Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2018. The “last week” Reid Hoffman speech is from that time, while the speeches themselves date from around 2010-2012 (Bezos at Princeton in 2010, Gaiman at the University of the Arts in 2012), and “the crisis” refers to the post-2008 recession in Spain.
Most university students have no idea what they are going to do next. They have a degree, drive and probably a lot of talent, but the economic crisis has wrecked their plans. Those are their weapons, but the university forgot to give them the ammunition and teach them how to use the weapons. I have always said that one of the biggest differences between Spanish and American universities is that here we train opositores (candidates for civil-service exams) and employees, while over there they train entrepreneurs.
What’s more, they prepare them for success on graduation day itself, since students usually hear a talk from a leading businessperson showing them the path to take, in a speech most of them engrave in their memory so they never forget it.
Perhaps one of the best speeches I have ever heard was the late Steve Jobs’s, in which he told Stanford University students his story and how he got started. If you haven’t seen it yet… it is simply a must.
Jobs says the best thing that ever happened to him was being fired from his own company.
Last week LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman also gave a speech to new graduates, in which he made some remarks many students will identify with, and at the same time gave three very simple recipes for success in life, in your career or in business.
Advice to new graduates for career success
Reid Hoffman warns that you won’t find the keys to success in books, and that university won’t make you successful in life, although it is an added ingredient.
Reid Hoffman’s message
In essence, this is what he told the graduates:
The working world is a constant competition in which everyone will try to take the vacancy you are competing for away from you. That is hard, stressful and agonising, especially knowing that even if you have better qualities than others and consider yourself much better than other people, the job may go to someone else.
It took me a while to realise this, as I drifted from company to company, until I had an idea. The idea was to start a business. That way I could prove my worth. A piece of advice: you will never start down the road to success until you are absolutely, crystal clear about what you really want to do in life. Once you are clear, you may succeed or you may fail, but the goal itself doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy the process.
The three keys to success are:
- Gain a competitive advantage.
- Build a good network of contacts.
- Take risks.
When you see that the competition is too tough, you need to gain a competitive advantage over others. If everyone is competing to head for the mountains, the greatest competitive advantage is to head for the beach. There is always something you are good at and enjoy doing. Whatever you feel real passion for is probably where you have a competitive advantage. Have aspirations and set yourself realistic goals. Never lose sight of your goals or let anyone influence you negatively.
Build a good network of contacts, and if possible find good mentors. Surround yourself with intelligent people who have aspirations. Don’t do what everyone else does or waste time on what everyone else wastes it on.
And take risks. If you want to succeed, you will have to take risks, but try to take them intelligently. Most people don’t succeed because they don’t take risks. We created LinkedIn right after the dot-com crash, when nobody trusted a tech company. Everyone told us it wasn’t a business, that it wasn’t worth it, but we surrounded ourselves with professionals, gained a competitive advantage in our niche and took a risk. It could have gone wrong, but it went well, and regardless of the outcome it was worth trying, even if we had failed.
Neil Gaiman: whatever you do, make art
Gaiman also gave a speech to new graduates, and his message was simply that whatever you do, you have to be an artist if you want to succeed. Paraphrasing his words:
I hope you all make lots of mistakes, because if you are making mistakes it means you are doing something. And mistakes themselves are very useful, because they are a way of learning the lesson much faster, and the bigger the mistake, the longer we remember it.
Remember that in any discipline or any career, whether you are a musician, dancer, photographer, designer or anything else… we all have something that makes us unique, and that gives us the ability to make art.
Life isn’t always easy. Things can go wrong in love, in business, in friendship, in health and in anything else that can go wrong. When things get really hard, make good art.
I mean it. If your partner leaves you for someone else, make good art. If you break a leg falling down the stairs, make good art. Someone on the internet thinks what you do is silly and that you won’t succeed? Never mind, make art. Things will end up going well or they will end up going badly, and we will only know when the time comes, but until then, do what you are good at and turn it into art. That is where success lies.
Jeff Bezos: everything you are comes from your choices
Bezos gave a masterful speech to Princeton’s new graduates. Here is the gist of it:
Everything you are comes from your choices. You will discover that when you reach a certain age. And everything you will be will depend on your choices and options.
See also: The fascinating life and greatest quality of Jeff Bezos
Don’t let inertia be your guide; follow your passions.
Don’t follow a dogma; be original.
Don’t choose a comfortable life; throw yourself into adventure.
Don’t weaken in the face of criticism; follow your convictions.
Don’t shield your heart against rejection; act when you fall in love.
Don’t play it safe; take risks.
When things get very tough and difficult, don’t give up; be relentless.
When you are 80, you will sit on your sofa and ask yourself: did I take risks or did I play it safe? Did I give up when difficulties appeared, or did I keep going?
Those were the options, and our destiny will depend on the choices we make. We are the ones who write the story of our own lives.
Further reading
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