispensable to everything you accomplish in life. The most effective men and women in every area are those who can quite competently organize the cooperation and assistance of other people toward the accomplishment of important goals and objectives.

In this box are all the words I know… Most of them you will never need, some you will use constantly, but with them you may ask all the questions which have never been answered and answer all the questions which have never been asked. All the great books of the past and all the ones yet to come are made with these words. With them there is no obstacle you cannot overcome. All you must learn to do is use them well and in the right places.

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.

Bargaining makes you come up with the best ideas.

Collaboration is important not just because it's a better way to learn. The spirit of collaboration is penetrating every institution and all of our lives. So learning to collaborate is part of equipping yourself for effectiveness, problem solving, innovation and life-long learning in an ever-changing networked economy.

I'm very much a leader in a lot of the work that I do or that I've done in my career.

He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.

Approach your business partners with concepts that they can get their heads around, and try to respond to their needs.

In this work, you have to convince everyone all the time, at different levels, to support your dream. I learned you have to be confident in order to do that.

The best way to persuade people is with your ears - by listening to them.

Leaders understand the ultimate power of relationships.

A word after a word after a word is power.

I had my guitar and some talent so that I could make friends with intelligent people and could talk my way out of difficult situations.

I've always been a leader. Every team I've played on, I've led my way.

There's a great power in words, if you don't hitch too many of them together.

We had kind of a rocky start, but I spent a lot of time working with the President and handing him statistics and showing him what we were doing as we went along and kind of saying to him, you know, this is really important.

As much as we may want to withdraw into a world of pure problem solving, we have to acknowledge that the most successful architectures are the ones you can actually convince someone to implement.

I believe we should appeal to people at the higher levels.