Inspiration
Taking a break from writing my report (due Monday), I caught sight of something that I'd pinned up on my board. In June, Steve Jobs delivered his now-famous "Stay hungry, stay foolish" speech. A glance at the wonderful blogs that I read (see sidebar) showed more than a couple of people who were touched by it. That is all well and good, but I didn't feel anything reading it.
Is this because I've never touched a Mac? ;)
On the other hand, it made me think of another commencement speech that was delivered earlier (in May) by Carly Fiorina -- ex-CEO of Hewlett Packard. Now this one -- it truly blew me away; it was funny, endearing, and inspiring.
Is this because I'm a woman? ;)
Is this because I've never touched a Mac? ;)
On the other hand, it made me think of another commencement speech that was delivered earlier (in May) by Carly Fiorina -- ex-CEO of Hewlett Packard. Now this one -- it truly blew me away; it was funny, endearing, and inspiring.
Is this because I'm a woman? ;)
"To me, what you make of yourself is actually two questions. There's the 'you' that people see on the outside. And that's how most people will judge you, because it's all they can see -- what you become in life, whether you were made President of this, or CEO of that -- the visible you.
"But then, there's the invisible you, the 'you' on the inside. That's the person only you and God can see. For 25 years, when people have asked me for career advice, what I always tell them is don't give up what you have inside. Never sell your soul -- because no one can ever pay you back.
"What I mean by not selling your soul is don't be someone you're not, don't be less than you are, don't give up what you believe...
"... [Y]ou will be tested. You will be tested because you won't fit into some people's pre-conceived notions or stereotypes of what you're supposed to be, of who you're supposed to be. People will have stereotypes of what you can or can't do, of what you will or won't do, of what you should or shouldn't do. But they only have power over you if you let them have power over you. They can only have control if you let them have control, if you give up what's inside.
[...]
"Most people will judge you by what they see on the outside. Only you and God will know what's on the inside. But at the end of your life, if people ask you what your greatest accomplishment was, my guess is, it will be something that happened inside you, that no one ever saw, something that had nothing to do with outside success, and everything to do with how you decide to live in the world."
-- Carly Fiorina, commencement address at the North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, delivered May 7 (full speech here)
posted by Laughingcow at 1:23 am
2 Comments:
I'm surprised no one commented on this lovely post. Two great speeches, both equally inspiring but touching on slightly different topics.
Steve Job's speech reminded me of a business workshop I attended once, where at the end of the two days I remembered very little except for this phrase, loosely re-packaged together now: "Every event in this world is connected, perhaps not now, but in the future. Never stop asking or listening; the day you stop listening and pretend that you know everything is when living really ends."
I made it a point to try and follow those two little pieces of instruction with regards to almost everything I did, and I can most certainly tell you that it makes the world a much bigger place to live in.
I do believe that this "connectedness" is very real, and that all of our actions have tremendous consequences, even if we may not see them at times. And I hope that we will all approach the ups and downs of life with such consideration. :)
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