President Faust, Board of Overseers, faculty,alumni, friends, proud parents, members of the ad board, and graduates of the greatestuniversity in the world. I’m honored to be with you today because,let’s face it, you accomplished something I never could.
If I get through this speech, it’ll be thefirst time I actually finish something at Harvard. Class of 2017, congratulations! I’m an unlikely speaker, not just becauseI dropped out, but because we’re technically in the same generation. We walked this yard less than a decade apart,studied the same ideas and slept through the same Ec10 lectures.
We may have taken different paths to get here,especially if you came all the way from the Quad, but today I want to share what I’velearned about our generation and the world we’re building together. But first, the last couple of days have broughtback a lot of good memories. How many of you remember exactly what youwere doing when you got that email telling you that you got into Harvard? I was playing Civilization and I ran downstairs,got my dad, and for some reason, his reaction was to video me opening the email.
That could have been a really sad video. I swear getting into Harvard is still thething my parents are most proud of me for. What about your first lecture at Harvard? Mine was Computer Science 121 with the incredibleHarry Lewis. I was late so I threw on a t-shirt and didn’trealize until afterwards it was inside out and backwards with my tag sticking out thefront.
I couldn’t figure out why no one would talkto me—except one guy, KX Jin, he just went with it. We ended up doing our problem sets together,and now he runs a big part of Facebook. And that, Class of 2017, is why you shouldbe nice to people. But my best memory from Harvard was meetingPriscilla. I had just launched this prank website Facemash,and the ad board wanted to “see me”. Everyone thought I was going to get kickedout. My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going-away party.
As luck would have it, Priscilla was at thatparty with her friend. We met in line for the bathroom in the PfohoBelltower, and in what must be one of the all-time romantic lines, I said: “I’mgoing to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly.” Actually, any of you graduating can use thatline. I didn’t end up getting kicked out—I didthat to myself.
Priscilla and I started dating. And, you know, that movie made it seem likeFacemash was so important to creating Facebook. It wasn’t. But without Facemash I wouldn’t have metPriscilla, and she’s the most important person in my life, so you could say it wasthe most important thing I built in my time here. We’ve all started lifelong friendships here,and some of us even families. That’s why I’m so grateful to this place. Thanks, Harvard.
Today I want to talk about purpose. But I’m not here to give you the standardcommencement about finding your purpose. We’re millennials. We’ll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I’m here to tell you finding yourpurpose isn’t enough.
The challenge for our generation is creatinga world where everyone has a sense of purpose. One of my favorite stories is when John F.Kennedy visited the NASA space center, he saw a janitor carrying a broom and he walkedover and asked what he was doing. The janitor responded: “Mr. President, I’mhelping put a man on the moon.” Purpose is that sense that we are part ofsomething bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better aheadto work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness. You’re graduating at a time when this isespecially important.
When our parents graduated, purpose reliablycame from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminatingmany jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed,and are trying to fill a void.
As I’ve traveled around, I’ve sat withchildren in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could haveturned out differently if they just had something to do, an after-school program or somewhereto go. I’ve met factory workers who know theirold jobs aren’t coming back and are trying to find their place. To keep our society moving forward, we havea generational challenge—to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose.
I remember the night I launched Facebook frommy little dorm in Kirkland House. I went to Noch’s with my friend KX. I remember telling him I was excited to connectthe Harvard community, but one day someone would connect the whole world. The thing is, it never even occurred to methat someone might be us. We were just college kids. We didn’t know anything about that. There were all these big technology companieswith resources. I just assumed one of them would do it. But this idea was so clear to us—that allpeople want to connect.
So we just kept moving forward, day by day. I know a lot of you will have your own storiesjust like this. A change in the world that seems so clearyou’re sure someone else will do it. But they won’t. You will. But it’s not enough to have purpose yourself. You have to create a sense of purpose forothers. I found that out the hard way. You see, my hope was never to build a company,but to make an impact.
And as all these people started joining us,I just assumed that’s what they cared about too, so I never explained what I hoped we’dbuild. A couple years in, some big companies wantedto buy us. I didn’t want to sell. I wanted to see if we could connect more people.
We were building the first News Feed, andI thought if we could just launch this, it could change how we learn about the world. Nearly everyone else wanted to sell. Without a sense of higher purpose, this wasthe startup dream come true. It tore our company apart. After one tense argument, an advisor toldme if I didn’t agree to sell, I would regret the decision for the rest of my life. Relationships were so frayed that within ayear or so every single person on the management team was gone. That was my hardest time leading Facebook. I believed in what we were doing, but I felt alone.
If I get through this speech, it’ll be thefirst time I actually finish something at Harvard. Class of 2017, congratulations! I’m an unlikely speaker, not just becauseI dropped out, but because we’re technically in the same generation. We walked this yard less than a decade apart,studied the same ideas and slept through the same Ec10 lectures.
We may have taken different paths to get here,especially if you came all the way from the Quad, but today I want to share what I’velearned about our generation and the world we’re building together. But first, the last couple of days have broughtback a lot of good memories. How many of you remember exactly what youwere doing when you got that email telling you that you got into Harvard? I was playing Civilization and I ran downstairs,got my dad, and for some reason, his reaction was to video me opening the email.
That could have been a really sad video. I swear getting into Harvard is still thething my parents are most proud of me for. What about your first lecture at Harvard? Mine was Computer Science 121 with the incredibleHarry Lewis. I was late so I threw on a t-shirt and didn’trealize until afterwards it was inside out and backwards with my tag sticking out thefront.
I couldn’t figure out why no one would talkto me—except one guy, KX Jin, he just went with it. We ended up doing our problem sets together,and now he runs a big part of Facebook. And that, Class of 2017, is why you shouldbe nice to people. But my best memory from Harvard was meetingPriscilla. I had just launched this prank website Facemash,and the ad board wanted to “see me”. Everyone thought I was going to get kickedout. My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going-away party.
Priscilla and I started dating. And, you know, that movie made it seem likeFacemash was so important to creating Facebook. It wasn’t. But without Facemash I wouldn’t have metPriscilla, and she’s the most important person in my life, so you could say it wasthe most important thing I built in my time here. We’ve all started lifelong friendships here,and some of us even families. That’s why I’m so grateful to this place. Thanks, Harvard.
Today I want to talk about purpose. But I’m not here to give you the standardcommencement about finding your purpose. We’re millennials. We’ll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I’m here to tell you finding yourpurpose isn’t enough.
When our parents graduated, purpose reliablycame from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminatingmany jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed,and are trying to fill a void.
As I’ve traveled around, I’ve sat withchildren in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could haveturned out differently if they just had something to do, an after-school program or somewhereto go. I’ve met factory workers who know theirold jobs aren’t coming back and are trying to find their place. To keep our society moving forward, we havea generational challenge—to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose.
So we just kept moving forward, day by day. I know a lot of you will have your own storiesjust like this. A change in the world that seems so clearyou’re sure someone else will do it. But they won’t. You will. But it’s not enough to have purpose yourself. You have to create a sense of purpose forothers. I found that out the hard way. You see, my hope was never to build a company,but to make an impact.
And as all these people started joining us,I just assumed that’s what they cared about too, so I never explained what I hoped we’dbuild. A couple years in, some big companies wantedto buy us. I didn’t want to sell. I wanted to see if we could connect more people.
