By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America (Conan O’Brien) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Conan O’Brian at Harvard Graduation 2000
In his address of the Harvard Graduating Class of 2000, he emphasized his failures.
I have to admit that I hear that so often that I’m tempted to say that I want to see a an analysis of the data. Don’t people who are not successful also have a lot of failures? At least Outlier’s also acknowledges that outlying success also requires some luck in timing.
Conan O’Brian at Dartmouth Graduation 2011
When addressing Dartmouth 11 years later, O’Brian starts by stating hugely successful college drop-outs. The rest of his commentary on education is both funny and sad. But then, after suffering a career disappointment, he amends his advice on failure, but also in the process talks about resilience and reinvention. And you could say that his graduation speech has become more thoughtful and insightful due to his great failure.
Further reading:
Becoming Steve Jobs vs. Steve Jobs the official biography, a comparison Part 1/7
Outliers Review – Summary & Analysis – Opportunity, Part 1/4