You can either take action, or you can hang back and hope for a miracle. Miracles are great, but they are so unpredictable.

The new information technology... Internet and e-mail... have practically eliminated the physical costs of communications.

The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.

You must accept that if the computer is a tool, it is the job of tool user to know what to use it for.

Teaching 23-year-olds in an MBA programme strikes me as largely a waste of time. They lack the background of experience. You can teach them skills - accounting and what have you - but you can't teach them management.

To succeed in this new world, we will have to learn, first, who we are. Few people, even highly successful people, can answer the questions, Do you know what you're good at? Do you know what you need to learn so that you get the full benefit of your strengths? Few have even asked themselves these questions.

I'm a writer. I could not or would not ever run a business. I don't even have a secretary. And contrary to some of the stereotypes, entrepreneurs are not loners. I am.