"What I urgently want you to understand is that we're entering an era in which the skills that make you valuable are not only changing—they comprise a fundamentally different kind of skills from those that have made people economically valuable up to now. As the economy is transformed, some people will do great, and plenty of others will suffer. The winners will be those who conceive of skills and value in a fundamentally new way, different from what we're used to."

"Unfortunately, most of us can't be above average—the math just doesn't work. Now clearly, some people are aware that we're below average in some areas of our lives, some may even believe that we're below average on the whole, but overwhelmingly, human beings are a little delusional when it comes to their conception of their own competence. [...] This translates to the expectations we place on other people too. In our experience, every CEO or leader we work with extols the virtues of their team. 'We've got the best team in the industry,' they'll often say. Of course, this is pretty unlikely. What they might have is the best team they could afford given the time and budget they've invested in finding them and developing them. So our delusion is wide spread and for most of us, invisible and unconscious. So what drives this delusion? What does it cost us? And how can we avoid it?"

"70% of people in the workplace in the United States are either not engaged, or are actively disengaged. This results in $450-$550 billion dollars annually in lost profitability, growth, productivity, customer satisfaction, and employee retention. [...] In spite of the millions of dollars now being spent by companies on improving engagement, and the hoards of consultants who have 'the answer,' whether that is better employee selection or better managers, the reality is that none of those are really making a dent in the problem. There has to be a better way. I believe there is a better way."