Sheryl Sandberg's Speech About Leadership Is Worth Memorizing
When Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg's husband, Dave Sandberg, suddenly died of head trauma in May, the tech world was shocked. But now, two months later, his wife is honoring his life and inspiring the new generation of innovative leaders by imparting lessons from her departed husband's career onto the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management's 2015 graduating class. In her moving commencement speech at the Beijing university, Sandberg shared four vital leadership lessons with the graduates:
- Fortune favors the bold. "Try until you find something that stirs your passion, a job that matters to you and matters to others," she urged. "It's a luxury to combine passion and contribution. It's also a clear path to happiness."
- Feedback is a gift. "I firmly believe that you lead best when you walk side by side with your colleagues," Sandberg urged after talking about her own experiences with Mark Zuckerberg. "When you don't just talk but you also listen."
- Nothing is somebody else's problem. Speaking of her late husband as an example, Sandberg quoted a Silicon Valley influencer's words about him. "Dave showed us all exactly what being a great human being looks like . . . But it was never frustrating because Dave's greatness was not competitive or threatening," she said. "It was gentle, inspirational, and egoless. He was the quintessential standard for the notion of leading by example."
- Lean in! "Great leaders don't just develop people like them, they develop everyone," the Facebook exec advised. "If you want to be a great leader, you will develop the women — as well as the men — at your companies and on your teams."
Wow. If that doesn't inspire you to jump headfirst into the world of business and technology, what will? Watch the video above for Sandberg's full address — it'll give you goosebumps!