Digital is going to have five times the impact than the information era. Just because you led the first transition as a company or country, that doesn't mean you will lead in this one.

By exciting citizens about the new digital opportunity, breaking down silos of competing groups to form a truly open innovation ecosystem and shifting day-to-day resources to focus on big long-term investments for the future, countries can ensure that they break through and bridge the digital gap.

A well-run organization turns over 10% of their organizations, including senior leadership. I don't have the heart to do that.

The number one objective is that people who make the investment in digitization, whether they are governments or service providers, get a reasonable return.

My father volunteered in early 1941, before Pearl Harbor, and became an officer in the U.S. Navy. As I was growing up, he taught me the responsibility of command: A leader is ultimately responsible for every aspect of the welfare of people under his or her care. That was a deeply felt obligation in his generation.

The failure of women to have reached positions of leadership has been due in large part to social and professional discrimination.

The young people I know judge leaders by their deeds and abhor hypocrisy. Inconsistency and point-scoring do not win respect. It's not easy to be engaged in political debate when it is reduced to performers trying to outdo each other. Actions from leaders must mirror the values they claim to espouse.

France, after the month of May, will share trust with the current leadership of the United States which, on many subjects, has tended to take useful positions in our view.