Inspirational advice from 5 successful leaders

Graduation period is an optimistic and forward-thinking time for many of the students. Commencement addresses ordinarily deal in truism telling graduates that “if they trust in their dreams they can do anything”. The most significant guidance for business people frequently comes from the individuals who understand what it truly takes to strike out as you would expect.

We have given the list of inspirational advice given by 10 successful entrepreneurs. While not every entrepreneur we listed are entrepreneurs in their commercial enterprises.

From J.K. Rowling’s (author of Billionaire) lessons in the failure to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s to say “yes” more, the experiences in the speeches given by them are to inspire, regardless of where and at what stage your business is.

1. Steve Jobs: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”

Steve jobs the founder of Apple and Pixar Animation Studios. He is an awesome storyteller, and his Stanford 114^th commencement address on June 12, 2005 is the best speech ever heard.

Best Advice from his speech:

Steve Jobs: “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. “

“When I was young, there was an amazing publication called ‘The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late ’60s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of ‘The Whole Earth Catalog,’ and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish.’ It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Thank you all very much.”

2. Sheryl Sandberg: “Bring your whole self to work”

Sheryl Sandberg is an American technology official, activist, and an author. She is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook.

Sandberg advised women’s to “Lean In” in her mainstream book, Facebook’s chief gave messages about gender balance in initiative positions in her 2012 commencement address to Harvard Business School graduates. She empowered both men and women to be reliable at work.

Best Advice from her speech:

“Bring your whole self to work. I don’t believe we have a professional self Monday through Friday and a real self the rest of the time. It is all professional, and it is all personal.”

3. Conan O’Brien: Disappointment is Inevitable

Conan O’Brien is an American TV host, entertainer, writer, producer, performer, and voice on-screen character. In a stunning commencement speech O’Brien given to the Dartmouth College graduating class of 2011, he talked about this exceptionally startling time in his life, the underdoggiest snippet of his underdog life. Despite the fact that he had “failed,” it was a completely freeing time in his career.

Best advice from his speech:

 “Whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.”

4. Guy Kawasaki: “Obey the absolutes”

Guy Kawasaki is marketing executive at Silicon Valley and he was also an employee at Apple for marketing Macintosh in 1984. He is an entrepreneur, an author and an investor. He addressed a commencement for Menlo college graduates in 2012 about the lessons he learned from his 30 years of experience in business.

Best advice from his speech:

Guy Kawasaki: “Obey the absolutes. The greatest temptation in the work place is relativistic morality: I don’t cheat on my taxes as much as others. I don’t pad my expense report as much as others. I don’t goof off as much as others. This is the slippery slope that causes people to lie on their resumes, cheat customers, and defraud the government. Right is right. And wrong is wrong. Don’t ever forget that.”
“When you were young, you believed your parents were always right. As a teenager, you questioned them—perhaps thinking that they were clueless and you were right. As a young adult, you’ll start to see that your parents weren’t so clueless and were often right. And as you get older and older, you will eventually become your parents. Now that is a scary hindsight.”

5. Jerry Yang: “Do what you love”

Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang is an American entrepreneur, engineer, former CEO and founder of Yahoo! He gave a commencement address at the University of Hawaii in 2009. Jerry Yang gave a list of guidance splendidly suited for budding business people. While sharing how he made Yahoo in a trailer with David Filo, he uncovered that the thought was resulting from a disclosure they made while they ought to have been taking a shot at their graduate speech. He urged others to give up their plans and to take after something they are passionate about.

Best advice from his speech:

“If you find something that feels right but doesn’t seem to fit into your master plan, take a chance, and commit to it by working hard. You shouldn’t be afraid to let passion get behind the wheel. You might really love where you end up.”