University commencement season may be drawing to a close, but this weekend saw an outpouring of wisdom from a club of top-tier
In their remarks on Sunday, the Gates focused intently on making a "case for the power of optimism" to usher in change, and its power when combined with agents like empathy and innovation. The Microsoft co-founder, who described his own pre-completion departure from Harvard as "an endless leave of absence" recalled having the realization at the start of his career that personal technology had the opportunity to enrich lives, but could also worsen inequality.
Gates described his first visit to South Africa, where he attended a dinner at which his host summoned the butler with a bell before visiting impoverished residents of Soweto the following day. He vowed to take the time to learn about "what keeps people poor" and to return to Africa.
"Optimism is often dismissed as false hope," said Gates. "But there is also false hopelessness. That’s the attitude that says we can’t defeat poverty and disease. We can."
Following her husband's initial remarks, Melinda Gates, too, recalled individual experiences that changed her outlook.
"If you want to do the most," said Gates, "you have to go see the worst."
Describing a visit to India where she had met with sex workers and visited a home for the dying, Gates urged the graduates to face challenging information and difficult experiences head on, and to be changed by the feeling of helplessness that might ensue, and said "Sometimes it's the people that you can't help that inspire you the most."
"In the course of your lives, perhaps without any plan on your part, you’ll see suffering that’s going to break your heart," said Gates. "When it happens don’t turn away from it—that’s the moment that change is born."
In closing Bill Gates warned against both pessimism, and innovation for the sake of market value alone.
"If innovation is purely market driven and we don’t focus on the big inequities," said Gates, "then we could have amazing advances and inventions that leave the world even more divided...Which problems will you decide to solve? If your world is wide you can create the future we all want. If your world is narrow, you may create the future the pessimists fear."
At the University of Washington's commencement ceremony on Saturday, recently departed Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer focused on the scope of prospects facing graduates, urging them to pursue their goals relentlessly.
"You have the greatest opportunities in front of you of any class ever to graduate from university," said Ballmer. "You have the opportunities to go out and change the world in so many ways...Seize the day. The opportunities are there but you have to reach out and pick em up."
Billionaire Ballmer also stressed the importance of building reasoned opinions.
"Sometimes it will be your point of view that creates opportunity. And sometimes you’ll pick up an opportunity and it’ll give you a chance to build a point of view."
Finally, Ballmer called on graduates to embody his definition of "hardcore."
"Hardcore means tenacious. Hardcore means longterm. Hardcore means determined. I don’t care what you do, you’re going to have to be patient and industrious and really stay after things.”
Taking a page, perhaps, from Jill Abramson's commencement remarks at Wake Forest University, Ballmer likened himself to the graduates in saying that he, too, was unsure of the next step in his career.
"The search for opportunity doesn't stop. It’s there in front of you all the time," said Ballmer. "Develop a point of view and then stay to really work on things in a hardcore, determined way."
