Few speeches profoundly shift your perspective on work & life - Bill Gurley’s 2018 B-school commencement speech is one such speech. His speech shows phenomenal story telling and offers 5 valuable guidelines for young graduates!
Here are my favourite excerpts from his speech - “Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love”
Before the excerpts, here’s where you can read their stories: https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/runnin-down-a-dream-by-bill-gurley Here’s the video version (Note: reading the transcript is recommended): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmYekD6-PZ8
He starts by telling the stories of three of his heroes and the common patterns that he noticed among them.
On life: “Life is a use or lose it proposition.” For most humans, they take one career path. If you’ve only got one shot, and then it’s all over why not do what makes you most happy?
Guideline 1: Pick a profession in which you have a deep, personal interest.
There’s nothing that’s going to make you be more successful than if you love doing what you’re doing because you’re going to work harder than anybody else because it’s going to feel like work. It’s going to feel like fun. I think this is the most important decision you can possibly make in a career, is to make sure you have immense passion for what you’re doing
On high profile careers that usually attract MBAs:
There are a lot of high-profile careers that make a lot of money, and they’re generally perceived to be areas where successful people go. If you run at those things and don’t have a passion for them you’re going to burn out eventually. It’s not going to be where you want to be.
Guideline 2: Hone your craft constantly.
It’s extremely important to be obsessive about understanding everything you possibly can about your craft. Consider it an obligation. Hold yourself accountable. That requires you to keep learning over time. Study the history, know the pioneers. It’s the bedrock foundation for what you’re going to build upon, and it will help you in networking that you’re able to talk the language of the people that came before you.
On what to target: I can’t make you the smartest or the brightest, but it’s quite doable to be the most knowledgeable.
On where to be: Be near great people. …you might want to go to where the epicenter is. The reason is there’s just more networking available there if that’s where the great people are.
Guideline 3: Develop mentors in your field.
Take every chance you can to find somebody who can teach you about the field you want to excel in. You can work your way up the stack. You don’t have to jump straight to the top on day one. Treat them with respect. Debate things, learn from them. Document what you hear, share it with others. Try to get these mentors interested in you and your own development. How do you do this? Send them notes. Tell them when you use their advice to be successful. Send them gifts when you have accomplishments. Get them bought in.
Guideline 3_a: Embrace peers in your field.
Develop a relationship with them. Have discussions. Have arguments. This is a way you learn. This is a way that ideas get shared. This is a way you hone and innovate ideas.
On sharing best practices: Always share best practices and don’t worry about giving any proprietary knowledge. It’s a good trade. It’s just smart. If you get caught in worrying about it, you’re going to fail to advance. The activity of sharing with mentors and peers will lead to so many positive things that help you go up, that whatever the negative costs are aren’t going to come anywhere close.
On Twitter: Twitter is the most amazing networking and learning network ever built. For someone that’s pursuing their dream job or chasing a group of mentors or peers it’s remarkable. In any given field 50% to 80% of the top experts in that field are in Twitter, and they’re sharing ideas, and you can connect to them and follow them in your personal feed. If you get lucky enough and say something they find interesting they might follow you.
Guideline 4: Always give the majority of the credit to the other people that helped you up along the way.
One, it’s the right thing do to, and, two, it’ll keep you from being an asshole when you’re successful. I find all the greats do it. It’s the right thing to do. Send letters, send gifts, anytime you accomplish something in your career take the time to send messages back to the people that helped you
Guideline 5: Eventually you’ve got to pay it back.
You become the mentor, people start reaching out to you. Make sure you take the time.
Summary of all the guidelines:
- Pick a profession in which you have a deep, personal interest
- Hone your craft constantly
- Develop mentors in your field
- Give the majority of the credit to the other people that helped you
- Pay it back