Last Lecture Series: Joel Peterson

Today at Stanford we started the Last Lecture series, where the most popular professors give a one hour lecture to the departing second years. Joel Peterson, who taught my Managing Growing Enterprises class, gave an excellent presentation today (see here for a video of Joel presenting at the E-Conference this winter). Here are the notes I took from the lecture.

One of Joel's lessons to live by is to always ask yourself: What is winning for you? For this lecture, he decided to ask himself: What is winning in life? The answer... happiness. But how do you define happiness? He says that happiness can be attained in 3 different ways: Pleasure, Joy and Peace. If you were to graph these, Pleasure would be on the farthest left and give you the least happiness. Pleasure is about meeting your needs now, but is not fulfilling. One of life's problems is that many people stay at this level. Next is Joy; all of us would agree that joy is something that has more meaning than pleasure alone. And finally, there is peace. Peace is something that is self-actualized, and is most difficult to achieve. Money and fame will not give you peace (and at best probably will only give you short-term pleasure). The key to peace and happiness? Strive for a person to be, a person to love, and a work to do.

A Person to Be
How do you discover who you are? Joel suggests:
1. Read; at least a book a week. Not TV, not movies, but reading. Read on planes, read if you can't sleep. Reading allows you to see the world through others eyes.
2. Memorize quotes, and notice which ones you actually remember. You'll learn a lot about yourself.
3. Write down your goals. Operationalize them, and let other people know. Make them memorable. For example, Joel will never forget one of his student's goals to "run a marathon at age 35 faster than at age 25." People will always be reminding you of these types of goals, which will help you accomplish them.
4. Write your own obituary. Or a six word story about yourself. Example: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" by Ernest Hemingway.

Finally, to learn what your core values are, look at where you spend your most valuable resources: time, money and mindshare. The difference between these and what you believe are your core values is in fact a lack of integrity.

A Person to Love

• Loving another is hard work. Marriage is about making a commitment
• We love what we sacrifice for.
• Learn to listen. Ask good questions, and follow up with more questions. Joel would ask his children "Tell me about you." Be willing to accept silence and eventually people will open up.
• To truly love someone is to be able to freely exchange feedback. Thank people who give you negative feedback; this is the hardest to give.
• Laugh--you are not the center of the universe

A Work to Do

Being in business is just as noble an endeavor as becoming a doctor or researcher, because running things is very hard to do well.

To be successful in business you need 6 qualities:
1. Hardworking
2. Smart
3. See beyond what is obvious
4. Build great teams--resist the temptation to be a pleaser, you will eventually be abandoned or betrayed
5. Communication
6. Be trustworthy--help others achieve their dreams