If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.
The Greatest Speeches in History is a weekly column that compiles the most memorable speeches in history with the goal to emphasize the power of public speaking, to illustrate its importance, impact, and necessity to master.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most inspiring women in tech in our time. Back in 2012, she delivered a speech to the graduating class of Harvard Business School, which was truly remarkable, motivational and powerful. Sandberg urged the graduates to “get on a rocketship whenever you get the chance”, turning the address to one ofthe greatest speeches ever.
Get inspired with the following main outtakes from Sheryl Sandberg’s HBS Class of 2012 Address:
“Now ordinary people have voice, not just those of us lucky to go to HBS, but anyone with access to Facebook, Twitter, a mobile phone. This is disrupting traditional power structures and leveling traditional hierarchy. Voice and power are shifting from institutions to individuals, from the historically powerful to the historically powerless, and all of this is happening so much faster than I could have imagined when I was sitting where you are today and Mark Zuckerberg was 11 years old.”
“Google had no business units, so what was there to generally manage. And the job was several levels lower than jobs I was being offered at other companies. So I sat down with Eric Schmidt, who had just become the CEO, and I showed him the spread sheet and I said, this job meets none of my criteria. He put his hand on my spreadsheet and he looked at me and said, Don’t be an idiot. Excellent career advice. And then he said, Get on a rocket ship.”
If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.
“So instead I want to know what’s your biggest problem and how can I solve it. My jaw hit the floor. I’d hired thousands of people up to that point in my career, but no one had ever said anything like that. I had never said anything like that. Job searches are always about the job searcher, but not in Laurie’s case. I said, you’re hired.”
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