A lot of executives act like their time is worth more than anyone else's. But I always respect an employee who guards his or her time, even from me.

Research – and using what you learn from it to analyze every situation – is what separates being unreasonable from being irrational.

You can have great teachers, but if you don't have a good principal, you won't have a good school.

Public education is the key civil rights issue of the 21st century. Our nation's knowledge-based economy demands that we provide young people from all backgrounds and circumstances with the education and skills necessary to become knowledge workers. If we don't, we run the risk of creating an even larger gap between the middle class and the poor. This gap threatens our democracy, our society and the economic future of America.

Any city in America would like to get a museum built if they didn't have to pay for it.

I learned to embrace risk, as long as it was well thought out and, in a worst-case scenario, I'd still land on my feet.

In high school, I would drive my teachers batty. They would make a statement, and I would say, 'Why is that?' They didn't want to be questioned.