Building human-centered organizations doesn't imply a return to the paternalistic, corporate welfare practices of the 19th century. Most of us don't want to be nannied.

In a world of commoditized knowledge, the returns go to the companies who can produce non-standard knowledge.

Taking risks, breaking the rules, and being a maverick have always been important but today they are more crucial than ever.

I live a half mile from the San Andreas fault - a fact that bubbles up into my consciousness every time some other part of the world experiences an earthquake. I sometimes wonder whether this subterranean sense of impending disaster is at least partly responsible for Silicon Valley's feverish, get-it-done-yesterday work norms.

Top-down authority structures turn employees into bootlickers, breed pointless struggles for political advantage, and discourage dissent.

Somewhere out there is a bullet with your company's name on it. Somewhere out there is a competitor, unborn and unknown, that will render your strategy obsolete. You can't dodge the bullet – you're going to have to shoot first. You're going to have to out-innovate the innovators.

For every person who can imagine a possibility there are tens of thousands who are stuck in the greased grooves of history.