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The Last Lecture
Randy Pausch was a 42 year-old professor at Carnegie Mellon University when, in the summer of 2007, he was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer. In keeping with tradition at Carnegie Mellon, he was given the opportunity to give a "last" lecture to his students and colleagues, a way to sum up all that he had learned and experienced. He grabbed at the chance, and used it as a way to leave some words of wisdom to his young children who would likely grow up without really knowing him. The result was a phenomenon...a videotape of the lecture was posted on YouTube and became one of the most watched videos of the past year. And his book, published just after he died in July 2008, allowed him to expand on the themes in the lecture and became one of those books you can pick up in an airport and digest on a short flight. It is less depressing than you would think given the subject and the outcome, and more uplifting than many of these kinds of "wisdom" books.
At a time when we're all fixated on the insane gyrations of the stock market and the dire economic predictions coming out of Washington, it's easy to lose perspective about the important things in life. Randy Pausch's last lecture certainly provides one kind of reminder.
I suspect any reader of the book will find their own favorite quote. Mine was this one: "It's a thrill to achieve your own childhood dreams, but as you get older, you may find that enabling the dreams of others is even more fun".
If you want to see the lecture on YouTube, it can be found here:
Comments
I’ve had doubts about the sales conferences before…like the time we were made to burst balloons with our butts or the previous year when we were blindfolded and lead by the whistling of a “guide” around an alligator-infested golf course. But this post and the recent post on Data reminded me how much I missed participating in the sales conference this year. From a business perspective, I return from Florida armed with fresh sales tactics and products ready for market, many of which have significantly impacted my budget. It’s like a juiced up LMA conference. One our strengths as a sales team, especially on the law firm side, is the experience not just within the legal market but at various newspapers and magazines in our company. To Pausch’s comment, “wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you”, I usually don’t have to wait long in our crowd. On a personal note, I’ve been lucky to forge friendships at the conferences that I wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to foster. We connect with one another at tradeshows and phone calls at various points in the year but there is a special bond amongst those of us that have survived a teambuilding exercise…maybe those kooky Florida event planners are on to something.
Posted by: Paula Ryplewski | October 14, 2008 4:32 PM