But this mysterious quality, status, has bewildered, and irritated, many Japanese manufacturers who set out to take on the world.

ECONOMIST: Genichi Kawakami

Walker is also the Chief Reconnaissance Officer for Summit Series, which is a group of young entrepreneurs who have set out to change the world, putting on annual events with an exclusive, invite-only list of executives and philanthropists from around the world.

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When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage.

WSJ: In Hoc Anno Domini

What results is a hauntingly beautiful town that looks as if it is both looking out on the world from its perch, but hiding within its own snug set of boulders.

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Meanwhile she makes riches out of everything to hand: from the life of the village, its craftsmen and labourers, to the poor weavers of nearby Carlisle, and so on out to the world of books and literary and philosophical societies, all set against the Cumbrian landscape with its Celtic and Roman remains and discoveries of an even stranger fossilised past.

ECONOMIST: The surprising story of a north country architect

Another example from the medical device world, on a smaller scale: A Huthwaite-trained salesman set out to sell back braces to a doctor who was opposed to the use of braces.

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