I had two passions growing up - one was music one was technology. I tried to play in a band for a while but I was never talented enough to make it. And I started companies. One day came along and I decided to combine the two - and there was Spotify.

In the earliest days this was a project I worked on with great passion because I wanted to solve the Defense Department's problem: it did not want proprietary networking and it didn't want to be confined to a single network technology.

I got so passionate about technology. Hacking to me was like a video game. It was about getting trophies. I just kept going on and on despite all the trouble I was getting into because I was hooked.

In my teens I developed a passionate idolatry for a teacher of English literature. I wanted to do something that he would approve of more so I thought I should be some sort of a scholar.

Mama was my greatest teacher a teacher of compassion love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower then my mother is that sweet flower of love.

They weren't impatient for the boys to turn into cartoons again. They awarded sympathy gave compassion. Because deep down they had found parts of themselves in the characters. You said it George.

Children even infants are capable of sympathy. But only after adolescence are we capable of compassion.

I passionately believe that's it's not just what you say that counts it's also how you say it - that the success of your argument critically depends on your manner of presenting it.

There is never just one thing that leads to success for anyone. I feel it always a combination of passion dedication hard work and being in the right place at the right time.

Follow your passion. Nothing - not wealth success accolades or fame - is worth spending a lifetime doing things you don't enjoy.