Everyone carries answers to life's big questions, whether they've written them down or not. These are mine. They aren't final, but so far they've held up.
What won't I compromise on?
Integrity, honesty and hard work. My parents raised me on those values, and I try to live by them at home and at work. I find it hard to build a relationship with someone who doesn't share them. For those who do, whether friends, family or colleagues, my loyalty has no expiry date.
Who taught me the answers?
Mostly my family. My parents taught me by example, day after day, far more than by anything they said. My wife made me a more social person and has backed my career every step of the way; I'll always be grateful for that. My son keeps teaching me, because in him I see myself, and that makes me want to be better.
The rest came from experience. As a young adult I was an idealist. Years of working and living alongside a far wider range of people than I grew up with, through good times and bad, made me more pragmatic and much more open to views that aren't my own.
What do I believe about people?
That, beneath the stereotypes, they are fundamentally good. When someone drifts from that, it's usually a failure of education. So I'm in favor of giving everyone the broadest education possible.
That education begins at home. Parents can't hand it off to teachers or leave it to whatever stimulus a child happens to find. Education delivered with love is how a society moves forward.
I also refuse to reduce people to a single label. We all have many sides, personal and professional, and no one is fully described by a party, a belief system or a culture. Our individual experiences shape each of us differently, which is why I push back on absolutism.