The magic formula is there is no magic formula.

Some kinds of activists are more willing to try stuff out, see if works and think on their feet, but some of the people who are working on [change] find that very difficult: They've been schooled into thinking you have to come up with the perfect plan in advance. It has become a bit technocratic.

I have to be sure of myself - in a conditional way, always being open to the possibility that I'm wrong.

The question, "When did you last listen to a poor person properly and try to understand what's going on inside their own experience?" enables you to connect.

To be effective at selling ideas, at being a lobbyist, influencing other people, you have to be very sure of yourself.

The death of deference seems to be general at the moment, so everybody has to earn their reputation and trust all over again. You don't just get it by virtue of being a professor or a politician or anybody else.

There's no point in just hankering for the big trade unions of the 1950s or '60s.