“The income achievement gap is now nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap. Fifty years ago, in contrast, the black-white gap was one and a half to two times as large as the income gap.”

If there’s one thing that might be right about this article, it’s that Sweden is the closest thing to an Ayn Rand society than any other on earth.

In each case Dell accepted the proposal because in each case its profitability improved: its costs declined and its revenues stayed the same. At the end of the process, however, Dell was little more than a brand, while ASUSTeK can—and does—now offer a cheaper, better computer to Best Buy at lower cost.

Building a Toaster from scratch. Sounds familiar.

The customer usage data collected through rapid prototyping and iteration is essentially building a limbic system—a gut—that gives feedback on how customers are responding to the product. But a gut is not sufficient.

“My opinion is that the chances are increasing that we will see sudden ‘tipping’ in education away from traditional models. I think that the technology is pretty much here to do better than the old-fashioned classroom. It’s being held back by the incumbents, but they are going to lose, just as the music publishers have been losing and the book publishers have been losing.”

“Really, I figured: what is it that I as a single human being know more than the collective wisdom? I had no insight to add, that was really value-added. It’s hard for a person to recognize that he has nothing of value to add, but that’s how you move on in life.”

Organizations that pursue such cultures will maximize their chances of attracting, retaining, and motivating today’s young leaders, who, like never before, seek strong alignment of their personal values with their professional ambitions.

“To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.”

Will have to try this out.