Innovations & Inspirations

As I submitted my last final exam of my Stanford career, I took a moment to reflect on my time at Stanford.

I came in with a view, a voice, and a dream.  I’m leaving with a view, a voice, and a dream.  The difference is the magnitude, depth, sophistication, and (hopefully) unbounded potential of that view, voice and dream.

While I learned a fair bit from the classroom, my Stanford experience was made outside the classroom.  The stories, the perspectives, and the nuances in people’s lives.  The way people analyze, persuade, and persist.  The reasons people do things, the reasons people don’t, and the reasons people want to.  I’ve come out not with a knowledge of the solutions, but with a knowledge of the problems and challenges that we as a society face—and a better understanding for many of their reasons.

But perhaps the most important thing I learned—or, should I say, experienced—was not what to think.  I learned how to think.  I learned how to learn.

Thank you, Stanford, for one of the most profound experiences of my life.