Image Credit: MacRumors
He’s the head of one of the most powerful companies in the world, so he probably knows a thing or two.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was invited as the guest speaker for the commencement address at a recent college graduation and it’s no surprise that he brought along some wise words to tell the crowd.
“Push back. It shouldn’t be this way,” Cook said, referring to how the world can push away any young person’s beliefs and dreams. His entire speech aimed to motivate graduates to seek out a world where they could take charge and not just settle for what the older generation left them.
“In some important ways, my generation has failed you,” the 58-year-old CEO said. “We have spent too much time debating, we have been too focused on the fight, and not focused enough on progress. You don’t need to look far to find an example of that failure.”
Cook then talks about the hurricane that occurred in New Orleans more than a decade ago as a result of human failure.
“Here today, in this very place, where thousands once found desperate shelter from a hundred-year disaster — the kind that seem to be happening more and more frequently — I don’t think we can talk about who we are as people and what we owe to one another without talking about climate change,” he said.
Cook then stressed that climate change is not a political debate, but rather a debate which involves real human lives. But adults, he said, are much too firm in what they do. In order to change, we must appeal to the young, such as college graduates of today.
“There are some who would like you to believe that the only way you can be strong is by bulldozing those who disagree or never giving them a chance to say their piece in the first place, that the only way you can build your own accomplishments is by tearing down the other side.”
Cook also advised the graduates to continue being open-minded and ‘pushing back’ if they feel like they’ve been pushed by whatever hurdle they’re encountering, be it a minor issue or something that could be possibly life-changing.
“Today, certain algorithms pull you toward the things you already know, believe, or like, and they push away everything else,” Cook said. “Push back. It shouldn’t be this way. But in 2019 opening your eyes and seeing things in a new way can be a revolutionary act.”
