Business -- 9 months ago
12 pieces of advice for graduates from the world’s top businessmen
Words: Holly Macnaghten
In just a few short months, thousands of young men and women around the country will be donning their ill-fitting gowns and tossing their mortarboards into the sky with joy. Ah, graduation! That beautiful day whereupon all your hard work and late-night library sessions culminate into one glorious piece of parchment. The following morning you will no doubt arise with a head full of dreams, hopes and aspirations of the bright future that lies ahead of you, before reaching for the aspirin and barocca.
But how do you apply those 3 or 4 years of further education into what it is you really want to do? And what, now you come to think of it, do you even want to do at all? Well, gentlemen, we turned to some of the world’s top businessmen and women to find out their top pieces of advice for graduates…
1. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs, former Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple
2. “Prove yourself by working hard and doing a great job, and I guarantee you that they will find a way to hire you and pay you.” – Joe Echevarria, CEO of Deloitte
3. “If you pick a job that you’re really passionate about, then you’re going to be successful. That’s really the most important thing.” – Aaron Shapiro, CEO of HUGE
4. “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You know what you can do if you grab the wrong opportunity? Drop it and pick up another one. It’s OK. Seize the day.”– Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft
5. “When companies are growing quickly and they are having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves. And when companies aren’t growing quickly or their missions don’t matter as much, that’s when stagnation and politics come in. If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.” – Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook
6. “In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story.” – Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com
7. “In the past, people talked about career ladders, and that’s what work felt like. If you were lucky, and you were diligent, and you sucked up and all that stuff, you went up the ladder. Do you want to do that, no. First of all, ladders are very unstable. Do a career pyramid so you have a great base, you can change your mind, you can do a lot of different things.” – Carol Bartz, former President and CEO of Yahoo!
8. “Always ask yourself what you are for, rather than what you are against.” – Colm Kelleher, President of Morgan Stanley
9. “You may decide to take a break and consider your options. I would urge you to travel, take on new experiences and draw upon those when it comes to making the decisions that will shape your future. The amount of business ideas that people pick up from traveling the world is enormous.” – Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
10. “Setting goals is vital; ignoring them is key. Don’t do anything that matters without first setting a goal.” – Joel Peterson, Chairman of JetBlue Airways
11. “Don’t get in your own way by allowing limited self-beliefs stop you achieving what you deserve. Remember, the meaning you give to an event is the event. Look for what you can do and not what you can’t.” – David James, Professor of Marketing at The Hult International Business School
12. “Love what you do and remember that nothing great was achieved with ease. If people don’t think you’re a little crazy then what you’re planning is unlikely to be exciting or change much. Don’t listen to the dream stealers.” – John Roberts, CEO of AO.com
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