Steve Jobs delivering his commencement speech at Stanford

Here is “my” top 10 commencement speeches made by business leaders in colleges across America.

1) Steve Jobs – Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself — at the university’s 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005. Watch

2) Jeff Bezos – Amazon founder and CEO, Princeton Alum (Class of 1986) gave the Baccalaureate address to Princeton University’s Class of 2010.  Watch.

3) Oprah Winfrey – Global media leader and philanthropist, spoke to the Class of 2008 at Stanford’s 117th Commencement on June 15, 2008. Winfrey drew on experiences from a career that began in 1976 when she co-anchored a television newscast, and she shared three lessons about feelings, failure and finding happiness. Watch

4) Bill Gates – Harvard Alum Part 1, Part 2

5) Marissa Mayer – Google VP delivers the commencement address at the Illinois Institute of Technology on May 16, 2009.  Watch

6) Eric Schmidt – Google CEO delivers the commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania on May 18, 2009. Watch

Another commencement address by Eric Schmidt. This time at Carnegie Mellon University on May 17, 2009 Watch

7) Larry Page – Google Co-Founder delivers the commencement address at the University of Michigan on May 2, 2009. Watch

8) Charlie Munger – Great speech by Warren Buffett’s business partner at USC Law commencement, May 2007. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

9) Michael Dell – Chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corp delivered his commencement address at his alma mater, University of Texas at Austin on May, 2003. Here is the full transcript. Unfortunately, I could not find the video on the web. If you know, please share.

Bonus: Professor Randy Pausch – I know Professor Pausch was not a business leader. But his legacy is inspiring. At Carnegie Mellon University he delivered  an inspirational speech to the Class of 2008 at the Commencement ceremony on May 18, 2008. Watch. In case if you have not, also watch Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. It will change  your life. I know it changed mine.

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Bob Parsons, GoDaddy.com

Inc.com recently published an article about Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com, web domain registration and hosting company.

Excerpts:

“At my office, I’m almost never behind my desk. I have this cafeteria-style conference table, which I bought for $90 years ago, and a dozen or so chairs. That’s where I am most of the day, meeting with my staff. A few folks complained that the chairs were cheap and ugly, and they’re right. But they convey the right attitude: functional and cheap. You don’t spend your money on office furniture — you spend it where it’s going to impact your customers.

I manage everything from the 57-inch monitor that hangs from the ceiling in my office, which I can access with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I have it set to Go Daddy’s home page, and there’s a program we created that tracks our current market share and how many domain names we register each day. We register about one every second. The names show up on that screen in real time, like a ticker tape. It’s always on, so I can refer to it throughout the day. I can tell at a glance what’s going right or wrong.” READ MORE

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You must have heard about Zappos.com – one of the biggest online shoe retailers. I recently came across to this post written by one of the Fast Company founders – Bill Taylor. It is a great article that describes the great tools used at Zappos; they pay their trainees to quit. Great read. Definitely, check it out. Zappos brings home the idea how and why you should hire people who is right for the job.

After reading the article, I analyzed former jobs I have worked at. There were definitely some jobs where I’d quite after first week of training even if they have not paid me to quit.

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T. Boone Pickens' book: The First Billion is the Hardest

June 2008 issue of Fast Company magazine published an interview with Texas Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens. For those who don’t know him, T. Boone Pickens is a corporate raider of 1980s, an American Billionaire, and founder of Mesa Petroleum.

Article mostly talked about his new $10 Billion Wind Farm venture. It is interesting to hear from a person who made his money from traditional energy sources such as oil and gas talk about alternative energy. He was honest to say that his purpose is to make money; environment is secondary. He is predicting demand for oil will keep going up and prices will follow. To the question why Mr. Pickens is turning his back on oil, he answered “Foreign oil is costing us $500 billion a year. In 10 years, $5 trillion goes out of the country. It’s the greatest transfer of wealth from one area to another in the history of the world”. Mr. Warren Buffett says about $2 billion is leaving the US everyday, so it will be $730 billion a year. If we attribute $500 billion of $730 to oil, I guess the rest is non-oil goods.

Regarding ethanol, he says ethanol is a political issue. Senators representing corn states want to keep their farmer buddies rich and happy, therefore they will always support ethanol (irrespective it is smart or dumb idea). Reminder: Mr. Charlie Munger said “turning food into gasoline is the dumbest idea ever”.

Buy T. Boone Pickens’  book “The First Billion Is the Hardest: How Believing It’s Still Early in the Game Can Lead to Life’s Greatest Comebacks.” from Amazon.

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After seeing tiny yellow and blue check cashing shops popping up all over Florida street crossing corners, I wondered who was behind this phenomenal company and its astonishing growth. According to Currents Magazine, Ian MacKechnie, 62-year old Scotland-born American from Tampa, FL started the company in 1989. Today Amscot Financial is $85 million financial services (check cashing, money orders, tax, cash advances, etc) company that shows no signs of slowing down.

Ian MacKechnie is a serial entrepreneur who started and sold 2 multi-million dollar successful businesses MacKechnie Foods, a wholesale manufacturing baking company and Oliver’s, chain of coffee shops in Scotland/UK.

After reading about Tampa as one of the fastest growing cities in John Naisbitt’s Megatrends, he decided to move there and bought a baking business. However, surprisingly, business flopped. Luckily, he noticed his employees were cashing their paychecks not at banks, but at bars and liquor stores. The reason was convenience. Light bulb went off!

Amscot (derived from America and Scotland) with catchy slogan (“You’re OK with us”) is a very technologically advanced and keeps its stores clean. They give back to the community and knows as the “majority minority employer”.

Read full article.

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What’s nice about investing is you don’t have to swing at every pitch.

The first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to forget the first rule.

Price is what you pay and value is what you get.

In the short term, the market is a voting machine. In the long term, it is a weighing machine. (Explanation: The father of value investing, Benjamin Graham, explained this concept by saying that in the short run, the market is like a voting machine–tallying up which firms are popular and unpopular. But in the long run, the market is like a weighing machine–assessing the substance of a company. The message is clear: What matters in the long run is a company’s actual underlying business performance and not the investing public’s fickle opinion about its prospects in the short run.)

Stick with businesses you understand.

Never look back. There is so much to look forward to.

Don’t focus on macro economics stuff, predictions, etc. It is all irrelevant.

There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.

We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.

It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked

The market, like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But unlike the Lord, the market does not forgive those who know not what they do.

Wall Street makes its money in activity, you make your money on inactivity.

Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

I’d rather have a $10 million business making 15% than a $100 million business making 5%, I have other places I can put the money

Time is the friend of the wonderful business; it is the enemy of the lousy business. If you are in a lousy business for a long time, you will get a lousy result even if you buy it cheap. If you are in a wonderful business for a long time, even if you pay a little bit too much going in you will get a wonderful result if you stay in a long time.

It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.

Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.

I don’t try to jump over 7-foot hurdles: I look for 1-foot hurdles that I can step over.

We don’t get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we will wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.

When a management team with a reputation for brilliance joins a business with poor fundamental economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

I am a better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor.

I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

Great investment opportunities come around when excellent companies are surrounded by unusual circumstances that cause the stock to be misappraised.

I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.

I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.

Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.

Our favorite holding period is forever.

If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.

It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.

Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.

Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.

Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.

The only time to buy these junk bonds is on a day with no “y” in it. (NEVER!)

The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. For to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves-and the better the teacher, the better the student body.

We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds.

Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful”.

You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing.

You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.

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• The Timeline of Warren Buffett’s Life.

I used to watch Mike Hegedus’ “Mike on America” feature segment during CNBC’s daily “On The Money” show. Since “On The Money” has been taken off the air recently, Mike has been reporting his features during “Power Lunch”. Mike Hegedus is an award-winning CNBC reporter whose “Mike On America” covers awesome business and entrepreneurial success stories across the United States and overseas.

Mike Hegedus’ Blog: MikeOnAmerica.CNBC.com

Check out one of his many videos below. While there, search for “Mike on America”, you will retrieve many other videos of his.

Mike on America

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One of the best Graduation Commencement Speeches was given by none other than Steve Jobs of APPLE at Stanford in 2005.

Click here for transcripts.

Some excerpts:

“Connecting the dots.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Do what you love to do.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

Watch the video below.

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April, 2008 issue of Inc. Magazine featured entrepreneur Butch Stewart in its How I did it section. Butch Stewart is a founder of Sandals Resorts in Caribbean. I found the story very inspiring.

Read the full article here. Also read on Sandals history here.

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Headquartered in Orlando, FL, Coleman Technologies, Inc. was founded by Jeff Coleman in 1980. CTI mainly engaged in information technology and systems engineering services. I came across to this company when I was searching for who was the installer of Cisco’s VoIP telephones in corporate offices throughout FL.

Anyways, on their website I found Jeff Coleman’s Laws and Management Rules that he used to build his huge business. Here they are:

Jeff Coleman’s Laws:

1. No one is smart enough to be a dictator.
2. The only real power one has is the power of persuasion.
3. The less you know about something the simpler it seems.
4. Important decisions require at least one night’s sleep.
5. Decisions made without all the facts are guesses.
6. The most important thing a manager does is people picking.
7. Lies are hard to remember.
8. There is nothing more critical to true success than openness, honesty and integrity.
9. Those that don’t solicit and listen to advice are destined to be unsuccessful.
10. What is given cannot be taken away.
11. Meddling after responsibility is delegated and accepted, provides a built-in excuse for failure.
12. Unwritten agreements are soon forgotten.
13. Time is not a good decision maker.
14. You must look successful to be successful.
15. Cash flow is more important than profit.
16. Grow or die.
17. The only people that are not making mistakes are those that are not doing anything.
18. Don’t bite off more than you can bite off.
19. The most important and most difficult trait to identify is the ability to get things done.
20. A manager with a full calendar every day isn’t delegating properly.
21. A full day spent in meetings is 40% wasted.
22. A pat on the back is the ultimate in cost effectiveness.
23. A manager that takes the credit for the work of the troops should be made a member of the troops.
24. A manager unwilling to take risks is destined for mediocrity.
25. Twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work.
26. People that feel comfortable in their job are more productive.
27. All contracts end.
28. The prepared bird gets the worm.
29. An unfilled position is better than one filled by the wrong person.
30. The killer of the bearer of bad news quickly joins the ranks of the uninformed.

Jeff Coleman’s Management Rules:

1. Don’t dictate – persuade.
2. Project a can-do attitude.
3. Delegate then don’t interfere, but be available to help.
4. Learn to accommodate a wide variety of personalities.
5. Don’t tolerate bickering, blame, throwing, or covering up – insist on harmonious teamwork.
6. Be tolerant of mistakes – up to a limit.
7. Be intolerant of incompetence.
8. Encourage constructive dissent.
9. Never miss an opportunity to pat someone on the back.
10. Be honest, but gentle when appraising someone.
11. Give individuals a voice in their job assignment.
12. Make sure an assignment is understood and accepted.
13. Set high standards.
14. Be selective in hiring.
15. Be consistent.
16. Be open.
17. Don’t lose your temper.
18. Don’t ever take credit for others’ work.
19. Speak out.
20. Be inquisitive.
21. Write it down.
22. Don’t give the appearance of vacillating, but avoid the extreme of bullheadedness.
23. Be accurate – don’t exaggerate.
24. Keep your boss informed.
25. Don’t criticize one of your employees in front of others.
26. Cherish your personal integrity.
27. Keep your appearance neat.
28. Set a good example.
29. Take pride in everything you do.
30. Make money for the company and have fun doing it.

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