Tim Cooks Life Advice Will Change Your Future MUST WATCH
if you want to take credit first
learn to take responsibility
be different leave something worthy
and always remember that you can’t
take it with you you’re going to have to
pass it on
silicon valley is responsible for some
of the most revolutionary inventions in
modern history
from the first oscillator built in the
hewlett-packard garage
to the iphones that i know you’re
holding in your hands
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social media shareable videos snaps and
stories that connect
half the people on earth
they all trace their roots to stanford’s
backyard
but lately it seems this industry
is becoming better known for a less
noble innovation
the belief that you can claim credit
without accepting responsibility
we see it every day now with every data
breach every privacy violation
every blind eye turned to hate speech
fake news poisoning our national
conversation
the false miracles in exchange for a
single drop of your blood
too many seem to think that good
intentions
excuse away harmful outcomes
but whether you like it or not what you
build
and what you create define who you are
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it feels a bit crazy that anyone should
have to say this
but if you’ve built a chaos factory you
can’t dodge responsibility for the chaos
taking responsibility means having the
courage to think things through
and there are few areas where this is
more
important than privacy
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if we accept as normal and unavoidable
that everything in our lives can be
aggregated
sold or even leaked in the event of a
hack
then we lose so much more than data
we lose the freedom to be human
think about what’s at stake everything
you
write everything you say every topic of
curiosity
every straight thought every impulsive
purchase
every moment of frustration or weakness
every griper complaint every secret
shared
in confidence in a world without digital
privacy
even if you have done nothing wrong
other than think differently
you begin to censor yourself
not entirely at first just a little
bit by bit to risk
less to hope less to imagine less
to dare less to create less
to try less to talk less
to think less the chilling effect of
digital surveillance
is profound and it touches everything
what a small unimaginative world
we would end up with not entirely at
first
just a little bit by bit
ironically it’s the kind of environment
that would have stopped silicon valley
before it had ever gotten started
we deserve better
you deserve better if we believe that
freedom means an environment where great
ideas can take root
where they can grow and be nurtured
without fear of irrational restrictions
or burdens
then it’s our duty to change course
because your generation ought to have
the same freedom to shape the future
as the generation that came before
graduates at the very least learn from
these mistakes
if you want to take credit first
learn to take responsibility
now a lot of you the vast majority
won’t find yourselves in tech at all
that’s as it should be
we need your minds at work far and wide
because our challenges are great and
they can’t be solved by any single
industry
no matter where you go no matter what
you do i know
you will be ambitious you wouldn’t be
here today if you aren’t
match that ambition with humility
a humility a purpose
that doesn’t mean being tamer being
smaller
being less in what you do it’s the
opposite
it’s about serving something greater
the author madeleine l’engle wrote
humility is throwing oneself away
in complete concentration on something
or someone else
in other words whatever you do with your
life
be a builder
you don’t have to start from scratch to
build something monumental
and conversely the best founders
the ones whose creations last and whose
reputations grow
rather than shrink with passing time
they spend most of their time building
piece
by piece builders are comfortable in the
belief that their life’s work will one
day be bigger than them
bigger than any one person
they’re mindful that its effects will
span generations
that’s not an accident in a way
it’s the whole point
being a builder is about believing that
you cannot
possibly be the greatest cause on this
earth
because you aren’t built to last
it’s about making peace with the fact
that you won’t be here
for the end of the story
that brings me to my last bit of advice
14 years ago steve stood
on this stage and told your predecessors
your time is limited so don’t waste it
living someone else’s life
here’s my corollary your mentors may
leave you prepared
but they can’t leave you ready
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when steve got sick i had hardwired my
thinking to the belief
that he would get better
i not only thought he would hold on i
was convinced
down to my core that he’d still be
guiding apple long after i
myself was gone
then one day he called me over to his
house
and told me that it wasn’t going to be
that way
even then i was convinced he would stay
on as chairman
that he would step back from the
day-to-day but always be there as a
sounding board
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but there was no reason to believe that
i never should have thought it
the facts were all there
and when he was gone truly gone
i learned the real visceral difference
between preparation and readiness
it was the loneliest i’ve ever felt in
my life
by an order of magnitude
it was one of those moments where you
can be surrounded by
people yet you don’t really see
hear or feel them
but i could sense their expectations
when the dust settled all i knew was
that i was going to have to be the best
version of myself that i could be
i knew that if you got out of bed every
morning and set your watch by what other
people expect or demand
it’d drive you crazy so what was true
then is true now
don’t waste your time living someone
else’s life
don’t try to emulate the people who came
before you
to the exclusion of everything else
contorting into a
shape that doesn’t fit it takes too much
mental effort
effort that should be dedicated to
creating and building
you’ll waste precious time trying to
rewire your every thought
and in the meantime you won’t be fooling
anybody
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the fact is when your time comes
and it will you’ll never be ready
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but you’re not supposed to be find the
hope
in the unexpected find the courage in
the challenge
find your vision on the solitary road
don’t get distracted there are too many
people who won’t credit without
responsibility
too many who show up for the ribbon
cutting without building
anything worth a damn be different
leave something worthy and always
remember
that you can’t take it with you you’re
going to have to pass it on
you