Zuckerberg Returns To Harvard: Key Takeaways From His Speech

Mark Zuckerberg recently delivered a speech at Harvard’s 366th Commencement for the batch of 2017. Harvard is the very place he had  dropped out from 12 years ago, and now he returned to receive his honorary degree. The 33-year-old is the youngest person to deliver a speech at Harvard.

Zuckerberg opened his address by saying,

"I’m honoured to be with you today, because you accomplished something today that I never could. If I get through this speech today, it will the first time I finished something at Harvard."

He touched upon many political, environmental and fiscal issues. He particularly talked about the immigration issue, he also stressed on the issue of rising cost of college education, universal living wage system and the effects of climate change.

Here are a few key takeaways from his speech:

FAVOURITE MEMORY OF HARVARD

His favourite memory from Harvard was meeting his wife Priscilla. This happened at a party Zuckerberg’s friends threw for him when he was on the verge of being kicked out for creating Facemash.

FOSTERING A WORLD WHERE EVERYONE HAS A SENSE OF PURPOSE

Zuckerberg asked the students to focus on ways to help to instil the purpose of lives. He said that there are three ways by which one can achieve the purpose of life, first is handling big projects, second by helping people gain equal opportunities to succeed and third by building community. He said,

“It’s time for our generation-defining public 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 asking volunteers to track their health data and share their genomes?”

During his speech, Mark also mentioned about his struggle in the early days of developing Facebook. He said that we are all part of something bigger and purpose creates happiness.

IMPORTANCE OF GETTING STARTED

He shared a secret of doing great things in life with the students and said, "Ideas don’t come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started.”

ON ECONOMIC INEQUALITY

He also laid emphasis on developing the economy in a right way. He said that our society should progress not just by increasing the GDP number, but by giving the chance to others to prove their credibility. As technology keeps changing, the focus should be on continuing education development.

You can read his complete speech here.

Pic Credit: Facebook

Also Read: PM Modi to Mark Zuckerberg: Empower women via Digital India