Billionaire Advice For 2013 College Grads: Oprah, Melinda Gates, Steve Case And More

 

The world’s billionaires are, by definition, some of the most successful people on the planet — often building their own companies and changing the world with a new product or a huge philanthropic endeavor. This makes them natural candidates to give advice to young college graduates who are just starting out in the world. 

This year, a handful of billionaires gave commencement addresses, including media powerhouse Oprah Winfrey, global philanthropist Melinda Gates, and AOL AOL +2.15% co-founder Steve Case. Here are some choices passages from their speeches:

Oprah Winfrey: We All Want To Be Understood

“I have to say the single most important lesson I learned in 25 years is there’s a common denominator in our experience… We want to be validated. We want to be understood. I’ve done over 35,000 interviews in my career and as soon as that camera shuts off, everyone always turns to me and says, ‘Was that OK?’ I heard it from President Bush. I heard it from President Obama… I even heard it from Beyonce in all her Beyonceness!” -Harvard University

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