The biggest barrier we've seen to student progress is this: School policies and practices often prevent good teachers from doing great work and even dissuade some talented Americans from entering the profession. This needs to change.

Philanthropy is activism.

I'd be bored to death if I spent all my time with other businesspeople, bankers and lawyers.

You always learn lessons in business.

Art evokes emotion. It doesn't have to be a thing of beauty.

Someone once told me I'm a sore winner, and they're right. I rarely take more than a moment to enjoy a success before I'm moving on and looking for the next challenge.

At a time when all the other builders were selling homes with basements but without carports, we would sell homes without basements and with carports. This allowed us to provide a more appealing product at a lower price. In other words, we felt we would be giving customers greater value.