http://v.24en.com/list3/2009-04-22/198.html
3 minutes – 8 to the great! Ideas worth spreading!
This is really a 2-hour presentation I gave to high school students, cut down to 3 minutes.
And it all started one day on the plane on my way to TED, 7 years ago. In the seat next to me was a high school
student, a teenager, she came from a very poor family. She wants to make something in her
life. She asked me a simple little question. She said: “What leads to success?”. I felt
really bad, bacause I couldn’t give her a good answer.
So I got off the plane and came to TED. Then I think gees, I am in the middle of a room of
successful people. So why don’t I ask them what helped them succeed and pass it on to kids.
So here we are. 7 years, 500 interviews later. I’m going to tell you what really leads to
success and make TED just TECH.
And the first thing is PASSION.
I’m driven by my passion. – Freeman Thomas [car designer, DaimlerChrysler]
Testers do it for LOVE, they don’t do it for money.
I would pay someone to do what I do. – Carol Coletta [radio producer, Smart City]
The interesting thing is if you do it for LOVE, the money comes anyway.
WORK
It’s all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun. – Rupert Murdoch [big cheese CEO]
Fun? Rupert. Yes, testers do have fun working and they work hard. I forget they were not workoholics, they are workofrorics.
GOOD
To be successful put your nose down in something and get damn good at it. – Alex Garden [game developer]
There is no magic, it’s practice, practice, practice.
FOCUS
I think it all has to do with focusing yourself on one thing. – Norman Jewison [filmmaker]
PUSH
Push yourself. Physically, mentally, you gotta push, push, push. – David Gallo [marine scientist]
You gotta push your shyness, self-doubt.
I always had self-doubts. I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t smart enough. I didin’t think I’d make it. – Goldie Hawn [actor]
It’s not always easy to push yourself. That’s why they invented mothers.
My mother pushed me. – Frank Gehry [architect]
SERVE
It was a privilege to serve as a doctor. Sherwin Nuland [professor of surgery, Yale]
A lot of kids tell me that they want to be the millionaires. First thing I said to them,
OK. You can’t serve yourself. You gotta serve others something of value. Because that’s the
way people really get rich.
IDEAS
I had an idea – founding the first micro-computer software company – Bill Gates [software guy]
I say it was a pretty good idea.
There is no magic to the creativities coming up with ideas, just doing a very simple thing and
gives lots of evidence.
PERSIST
Persistence is the number one reason for our success. – Joe Kraus [co-founder, Excite]
You gotta persist to failure. You gotta persist to CRAP, which of course means
Criticism, Rejection, Assholes and Pressure.
So the answer to this question is simple. Pay 4000 bucks and come to TED or failing that
do 8 things and trust me this is the big 8 things that leads to success.
Thanks testers for all your interviews.
