Congrats to the class of 2009!
May 19th, 2009 | Published in Google Student Blog
As students around the country celebrate the culmination of their degrees, we thought we'd share some of the words of wisdom that a few Google executives have been imparting to graduating classes around the country.
Google co-founder Larry Page had the pleasure of returning to his alma mater, University of Michigan, earlier this month to offer some advice to graduating students. As someone familiar with taking a little risk in life, Larry urged the U Michigan class of 2009 to "always work hard on something uncomfortably exciting," that "it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. I know that sounds completely nuts. But, since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition," and advised that "Overall, I know it seems like the world is crumbling out there, but it is actually a great time in your life to get a little crazy, follow your curiosity, and be ambitious about it. Don't give up on your dreams. The world needs you all!" You can read the complete text of his speech here or watch the video below.
This past weekend, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, received an honorary doctorate from the Illinois Institute of Technology and gave the graduating class some great advice on the things they should find in order to achieve success in a career and in life. Marissa advised the class of 2009 to "find the smartest people you can and surround yourself with them," "find allies, rather than adorers," "find peers, managers, and leaders who challenge you to be the best you can be, and then help you achieve it," "find courage...Do something you're not ready to do," "find places where you're comfortable," and finally, to "be an information fountain...Power comes from sharing information...Collaboration leads to creativity and innovation." You can hear the rest of her inspiring speech by watching the video below.
Last, but certainly not least, Google CEO Eric Schmidt visited both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennysylvania to advise students that “You’ll find today is the best chance you have to start being unreasonable, to demand excellence, to drive change, to make everything happen" and urge them to "do things in a group. Don’t do things by yourself. Groups are stronger, groups are faster. None of us is as smart as all of us.” Check out the video of Eric at CMU below for the rest of his fascinating speech.
From Larry, Marissa, Eric, and all of us at Google - congratulations class of 2009!
Google co-founder Larry Page had the pleasure of returning to his alma mater, University of Michigan, earlier this month to offer some advice to graduating students. As someone familiar with taking a little risk in life, Larry urged the U Michigan class of 2009 to "always work hard on something uncomfortably exciting," that "it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. I know that sounds completely nuts. But, since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition," and advised that "Overall, I know it seems like the world is crumbling out there, but it is actually a great time in your life to get a little crazy, follow your curiosity, and be ambitious about it. Don't give up on your dreams. The world needs you all!" You can read the complete text of his speech here or watch the video below.
This past weekend, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, received an honorary doctorate from the Illinois Institute of Technology and gave the graduating class some great advice on the things they should find in order to achieve success in a career and in life. Marissa advised the class of 2009 to "find the smartest people you can and surround yourself with them," "find allies, rather than adorers," "find peers, managers, and leaders who challenge you to be the best you can be, and then help you achieve it," "find courage...Do something you're not ready to do," "find places where you're comfortable," and finally, to "be an information fountain...Power comes from sharing information...Collaboration leads to creativity and innovation." You can hear the rest of her inspiring speech by watching the video below.
Last, but certainly not least, Google CEO Eric Schmidt visited both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennysylvania to advise students that “You’ll find today is the best chance you have to start being unreasonable, to demand excellence, to drive change, to make everything happen" and urge them to "do things in a group. Don’t do things by yourself. Groups are stronger, groups are faster. None of us is as smart as all of us.” Check out the video of Eric at CMU below for the rest of his fascinating speech.
From Larry, Marissa, Eric, and all of us at Google - congratulations class of 2009!