Ben Horowitz’s Commencement Speech at Columbia University

Ben Horowitz’s speech at Columbia University is a great commencement speech I enjoyed in a long time.

It is witty, insightful, optimistic and unconventional.

I loved his main idea: follow your contribution instead of your passion. The next thing I loved is this quote:

As human beings we want to be liked. It’s anthropological. If people didn’t like you in caveman days, they will just eat you. So you really have a natural built-in instinct to want to be liked. And the easiest way to be liked is to tell people what they want to hear. And you know what everybody wants to hear? What they already believe to be true. So the last thing they want to hear is an original idea that contradicts their belief system. So it is very hard to even bring that kind of stuff up. But those are the things – those are the only things; things that you believe, that everybody around you doesn’t believe, when you are right, that creates real value in the world. Everything else people already know. It is just business usual. So it is very important to think for yourself.

A must watch!

http://www.slideshare.net/a16z/ben-horowitz-columbia-commencement-49528107