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№ 2009.019 — University of Michigan — Commencement address
Larry Page
Field: tech
Larry Page recounts his deep family ties to the University of Michigan, where his parents met and where multiple family members earned degrees, framing the address as a personal homecoming. He shares the origin of the idea behind Google, born from a late-night dream, and encourages graduates to pursue ambitious goals with a 'healthy disregard for the impossible.' He closes by reflecting on his father's death and battle with polio, urging graduates to value family and pursue work that could make a difference in the world.
Key moments
- 01 Personal story of his parents meeting in a Michigan co-op and his family's degrees there
- 02 The late-night dream at age 23 that led to downloading the web and founding Google
- 03 Encouragement to pursue mega-ambitious goals and 'work hard on something uncomfortably exciting'
- 04 Tribute to his father, who had polio, and a call to help eradicate the disease
Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording