It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live.

My daughter is in more competition with me. I never wanted to be bigger than my mother or to challenge her.

Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I'm lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.

As a political weapon, it has helped me for 30 years defend the rights of American blacks and third-world people all over the world, to defend them with protest songs. To move the audience to make them conscious of what has been done to my people around the world.

My role at Lockheed Martin puts me in contact with extraordinary leaders in many fields - from science and engineering to philanthropy and government. And since we also work closely with our nation's armed forces, we tend to reflect a lot on leadership and how we can inspire successful teamwork, cooperation, and partnerships.

Our electoral process has created perverse incentives that have warped our democracy and empowered special interests and a vocal minority.

All economically well-off nations have used what has been dubbed 'cheque-book diplomacy,' and China does so, too. Apart from funding government-to-government lending, China has also been able to create global companies and global brands that have contributed to Chinese soft power.

In a democracy, when you get 20 million people in the street, you resign.