There's a myth out there that you have to genuflect at the altar of quarterly earnings. But it's a false choice that you can either be a good fiduciary or promote values such as environmental sustainability.

The basic principle which I believe has contributed more than any other to the building of our business as it is today, is the ownership of our company by the people employed in it.

One measure of your success will be the degree to which you build up others who work with you. While building up others, you will build up yourself.

The second one, the joint Truth and Friendship Commission, which we started now with Indonesia, that is the one that has been criticized; its terms of reference call for providing amnesty for those who cooperate in telling the truth. It does not lead to prosecution.

The whole business is built on ego, vanity, self-satisfaction, and it's total crap to pretend it's not.

I realised those things my ego needed - fame and success - were going to make me terribly unhappy. So I wrenched myself away from that. I had to. I had to walk away from America and say goodbye to the biggest part of my career because I knew, otherwise, my demons would get the better of me.

I knew, regardless of anything else, singing in front of an orchestra was going to be inspirational. It would feed me.

Not many people are really that meticulous with what they do, I suppose, but I'm just a control freak and terribly afraid of failure or regret. I work very hard on these things.

I had very little fear about it, but basically, my straight friends talked me out of it. I think they thought as I was bisexual, there was no need to. But it's amazing how much more complicated it became because I didn't come out in the early days. I often wonder if my career would have taken a different path if I had.

It takes so much strength to say to your ego, 'You know what? You're going to keep me lonely, so I have to ignore you.'

I still believe that music is one of the greatest gifts that God gave to man.

You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.

It's strange. At some point in your career, the situation between yourself and the camera reverses. For a certain number of years, you court it and you need it, but ultimately, it needs you more, and it's a bit like a relationship. The minute that happens, it turns you off... and it does feel like it is taking something from you.

You can't have a child just to keep a relationship together, can you?

I spent the first half of my career being accused of being gay when I hadn't had anything like a gay relationship.

The truth is my love life has been a lot more turbulent than I have let on.

I went through a long period where I was afraid of doing things I wanted to do, and you get your courage back, which is what's important.

Anything can change in show business; you know how it goes, everything changes from one day to the other.

You just have to get rid of fear and confront the world. Look at yourself in the mirror and say to yourself, 'I love you and nothing will destroy you and you're not going to fall.'

I am convinced that music, like philanthropy, bridges hope.

These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed.

Before I came out, I had a lot of anger. For years people would ask, 'How are you doing?' and I'd say, 'Good, fine.' It's show business, and that's what you have to show.

Heroes represent the best of ourselves, respecting that we are human beings. A hero can be anyone from Gandhi to your classroom teacher, anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity.

Amongst the qualities a hero should have, I would include determination, loyalty, courage, perseverance, patience, focus, intrepidity and selflessness.

Buddhism has a very beautiful teaching that says the worst thing you can do to your soul is to tell someone their faith is wrong.

Yeah, I miss it. You don't just break off a friendship you've had with a sport, and with all those you've met all over the country. We've got some friends, some very close friends, and you just sit back and think how fortunate you were having a career like that. And, actually, there's nothing in the game of baseball that hasn't happened to me.

Sustainability makes good business sense, and we're all on the same team at the end of the day. That's the truth about the human condition.

If we all act together - business, governments, NGOs and citizens and, especially, the young - just imagine the good we could create.

I don't subscribe to, 'Here are the top ten tips to successful leadership,' or, 'How to learn leadership in ten minutes.' A leader is someone who gives positive energy to others which then results in a better change than would have happened. I think everyone is a leader.

Safe working conditions, fair wages, protection from forced labor, and freedom from harassment and discrimination - these must become standard global operating conditions.

The moral case for gender equality is obvious. It should not need any explanation.

My own fear, if I have one myself, is a fear of being obsolete. This is a world that changes very fast, and one of the main human desires is to belong to, to be part of, something. It's probably one of our greatest needs next to oxygen.

Looking at the world through a sustainability lens not only helps us 'future proof' our supply chain, it also fuels innovation and drives brand growth.

When we empower women, society benefits, grows, and thrives.

Renewable energy could reduce emissions but also create jobs and improve public health.

Purpose has always been part of Unilever's DNA. Our founder, William Lever, built a business around the sale of Lifebuoy soap that was not only profitable and sustainable but also helped transform the health of the poor in Victorian Britain.

Leadership is not a contest of likeability. Leadership often boils down to making the tougher choices. You are not in a popularity contest.

My father worked in a tyre factory. My mother worked as a teacher.

Every few decades, we have an opportunity to make a drastic change to the way we live our lives. We get a chance to design the building blocks of our daily routines, the infrastructure that will support and accompany us for the years to come - from the trains and trams we ride, the offices we work in, to the energy that powers our homes.

It cannot be right in a world of increasing human progress - whether in medicine, space exploration or renewable energy - that so many people are denied the most basic human rights.

The world faces enormous human development and environmental challenges, from poverty and disease to food security and climate change.

We can no longer pretend that business is immune from the rising tide of environmental or social challenges or that companies can create value in isolation from the communities of which they are a part.

The great challenge of the 21st century is to provide good standards of living for 7 billion people without depleting the earth's resources or running up massive levels of public debt. To achieve this, government and business alike will need to find new models of growth that are in both environmental and economic balance.

Land is a great example of how we can manage and invest in sustainable infrastructure for economic, social, and environmental gains. Its use - and misuse - is at the heart of the challenge for food, fuel, and fibre.

Practically, systemic thinking can be used to identify problems, analyze their boundaries, design strategies and policy interventions, forecast and measure their expected impacts, implement them, and monitor and evaluate their successes and failures.

We need more food, more forests, better livelihoods for smallholder farmers, and lower emissions. If we want any of them, we must have all of them.

Large-scale deforestation can be prevented while increasing food production through better, smarter agriculture.

The fact is that one of the earliest lessons I learned in business was that balance sheets and income statements are fiction, cash flow is reality.

The PATRIOT Act brought down the wall separating intelligence agencies from law enforcement and other entities charged with protecting the Nation from terrorism.

The government needs to help those in need, but members of Congress shouldn't take advantage of the situation and use a national tragedy as an opportunity to spend taxpayer dollars on their pet projects.