One thing I've always loved about the culture at Microsoft is there is nobody who is tougher on us, in terms of what we need to learn and do better, than the people in the company itself. You can walk down these halls, and they'll tell you, 'We need to do usability better, push this or that frontier.'

The flatter the corporate hierarchy, the more likely it is that employees will communicate bad news and act upon it.

Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace.

Customers want high quality at low prices and they want it now.

You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.

Intermittency [in availability for wind and solar] changes the economics, particularly this requirement that the power company at all times be able to require power. That's large.

If you rely too much on the people in other countries and other companies, in a sense that's your brain and you are outsourcing your brain.