Maya Angelou said that people will seldom remember what you said but will always remember how you made them feel when you said it. Words of wisdom from a very wise lady. What you say has to be essentially bereft of personal interest or gain It has to clearly and unequivocally address the future of young people and give them tools they can use like the ringing question you offer. They might then remember your message over the years.
Hi Guy - I loved your speech about 'What's Missing?' Short, sweet, and to the point and very much a relevant question to ask in all aspects of our personal and professional lives. Thanks for sharing the commencement speech/video and I think you're right about not being able to cover all of the suggested ChatGPT goals in 7 minutes. Even though I didn't remember my commencement speech when I graduated, I'll remember this one for 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks, 5 months, 5 years, and 5 decades from now!
Thank you for inspiring us. Those who respond to this question too frequently are the misfits. The gadfly’s. I’m glad future generations are finding room for us 💜
I am fan of Remarkable People podcast and read a few books by Guy. The newsletter greatly helped to better understand what most of us miss in a commencement, what’s missing. The point about Steve Wozniak is spot on, the problem he solved was to help people, not get rich. As a bonus, Guy’s commencement nailed it, with tone that complements the newsletter without the rah rah.
Your commencement speech was the perfect example of providing the answer to "What's missing?" After listening to numerous commencement speeches over the years—at my own graduations, my daughter's graduations, and my grandkids' graduations—I've noticed that what's missing is practical, actionable advice for graduates to apply in their lives. Your approach, avoiding the clichéd "you can achieve anything" rhetoric, was refreshing and genuinely valuable.
From personal experience, identifying "What's missing?" was the catalyst for the explosive growth of my company, Purple Cow Capital. While we have an "alternative lending" division, our primary focus is on business acquisitions. We acquire companies from seniors who want or need to retire. In our industry, competitors typically offer either a discounted lump sum payment or a down payment followed by additional payments over a few short years.
Most entrepreneurs' net worth is tied up in their businesses. After working with numerous seniors, I realized their biggest fear was running out of money in their golden years, even if our offer was more generous than our competition.
"What was missing" was the financial security of a guaranteed income that kept up with inflation for the rest of their (and their partners') lives. Once we addressed this issue and assured these seniors that their businesses would be transferred to a capable safe pair of hands, their employees would retain good-paying jobs, and their legacy would continue, our business skyrocketed.
As Zig Ziglar used to say, "Give enough people what they want, and you'll get what you want."
Thank you, Guy, for delivering a commencement speech with real value.
Guy - I love the examples of "What's missing?" - those are great for finding some gaps that might be hiding in plain sight.
Also useful when going through the news to understand what's being purposefully left out of their version of the story.
I'm also a fan of asking "What can be removed?"
That's what we did with our original PlexiCam (thanks again for being an early adopter!), to get rid of the tripod, gooseneck, other traditional camera mount bulk and make the mount nearly invisible.
And it's what we're doing with our upcoming release, Mag2 - which takes a completely different approach to being an invisible webcam mount, by shrinking to a size small enough to hide behind your webcam.
Having all of the answers (or thinking you do) is incredibly dangerous.
But having some great core questions?
The sky's the limit on what you can uncover!
For those interested, our upcoming Mag2 details are here:
Maya Angelou said that people will seldom remember what you said but will always remember how you made them feel when you said it. Words of wisdom from a very wise lady. What you say has to be essentially bereft of personal interest or gain It has to clearly and unequivocally address the future of young people and give them tools they can use like the ringing question you offer. They might then remember your message over the years.
Perfect newsletters and stories ty
I am new too.
Hi Guy - I loved your speech about 'What's Missing?' Short, sweet, and to the point and very much a relevant question to ask in all aspects of our personal and professional lives. Thanks for sharing the commencement speech/video and I think you're right about not being able to cover all of the suggested ChatGPT goals in 7 minutes. Even though I didn't remember my commencement speech when I graduated, I'll remember this one for 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks, 5 months, 5 years, and 5 decades from now!
Thank you for inspiring us. Those who respond to this question too frequently are the misfits. The gadfly’s. I’m glad future generations are finding room for us 💜
I am fan of Remarkable People podcast and read a few books by Guy. The newsletter greatly helped to better understand what most of us miss in a commencement, what’s missing. The point about Steve Wozniak is spot on, the problem he solved was to help people, not get rich. As a bonus, Guy’s commencement nailed it, with tone that complements the newsletter without the rah rah.
Welcome to Substack, Guy! I hope you engage in Notes because there are some fantastic (and sometimes esoteric) discourses here.
Looking forward to this!
Looking forward to your substack Guy. So happy you've joined us in 2024. ;)
Guy,
Your commencement speech was the perfect example of providing the answer to "What's missing?" After listening to numerous commencement speeches over the years—at my own graduations, my daughter's graduations, and my grandkids' graduations—I've noticed that what's missing is practical, actionable advice for graduates to apply in their lives. Your approach, avoiding the clichéd "you can achieve anything" rhetoric, was refreshing and genuinely valuable.
From personal experience, identifying "What's missing?" was the catalyst for the explosive growth of my company, Purple Cow Capital. While we have an "alternative lending" division, our primary focus is on business acquisitions. We acquire companies from seniors who want or need to retire. In our industry, competitors typically offer either a discounted lump sum payment or a down payment followed by additional payments over a few short years.
Most entrepreneurs' net worth is tied up in their businesses. After working with numerous seniors, I realized their biggest fear was running out of money in their golden years, even if our offer was more generous than our competition.
"What was missing" was the financial security of a guaranteed income that kept up with inflation for the rest of their (and their partners') lives. Once we addressed this issue and assured these seniors that their businesses would be transferred to a capable safe pair of hands, their employees would retain good-paying jobs, and their legacy would continue, our business skyrocketed.
As Zig Ziglar used to say, "Give enough people what they want, and you'll get what you want."
Thank you, Guy, for delivering a commencement speech with real value.
Rick Kirschbrown
Purple Cow Capital
Guy - I love the examples of "What's missing?" - those are great for finding some gaps that might be hiding in plain sight.
Also useful when going through the news to understand what's being purposefully left out of their version of the story.
I'm also a fan of asking "What can be removed?"
That's what we did with our original PlexiCam (thanks again for being an early adopter!), to get rid of the tripod, gooseneck, other traditional camera mount bulk and make the mount nearly invisible.
And it's what we're doing with our upcoming release, Mag2 - which takes a completely different approach to being an invisible webcam mount, by shrinking to a size small enough to hide behind your webcam.
Having all of the answers (or thinking you do) is incredibly dangerous.
But having some great core questions?
The sky's the limit on what you can uncover!
For those interested, our upcoming Mag2 details are here:
https://www.plexicam.com/pages/mag2
Congrats! Looking forward to what comes next.
Hello! Glad you are here!