He took the stage to address the crowd of high schoolers.
It was the Alumnus of the Year Award presentation at my all-guys high school this past Monday.
They had accurately awarded an entrepreneur who is responsible for creating several massive companies. He’s a nerd with a great sense of humor.
He talked about how he bonded with his first co-founder over reading the operation manuals of a vacuum during his first year of high school. He talked about business negotiations in Hungary that had guns involved. And he talked about drinking beer and blowing things up with his scientist friends–fellow high school classmates–at the lake for 40 years in a row.
(The high school audience like the last story in particular!)
But his final message was the most important message.
Impossible is nothing.
He encouraged the high schoolers to find their own path by ending with a quote from Muhammad Ali:
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
That’s something we all need to hear.
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Photo: Flickr/Britt Selvitelle