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№ 2018.001 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Commencement address
Sheryl Sandberg
COO, Facebook
Sheryl Sandberg told MIT's class of 2018 that the most difficult problems and greatest opportunities are human rather than technical, drawing on her early work at a leprosy treatment center in India where community outreach, not just medicine, made the difference. She urged graduates to be 'clear-eyed optimists' who build technology supporting equality, democracy, and kindness while guarding against harm. She acknowledged Facebook's failures around user data and risks, saying owning mistakes helps prevent future ones, and called for inclusive workplaces free of harassment.
Key moments
- 01 Asking graduates if they knew their career path and recounting her own uncertain journey
- 02 Lesson from a leprosy treatment center in India that solutions are about people, not just technology
- 03 Three options facing technology's power: retreat, barrel forward, or be clear-eyed optimists
- 04 Acknowledging Facebook didn't foresee or stop all risks and the duty to own mistakes
Visual speech map
Sheryl Sandberg at MIT, 2018
A commencement address about technology's human consequences, clear-eyed optimism, accountability, inclusion, and choosing harder problems.
- 01 Uncertain path
- 02 Human problems
- 03 India lesson
- 04 Tech power
- 05 Clear-eyed optimism
- 06 Accountability
- 07 Inclusion
- 08 Hard work
Path
The future rarely arrives as a plan
Sandberg opens by asking graduates whether they know their path, then uses her own uncertainty to make flexibility part of the lesson.
The address begins with doubt instead of certainty.
A non-linear path becomes preparation for judgment.
Graduates are asked to keep choosing consequential work.
People
The hardest problems are human
A lesson from a leprosy treatment center in India reframes technology and medicine as incomplete without trust, outreach, and community.
Treatment succeeds only when people can be reached.
Social barriers can defeat technical answers.
Human behavior belongs inside the problem definition.
Technology
Be a clear-eyed optimist
Sandberg rejects both retreat and blind acceleration, arguing that powerful tools require optimism disciplined by evidence and safeguards.
Technology can expand opportunity and amplify harm.
Optimism must include risks, incentives, and abuse.
Engineers have obligations after launch.
Charge
Own mistakes and widen the room
The closing charge joins accountability for Facebook's failures with a call for workplaces and products that support equality, democracy, and kindness.
Owning mistakes is treated as prevention work.
Harassment and exclusion are leadership failures.
Culture shapes what technology becomes.
Transcript
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