NEL MINDSET 17: FACEBOOK FOUNDER MARK ZUCKERBERG COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS – HARVARD COMMENCEMENT 2017 (2)

SUB:

And today I want to talk about three ways that we can create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose, by taking on big meaningful projects together, by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue their purpose, and by building community all across the world. So first let’s take on big meaningful projects our generation is going to have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks, but we have the potential to do so much more than that. Every generation has its defining works, more than three hundred thousand people work to put that man on the moon including that janitor.

Millions of volunteers immunize children around the world against polio and millions of more people built the Hoover Dam and other great projects. And now it’s our generations turn to do great things. Now I know maybe you’re thinking I don’t know how to build a dam I don’t know how to get a million people involved in anything. Well, let me tell you a secret. No one does when they begin, ideas don’t come out fully formed, they only become clear as you work on them, you just have to get started if I had to know everything about connecting people before I got started. I never would have built Facebook, movies and pop culture just get this all wrong, the idea of a single Eureka moment is a dangerous lie. It makes us feel inadequate because we feel like we haven’t had ours yet, and it prevents people with seeds of good ideas from ever getting started in the first place.

Oh and you know what else movies get wrong about innovation. No one writes math formulas on glass. Okay, all right that’s not a thing okay it’s really good to be idealistic, but be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision is going to get called crazy, even if you end up right. Anyone taking on a complex problem is going to get blamed for not fully understanding it even though it’s impossible to know everything up front anyone taking initiative will always get criticized for moving too fast because there’s always someone who wants to slow you down. In our society, we often don’t take on big things because we’re so afraid of making mistakes that we ignore all the things wrong today if we do nothing. The reality is anything we do today is going to have some issues in the future but that can’t stop us from getting started. So what are we waiting for? It is time for our generation defining great works. How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet and getting millions of people involved manufacturing and installing solar panels. How about curing all diseases and getting people involved by asking volunteers to share their health data track their health data and share their genomes.

You know, today our society spends more than 50 times as much treating people who are sick as we invest in finding cures, so people get sick in the first place. It makes no sense we can fix this. How about modernizing democracy so everyone can vote online. And how about personalizing education so everyone can learn these achievements are all within our reach. Let’s do them all in a way that gives everyone in our society a role. Let’s do big things, not just to create progress, but to create purpose.

So taking on big meaningful projects together is the first thing we can do to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose. The second is redefining our idea of equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue their purpose. Now many of our parents had stable jobs throughout their careers but in our generation we’re all a little entrepreneurial whether we’re starting our own projects or finding our role in another one, and you know that’s great because our culture of entrepreneurship is how we create so much progress. An entrepreneurial culture thrives when it is easy to try lots of new ideas. Facebook wasn’t the first thing I built. I also built chat systems and games, study tools and music players and I’m not alone.

JK Rowling got rejected 12 times before she finally wrote and published Harry Potter. Even Beyonce had to make hundreds of songs to get halo. The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.

Now today we have a level of wealth and equality that hurts everyone. When you can’t, when you don’t have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise we all lose. And right now today, our society is way over indexed on rewarding people when they’re successful and we don’t do nearly enough to make sure that everyone can take lots of different.

Now let’s face it, there is something wrong with our system when I can leave here, and make billions of dollars in 10 years while millions of students can’t even afford to pay off their loans let alone start a business.

Look! I know a lot of entrepreneurs and I don’t know a single person who gave up on starting a business because they were worried they might not make enough money. But I know too many people who haven’t had the chance to pursue their dreams because they didn’t have a cushion to fall back on if they failed. We all know you don’t get successful just by having a good idea or working hard, you get successful by being lucky.

If I had to support my family growing up instead of having the time to learn how to code. If I didn’t know that I was going to be fine if Facebook didn’t work out, then I wouldn’t be standing up here today. And if we’re honest we all know how much luck we’ve had to get to this point in our lives. Every generation expands its definition of equality previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights.

They had the New Deal and Great Society and now, it’s time for our generation to define a new social contract. We should have a society that measures progress, not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role. We find meaningful we should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas. We’re all going to change jobs and roles many times so we need affordable childcare to get to work and healthcare that’s not tied to just one employer.

And we’re all going to make mistakes so we need a society that’s less focused on locking us up and stigmatizing us when we do, and as our technology keeps on evolving we need a society that is more focused on providing continuous education through our lives.

And yes giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn’t going to be free. People like me should pay for it, and a lot of you are going to do really well and you should too.

That is why Priscilla and I started the Chan Zuckerberg initiative and committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity.

These are the values of our whole generation. It was never a question of if we were going to do this. The only question was when Millennials are already one of the most charitable generations in history. In just one year more than three and four u.s. Millennials donated to charity and more than seven and ten raise money for another one. But it’s not just about giving money. You can also give time.

And I promise you, if you just take an hour to a week that’s all it takes to give someone a hand and help them reach their potential.

Now, maybe you’re thinking that’s a lot of time I’m not sure if I have that much time. I used to think that. You know when Priscilla graduated from Harvard, she became a teacher and before she’d do education work with me she told me that I needed to get my own experience teaching a class. At first, I complained, you know I’m kind of busy, running this company, but she insisted so I taught an after-school program at the local Boys and Girls Club on entrepreneurship.

I taught those kids lessons on product development and marketing and they taught me what it was like growing up, feeling targeted for your race. And what it’s like having a family member in prison.

DAY 1

And today I want to talk about three ways that we can create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose, by taking on big meaningful projects together, by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue their purpose, and by building community all across the world.

So first let’s take on big meaningful projects. Our generation is going to have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks, but we have the potential to do so much more than that. Every generation has its defining works, more than three hundred thousand people work to put that man on the moon including that janitor.

Millions of volunteers immunize children around the world against polio and millions of more people built the Hoover Dam and other great projects. And now it’s our generations turn to do great things. Now I know maybe you’re thinking I don’t know how to build a dam; I don’t know how to get a million people involved in anything. Well, let me tell you a secret. No one does when they begin, ideas don’t come out fully formed, they only become clear as you work on them, you just have to get started. If I had to know everything about connecting people before I got started. I never would have built Facebook, movies and pop culture just get this all wrong, the idea of a single Eureka moment is a dangerous lie. It makes us feel inadequate because we feel like we haven’t had ours yet, and it prevents people with seeds of good ideas from ever getting started in the first place.

Oh and you know what else movies get wrong about innovation. No one writes math formulas on glass. Okay, all right that’s not a thing okay. It’s really good to be idealistic, but be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision is going to get called crazy, even if you end up right. Anyone taking on a complex problem is going to get blamed for not fully understanding it even though it’s impossible to know everything up front; anyone taking initiative will always get criticized for moving too fast because there’s always someone who wants to slow you down. In our society, we often don’t take on big things because we’re so afraid of making mistakes that we ignore all the things wrong today if we do nothing. The reality is anything we do today is going to have some issues in the future but that can’t stop us from getting started. So what are we waiting for? It is time for our generation defining great works.

• Do the popcorn game (pronunciation)
• What is Mr. Mark Zuckerberg talking about in this part?
• How do you understand the secret Mr. Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in the commencement? Can you give an example, please?

Homework:

• Listen to the video at least 5 times
• Practice pronunciation and prepare part 2

DAY 2

How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet and getting millions of people involved manufacturing and installing solar panels.

How about curing all diseases and getting people involved by asking volunteers to share their health data track their health data and share their genomes. You know, today our society spends more than 50 times as much treating people who are sick as we invest in finding cures, so people get sick in the first place. It makes no sense. we can fix this.

How about modernizing democracy so everyone can vote online.

And how about personalizing education so everyone can learn. These achievements are all within our reach.

Let’s do them all in a way that gives everyone in our society a role. Let’s do big things, not just to create progress, but to create purpose.

So taking on big meaningful projects together is the first thing we can do to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose. The second is redefining our idea of equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue their purpose.

Now many of our parents had stable jobs throughout their careers but in our generation we’re all a little entrepreneurial whether we’re starting our own projects or finding our role in another one, and you know that’s great because our culture of entrepreneurship is how we create so much progress. An entrepreneurial culture thrives when it is easy to try lots of new ideas. Facebook wasn’t the first thing I built. I also built chat systems and games, study tools and music players and I’m not alone.

JK Rowling got rejected 12 times before she finally wrote and published Harry Potter. Even Beyonce had to make hundreds of songs to get halo. The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.

• Do the popcorn game (pronunciation)
• What did Mr. Mark Zuckerberg talk about?
• How did Mr. Mark Zuckerberg talk about the reality of our society?
• How many times did Mrs. JK Rowling get rejected? How about Mr. Steve Jobs (in lesson 2, 3, 4)?
• How do you think about getting rejected? Is it a serious problem?

Homework:

• Listen to the video at least 5 times
• Practice pronunciation and prepare part 3

DAY 3

Now today we have a level of wealth and equality that hurts everyone. When you can’t, when you don’t have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise we all lose. And right now today, our society is way over indexed on rewarding people when they’re successful and we don’t do nearly enough to make sure that everyone can take lots of different shots.

Now let’s face it, there is something wrong with our system when I can leave here, and make billions of dollars in 10 years while millions of students can’t even afford to pay off their loans let alone start a business.

Look! I know a lot of entrepreneurs and I don’t know a single person who gave up on starting a business because they were worried they might not make enough money. But I know too many people who haven’t had the chance to pursue their dreams because they didn’t have a cushion to fall back on if they failed.

We all know you don’t get successful just by having a good idea or working hard, you get successful by being lucky, too.

If I had to support my family growing up instead of having the time to learn how to code. If I didn’t know that I was going to be fine if Facebook didn’t work out, then I wouldn’t be standing up here today. And if we’re honest we all know how much luck we’ve had to get to this point in our lives. Every generation expands its definition of equality previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. They had the New Deal and Great Society and now, it’s time for our generation to define a new social contract.

We should have a society that measures progress, not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role. We find meaningful we should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas. We’re all going to change jobs and roles many times so we need affordable childcare to get to work and healthcare that’s not tied to just one employer.

And we’re all going to make mistakes so we need a society that’s less focused on locking us up and stigmatizing us when we do, and as our technology keeps on evolving we need a society that is more focused on providing continuous education through our lives.

And yes giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn’t going to be free.People like me should pay for it, and a lot of you are going to do really well and you should too.

That is why Priscilla and I started the Chan Zuckerberg initiative and committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity.

These are the values of our whole generation. It was never a question of if we were going to do this. The only question was when. Millennials are already one of the most charitable generations in history. In just one year more than three and four u.s. Millennials donated to charity and more than seven and ten raise money for another one. But it’s not just about giving money. You can also give time.

And I promise you, if you just take an hour to a week that’s all it takes to give someone a hand and help them reach their potential.

Now, maybe you’re thinking that’s a lot of time I’m not sure if I have that much time. I used to think that. You know when Priscilla graduated from Harvard, she became a teacher and before she’d do education work with me she told me that I needed to get my own experience teaching a class. At first, I complained, you know I’m kind of busy, running this company, but she insisted so I taught an after-school program at the local Boys and Girls Club on entrepreneurship.

I taught those kids lessons on product development and marketing and they taught me what it was like growing up, feeling targeted for your race. And what it’s like having a family member in prison.

• Do the popcorn game (pronunciation)

Homework:

• Listen to the video at least 5 times

• Practice pronunciation and prepare next lesson