Facebook's CEO returned to Harvard Thursday, telling graduates that it is up to their generation to create a purpose for today's world, to care about others, to fight inequality and strengthen the global community.
"Change starts local. Even global changes start small — with people like us," Mark Zuckerberg said after sharing anecdotes about graduates like David Razu Aznar, a former city leader who led the effort to legalize gay marriage in Mexico City, and Agnes Igoye, who grew up in conflict zones in Uganda and now trains law enforcement officers.
"And this is my story too. A student in a dorm room, connecting one community at a time, and keeping at it until one day we can connect the whole world," said the 33-year-old billionaire, who received an honorary doctorate degree on Thursday, 12 years after dropping out of Harvard to focus on Facebook.
Zuckerberg, who like the graduates is a millennial, started Facebook in his dorm room in 2004. What began as a closed networking site for Harvard students is now a global communications force with nearly 2 billion members.
Zuckerberg follows another famous Harvard dropout, Bill Gates, who spoke before its graduates a decade ago. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Reed College in Oregon, gave Stanford's commencement speech in 2005, reminding students to "stay hungry, stay foolish."
Besides launching Facebook, Zuckerberg also met his wife, Priscilla Chan, at Harvard. Chan went on to become a pediatrician. Together, the two formed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization focused on advancing science and education. They have also pledged to give away 99 per cent of their massive wealth.
On Thursday, Zuckerberg received an honorary doctoral degree from the university, along with nine other people including the actress Judi Dench, the composer John Williams (known for "Star Wars," ''Harry Potter" and many other scores) and Somali human rights activist and physician Hawa Abdi Dhiblawe.
"If I get through this speech today it'll be the first time I actually finish something here at Harvard," Zuckerberg said. He did.
HERE ARE 10 EXCERPTS FROM HIS COMMENCEMENT SPEECH
"Let's face it, you accomplished something I never could. If I get through this speech today, it'll be the first time I actually finish something here at Harvard."
"My best memory from Harvard is meeting Priscilla. I had just launched this prank website Facemash, and the ad (administrative) board wanted to 'see me.' Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out. My parents drove up here to help me pack my stuff. My friends threw me a going-away party. Who does that? As luck would have it, Priscilla was at that party with her friends. And we met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower (a dorm), and in what must seem like one of the all-time most romantic lines, I turned to her and said: 'I'm getting kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly.'"
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"Ideas don't come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started. If I had to know everything about connecting people before I got started, I never would have built Facebook."
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"It's really good to be idealistic. But be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision is going to get called crazy, even if you end up right."
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"There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in 10 years while millions of students can't even afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business."
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"Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. They had the New Deal and Great Society. And now it's time for our generation to define a new social contract."
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"We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas. We're all going to change jobs and roles many times, so we need affordable child care to get to work and health care that's not tied to one employer."
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"Millennials are already one of the most charitable generations in history. In just one year, more than three in four U.S. millennials donated to charity and more than seven in 10 raised money for another one. But it's not just about giving money. You can also give time. And I promise you, if you just take an hour or two a week — that's all it takes to give someone a hand and help them reach their potential."
"Every generation expands the circle of people we consider 'one of us.' And in our generation, that now includes the whole world. ... But we live in an unstable time. There are people left behind by globalization across the whole world. And it's tough to care about people in other places when we don't first feel good about our lives here at home. There's pressure to turn inwards."
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"This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom, openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism. Forces for the flow of knowledge, trade and immigration against those who would slow them down. This is not a battle of nations. It's a battle of ideas."
