Technology Executive and Author
Harvard Senior Class Day| May 28, 2014
In 2014, Sheryl Sandberg, the renowned tech executive and author of "Lean In," delivered a memorable address at Harvard's Senior Class Day. Sandberg's insightful and inspiring speech focused on themes of leadership, gender equality, and personal growth, emphasizing the importance of resilience, empowerment, and the pursuit of one's ambitions in an ever-evolving world.There is no straight path from your seat today to where you are going. Don’t try to draw that line.
10 top life lessons by Sheryl Sandberg
- The future is inherently unpredictable; revolutionary ideas may emerge from unexpected times and places, as evidenced by the unforeseen rise of platforms like Facebook before the internet era.
- Success rarely follows a straight path, emphasizing the importance of embracing non-linear trajectories to avoid missing significant opportunities, much like the transformative impact of the Internet.
- Courage is required to confront hard truths, as societal blindness or personal biases can hinder the recognition and acknowledgment of pressing issues, such as the persistent gender inequality highlighted in the speaker’s college experience.
- Personal responsibility is paramount; success in any endeavor is linked to individuals taking ownership rather than relegating challenges to others, reflecting the ethos that nothing at Facebook should be considered someone else’s problem.
- The power of speaking out against injustice is a catalyst for change; the speaker’s revelation that her silence on gender inequality persisted for 18 years underscores the potential impact of using one’s voice to address and rectify societal imbalances.
Best quotes of Sheryl Sandberg‘s speech
"We don't always see the hard truths, and once we see them, we don't always have the courage to speak out.""The world was not equal then, and it is not equal now."
Video of Sheryl Sandberg‘s Commencement speech at Harvard Senior Class Day
Commencement Speech Excerpts:
“I never could have predicted Facebook,because there was no Internet [then], and Mark Zuckerberg was in elementary school — already wearing his hoodie.”
“There is no straight path from your seat today to where you are going. Don’t try to draw that line. You will not just get it wrong, you’ll miss big opportunities. And I mean big — like the Internet.”
“We don’t always see the hard truths, and once we see them, we don’t always have the courage to speak out. When my classmates and I were in college, we thought the fight for gender equality was won. … Sure, most of the leaders in every industry were men, but we thought changing that was just a matter of time. … We didn’t need feminism, because we were already equaled. We were wrong; I was wrong. The world was not equal then, and it is not equal now.”
“Nothing at Facebook is someone else’s problem.”
“The first time I spoke out about what it was like to be a woman in the workforce was less than five years ago. That means that for 18 years, from where you sit to where I stand, my silence implied that everything was OK. You can do better than I did, and I mean that so sincerely.”
“Most people who make great contributions start way later than Mark Zuckerberg, and tomorrow, by the way, you get something Mark Zuckerberg does not have — a Harvard degree.”