ラリーエリソンさんって、誰ですか ＞ こちら
スティーブ・ジョブズさんのスピーチと関連するので、両方読むと理解が深まります。生き方に共通しているところも伝わってきて、面白いですね。
(長い・大学生・ Larry Ellison スピーチ USC大学 Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DJaWWwITRM) (Larry Ellison? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison) Thank you for inviting me here today. I am honored to be with you / for your graduation / from the University of Southern California. This morning I’d like to talk with you / about how a few experiences / and couple of ideas / taught me some important lessons / and helped me discover my dreams. When I was your age, living in going to school in Chicago / back in the 1960's. I used to dream about this place, The University of Southern California. Back then, my dream was to go to the USC medical school, get married, raise a family, and practice medicine in Los Angeles. Growing up in a lower middle class community / on the south side of Chicago, medicine was considered the pinnacle / of professions. Noble and humane. Virtually(事実上) everyone important / in my life, my family, my teachers, my girlfriend, wanted me to be a doctor. Over time, their dreams became my dreams. They convinced me / I should be a doctor. But as hard as I tried, I couldn't do it. After a few difficult and unhappy years / the premed student, it became painfully(とても) clear to me / that I did not like the courses / I was taking. I thought / my comparative anatomy class (私の比較解剖学の授業) / was a perversely(逆に) pointless form / of psychological torture. Especially the dissection(解剖) labs. And I just could not make myself study something / that didn't interest me. At the time, I thought I lacked discipline(規律). And that I was selfish. Maybe so. But whatever the underlying reasons, I was unable to make myself / into the person / that I thought I should be. So I decided to stop trying. I was 21 years old / when I dropped out of college / packed everything I owned / jeans, T shirts, leather jacket, guitar / into my car / and drove from Chicago / to Berkeley California. I guess one small part / of that university / of southern California dream / was mine after all the California part. Berkeley / in the 1960's / was at the center / of everything. The antiwar movement, the free speech movement, the human rights movement. It was the perfect place / for an undisciplined, selfish twenty-something / to begin his search for himself, a righteous(正しい・正義の) cause, and a job that he loved. Everyone living in Berkeley / in the 1960's / opposed the Vietnam war. I was no different. It was the age of Aquarius(みずがめ座の時代 = 1960年代のヒッピー・反戦運動の流行があった時代をさしている）, but I never had long hair / and I never wore beads / I learned / to play popular protest songs on my guitar . But I was never a committed serious antiwar protester. I did find a cause, however. One I still feel passionately about today. A few hours east of Berkeley / are the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I fell in love / with those mountains / and the ineffable(いいようのない) natural beauty / of Yosemite Valley. I cared about the wilderness / and I wanted to help preserve it. I joined the Sierra club. I became an environmentalist. During my California springs and summers / I spent most of my days / in the high Sierra's and Yosemite Valley / working as a river guide / and a rock climbing instructor. I loved those jobs, but unfortunately they didn't pay that well. So I also got a job / working a couple days a week / as a computer programmer / back in Berkeley. I’d learned to program in college. I didn't love programming / but it was fun and I was good at it. And computer programming gave me / the same kind of satisfaction / for solving math problems / and playing chess, both things I enjoyed / before I became a confused teenager. At this point in my life, I thought I was making real progress / on my journey of self discovery. I found a cause. I had a couple of jobs that I love / and one that was fun and paid the bills. I was pretty happy with my life. My wife was not. What she saw was a college dropout / who spent too much time / in the mountains / doing foolish things. She wanted me to work fulltime / as a computer programmer / or go back to college / and finish my degree. We compromised (妥協した) / sort of(多少). I started taking classes at UC Berkeley. I took several classes / but the only one I can remember / was a sailing class taught at Berkeley marina. Once again, I fell in love / and began a life / long affair(長く夢中になる) / with the limitless omnipotent(絶大なる) Pacific Ocean. When my class was over, I want to buy a sailboat. My wife said, this was the single(=最上級をさらに強調) stupidest idea / she had ever heard / in her entire life. She accused(責めた) me / of being irresponsible / and she told me I lacked ambition. She kicked me out. And then she divorced me. This was a pivotal(極めて重要な) moment in my life. My family was still mad(=very angry) at me / for not going to medical school. And now my wife was divorcing me / because I lacked ambition. It looked like a reoccurrence(再発生) / of the same all problem. Once again, I was unable to live up / to the expectations of others. But this time, I was not disappointed / in myself. For failing to be the person / they thought I should be. Their dreams and my dreams were different. I would never confuse the two of them again. I discovered things / that I loved, the Sierras, Yosemite, the Pacific Ocean. These natural wonders brought me great joy / and happiness / and wood for the rest of my life. I had an interesting job programming computers / and more money / than I needed. For the first time, I was certain / that I was going to survive in this world. A huge burden of fear / had been lifted. I will never forget that moment. It was a time for rejoicing(歓喜). I bought the sailboat / and lived on board / just me and my cat / in Berkeley marina. In the words of James Joyce, I was alone and young / and willful(わがまま) and unheeded(反省しない). But I was happy, and near to the wild heart of life. Throughout my 20's, I continued experimenting(実験), trying different things, racing bikes and boats and constantly changing jobs. It didn't take me long / to discover / that the most interesting and rewarding(やりがいのある) programming jobs / were found at a cluster of companies / located south of Stanford University / and north of San Jose. Silicon Valley was in its infancy(幼児期). I was still in my 20's / when I went to work for my first Silicon Valley startup. Amdahl(アムダール:会社名) were / we developed the world's fastest mainframe computer, faster than anything IBM had. Next stop was Ampex(アンペックス:会社名) / where we built the world's largest digital data storage system. Then on to precision instruments / where we built an even larger data storage system, this time using lasers. I was the vice president(副社長) / in charge of software development. It was all very cutting edge(ものすごく最先端) / and challenging and cool. I liked my work / most of the time / but I didn't love it. I searched and I searched / but I just could not find a software engineering job / that I loved / as much as I loved sailing. So I tried to create one. I put together( まとめました ) a plan / to start my own company. That way, I could completely control my work environment. I would hire the most talented programmers I knew / and we would all work together / on the most interesting / and challenging software projects. My goal was to create the perfect job / for me, a job I truly loved. I never expected the company / to grow beyond 50 people. So maybe, I really did lack ambition or vision / back then. I don't know. (===================================================================) It was a long time ago / and I was very young. Anyway, today Oracle employees / around 150,000 people. When I started, it was not my intention / to build a big company. What happened? What first we did exactly / what we set out (set out=着手する) / what to do. Hired the most talented software engineers / in Silicon Valley. We assembled them an all star team / of gifted programmers / who were among the best in the world / at what they did. That team plus one crazy idea / gave birth to a giant company. I called it a crazy idea / because at the time , everyone told me / it was a crazy idea. The idea was / to build the world's first relational database. Several theoretical papers / about relational databases / had already been published / and IBM was building a prototype / and their research labs. But back then , the collective wisdom / of computer experts was that / while relational databases could be built , they would never be faster enough / to be useful. I thought all of those / so called computer experts/ were wrong. And when you start telling people / that all the experts are wrong , at first they call you arrogant(傲慢な、尊大な) , and then they say you’re crazy. So remember this, graduates. When people start telling you / that you are crazy , you just might be / on to the most important innovation / in your life. The course of other possibility is / you are crazy. This is one of those times / when the experts were wrong. Arrogance(傲慢さ) and insanity(狂気) turned out / to be innovation in disguise(変身して). The Oracle database proved(証明した) to be / a defining technology / at the dawn of the information age. The Oracle database also totally upended(ひっくり返した) my plans / to build a small, comfortable company , a perfect place for me / and a few of my friends to work. As the information age moved / from dawn to the full light of day , technology horizons were constantly shifting , revealing a brave and exciting world / of new possibilities and new opportunities. Oracle doubled in size / year after year after year / for 10 years. I had set out(出発した) to create the perfect programming job / for me. Instead(そのかわりに) I created a job / where I had to stop programming / all together. I attempted to create an environment / that I could completely control. Instead I was running a company / with thousands of thousands of people / that was growing so fast / that it was impossible/ for anyone to control. It was like sailing / in a hurricane. And then, we went public. Oh, my god. Maybe I should have been a doctor. I was constantly learning , on the job training / I think they call it. Every day I learned something new / and interesting, something / that I didn't know / the day before. I liked that. My new job was challenging, captivating(魅惑的), consuming. I worked all the time. But thinking back , I'm pretty sure / I didn't love it / or maybe I was just too tired / to even know how I felt. But I had found a place / in the world. My family finally forgave me / for not going to medical school. And nobody ever accused me / of lacking ambition again. (===================================================================) Now I'd like to tell you / one last story / about my best friend , a guy who had lots of crazy ideas / and taught me an important lesson. My 30 year friendship / with Steve Jobs / was made up / of a thousand walks. If there was something / he wanted to talk about , and always was , we go for a walk. We climbed to the top of windy hill , hiked around Castle Rock / through the sands and on the beach / at Kona Village. Over the years , one particular walk / stands out(目立つ、際立っている) / we had a lot of talk about that days / so we jumped in the car , put the top down / and a headed out to Castle Rock State Park / in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was over 20 years ago , back in mid 1995. Steve was finishing up Toy Story and Pixar / and running Next / the computer company / he founded after he left Apple. Apple was in severe distress(とても悲惨だった). It had gone steadily downhill / during the 10 years of Steve's absence. The problems were now so serious / people were wondering / if Apple would survive. It was all too painful to watch / and stand by / and do nothing. So the purpose of that particular hike / through the Santa Cruz Mountains / on that particular day / was to discuss taking over Apple computer. My idea was simple. Buy Apple / and immediately make Steve CEO. Apple wasn't worth much / back then, about 5 billion dollars. We both had really good credit / and I had already arranged / to borrow all of the money. All Steve had to do / was say Yes. Steve proposed / a somewhat more circuitous(遠回りな) approach. First, persuade(説得する) Apple / to buy Next computer. Then Steve would join the Apple board / and overtime / the board would recognize / that Steve was the right guy / to lead the company. I said, "Ok. That might work. But Steve , if we don't buy Apple , how are we going to make any money? " Suddenly Steve stopped walking / and turned toward me. We were facing each other / when he put his left hand / on my right shoulder / and his right hand / on my left shoulder. Staring unblinkingly into my eyes , Steve said , "Larry, this is why it's so important / that I am your friend. You don’t need any more money. " I said , "Ya, I know I know. " Then I came and I said , "But we don't have to keep it , we get to give it all away. " I was whining(泣きべそをかいていた). Steve just shook his head / and said , "I'm not doing this for the money. I don't want to get paid. If I do this , I need to do this / standing on the moral high ground." "The moral high ground? " I said , "will that just might be / the most expensive real estate on earth." But I knew / I had lost the argument. Steve had made up his mind / right there and then / at Castle Rock / in the summer of 1995 / to save Apple his way. At the end of the hike , right before we got back into the car , I said , "Steve, you created Apple , it's your company , and it's your call(使命・天命). I’ll do / whatever you want me to do. " I went on to the Apple board / and then I watched Steve / build the most valuable company on earth. The lesson here is very clear to me. Steve was right. After a certain point , it can't be / about the money. After a certain point , you can't spend it / no matter how hard you try. I know, I've tried hard. But it's impossible. And the end , the only practical option is / to give nearly all of it away. So why did Steve go back to Apple , why did he devote(献身する) so much / of what remained of his life / to his job? Why do I? I believe the answer is that / deep inside of all of us, all of us , there is a primal desire / to do something important / with our lives. And Freud said / there are only two things / important in life. Love and work. He didn't say / love and work / were the same thing. I'm passionate about my work. It continues / to give me great satisfaction / and a sense of who I am. But passion and love are different. At least from me , they are. I love my family. A few precious friends , four cats, two dogs, cherry blossoms in Japan , Pacific island beaches and bays , and the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains / where it all began for me. My feelings about work / are very intense / but quite different. There was a TV advertisement / for the United States Navy / that says / "It's not just a job , it's an adventure. " That's exactly how I feel / about my years in Silicon Valley. An interesting, challenging , all consuming adventure. Like any on going adventure , I have no idea how it ends. But I know it well for me / and a long, long time from now / for all of you. But today, graduates , you are beginning your great adventure. Your generation will change the world / as every generation does. You are on that new technologies / and create new types of art. Impossibilities will be transformed / into possibilities. And unexpected opportunities / will present themselves. You will change the world. And the world will change you / as you learn and grow / and discover more about yourself. Remember this graduates , in a constantly changing world , what is possible / is a moving target. Don't be afraid / to experiment and try / lots of different things. Don't let the experts discourage you / when you challenge the status quo. Like mark twain says , "What is an expert, anyway? Just some guy from out of town. " Each of you has a chance / to discover who you are / rather than who you should be , a chance to live your dreams , not the dreams of others. Each of you has an obligation(責務) / to commit to a righteous cause , one that elevates you / and improves the conditions of humanity / and the planet. Soon, many of you will begin a new job. I hope it interests you / and challenges you / and rewards you / with a sense of purpose / and satisfaction. But if it doesn't , keep searching. It is out there. It might take a while , but keep searching / until you find a job / that ignites(火をつける) your passions / like I did. Even better , you just might find one / that you love. Thank you, and congratulations.
