Jim Yong Kim

“One of the most important things about leadership is that you have to have the kind of humility that will allow you to be coached.”

“Growing economies are critical; we will never be able to end poverty unless economies are growing. We also need to find ways of growing economies so that the growth creates good jobs, especially for young people, especially for women, especially for the poorest who have been excluded from the economic system.”

“I think one of the main challenges that the World Bank faces is creating an organizational structure that doesn't get in the way of its staff. We have fantastic staff. People told me as I was coming into the organization that the greatest asset of the World Bank Group is its staff, and I think there's no question that that's the case.”

“We will never end poverty if we don't tackle climate change.”

“I've always been engaged in social protection programmes.”

“My father came by himself across the North Korean border when he was seventeen. And hasn't seen his brothers or sisters or parents since then. And he died some time ago, but never saw any of his relatives. My mother was a refugee in war-torn Korea.”

“Haiti's economy cannot be built by and benefit just a privileged few. It must be built by and benefit all Haitians.”

“The relationship between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala fundamentally changes with meditation.”

“Look at the problem of drug-resistant TB in the world. Look at HIV in the world. What's going to be required for everybody in the long run is the ability to do complex health interventions in poor settings.”

“I like to change people's sense of what's possible.”

“What we have found is that because of smartphones and access to media, and because everybody knows how everyone else lives, you have no idea where the next huge social movement is going to erupt.”

“In my own view, the life expectancy of Native Americans in the United States is one of the really great moral crises that we face.”