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Advisers who think that they are very clever while all around them are a bit thick, and that all the problems of the world would be solved if the thick listened to the clever, are liable to be disappointed.

Geoff Mulgan

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Geoff Mulgan
Age: 64
Born: 1961
Born: January 1
Economist
Writer
Problems
Advisers
Bits
Adviser
Around
Liable
Problem
Solved
Would
Listened
Think
Thick
Thinking
Disappointed
World
Clever

More quotes by Geoff Mulgan

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All of nationalism can be understood as a kind of collective narcissism.
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The most important innovators often don't need any technologies - just imagination and acute sensitivity to people's needs.
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Big business increasingly likes to portray itself as socially concerned, adopting the style of civic action through 'campaigns' of varying degrees of cynicism.
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I'm not saying [economic] growth is wrong, but throughout the years of growth, many things didn't get better. ... If you look at America, the proportion of Americans with no one to talk to about important things went up from a tenth to a quarter.
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The idea of entrepreneurship applies as much in politics, religion, society and the arts as it does in business.
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Societies advance through innovation every bit as much as economies do.
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All real capitalisms are impure hybrids, mongrels mixed with other strains.
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As the Internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways.
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The City of London has never been known for understanding technology and has never matched Silicon Valley's tradition of knowledgeable investment in technology start-ups, just as the U.K. government has never matched the vast investment made by the U.S. government.
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Health is already a dominant sector in most societies and the one most guaranteed to grow.
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The wrongful arrest of tens of thousands of British Muslims after the September 11 attacks can be explained by the very poor intelligence the police had, and, just possibly, excused by the fact that a terrorist action in Britain linked to British Muslims would have been hugely damaging.
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Cities simply don't have the powers they need to radically innovate in cutting obesity or the number of disaffected teenagers.
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The biggest barrier to dealing with climate change is us: our own attachment to habits that are hard to shift, and our great ability to park or ignore uncomfortable choices.
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There is a yearning for people to return to elementary moral virtues, such as integrity and commitment. We distrust people who have no centering of values. We greatly respect businessmen, for example, if they display those virtues, even if we don't necessarily agree with the people.
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I didn't much like being in Parliament physically. I found it a bit depressing. It's very dark and heavy. I like being out and about.
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The once-science-fiction notion of hyper-connectivity - where we are all constantly connected to social networks and other bubbling streams of digital data - has rapidly become a widespread reality.
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So is civil society prepared for the future? Probably not. Most organisations have to live hand to mouth, juggling short-term funding and perpetual minor crises. Even the bigger ones rarely get much time to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Many are on a treadmill chasing after contracts and new funding.
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Spreading an idea is hard work.
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Young people who were relaxed about posting every detail of their life on Facebook become a lot less relaxed when they realise just how transparent their life has become to future employers.
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The central position of finance capital is going to come to an end, and it's going to steadily move to the sides, the margins of our society, transformed from being a master into a servant, a servant to the productive economy and of human needs.
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