Zuckerberg Media CEO discourages fear of failure at UVU lecture series
Tech expert and businesswoman Randi Zuckerberg speaks to students Thursday, August 31, 2017 at Utah Valley University. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Tech expert and businesswoman Randi Zuckerberg speaks to students Thursday, August 31, 2017 at Utah Valley University. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Tech expert and businesswoman Randi Zuckerberg speaks to students Thursday, August 31, 2017 at Utah Valley University. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Tech expert and businesswoman Randi Zuckerberg speaks to students Thursday, August 31, 2017 at Utah Valley University. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
It seems counterproductive to think of failing as a message of positivity or one in which the recipient will gain self-worth or confidence.
But that’s exactly how Randi Zuckerberg opened this year’s Roots of Knowledge Lecture series.
Zuckerberg, CEO of Zuckerberg Media and former director of market development at Facebook, spoke Thursday night at Utah Valley University to open the fall session of the Roots of Knowledge Lecture series. Zuckerberg, one of the leaders in tech and social media, focused her comments on the pros and cons of today’s tech-centric world and how today’s young entrepreneurs can turn failures into gifts.
“It’s amazing what happens when you erase the fear of looking silly or having a bad idea,” Zuckerberg said.
To draw from her own experience, Zuckerberg said when she first piloted Facebook Live, only two people watched her cast — her mother and father.
“I got so dejected … and said “Facebook Live is dead,'” she said, “except it totally wasn’t. I got a call about three weeks later from Katy Perry’s manager saying, ‘Katy Perry would like to go onto your Facebook television show to launch her world tour.'”
Since then, Facebook Live has grown into a primary feature on the site and mobile app, and can be used as a live interface by any of the more than 2 billion users.
“I never considered myself an entrepreneur. I never thought I would come up with anything,” she said. “But what this has shown me is that any of us put in an environment that you can just feel free to be your most creative self, where no one’s judging you to put your best self out there, all of us are creators and entrepreneurs.”
But new technology brings immense responsibility, she said. The 2016 election campaign, combined with the rampant spread of fake news on social media, taught Zuckerberg that social media is a powerful tool for better or worse.
“The tools and ways you guys are going to use them to change the world and change your careers, those same things are also the worst things about social media,” she said. “We can now reach millions of people for free with the click of a button. But that also means those millions of people can talk back to you and you may not like what they have to say.”
For example, consider tools like the Tikker watch, the Charity alarm app or the Gym Shamer app. The Tikker watch keeps time and also tells the wearer when they’re most likely to die. The Charity alarm app provides a soothing, gradual alarm to wake up to. But every time the user hits snooze, the app makes a donation to charity in your name. And the Gym Shamer app uses the user’s social media account to alert that person’s friends and followers when they haven’t been to the gym.
“Every single thing can be your mom and yell at you. Doesn’t that sound awesome?” she said jokingly.
Zuckerberg implored the crowd to be creative and to do so without staring at their phones. The greatest creativity, she said, comes from a few hours without a screen glowing in one’s face and with an open mind.
“When you think of the greatest minds in business out there, none of those people created the best inventions that we all used when they were 24/7 glued to a device,” she said.
With that, she wished a spot of failure on the lecture hall in the hopes that it will lift them up.
“I encourage you to take risks with your career. When you’re in that moment when you’re like, ‘How will I ever pick myself out of this?'” she said. “You will. And probably, that moment that you feel like you’re never going to recover from this is going to be your reason for your success.”