Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest individuals in the world, with a net worth of over $100 billion. While there are many factors that could explain his success, one might just be his optimistic nature.
The Facebook co-founder on Monday delved into his thoughts on optimism and, just as importantly, pessimism episode of huberman laboratory podcast.
He explained that one of his favorite sayings is “Optimists tend to succeed and pessimists tend to be right.”
He continued: “I do think it does make sense… If you’re discussing any idea, there are a lot of reasons why it might not work. Those reasons might be valid. The people who state these views might have a point. But The question is, is this the most productive way to look at the world? Overall, I think the people who tend to be the most productive and get the most done – you need to stay optimistic because if you don’t believe something can be done, then Why are you doing it? ?”
Zuckerberg is a self-confessed optimist, and he certainly believes Facebook, which he co-founded nearly 20 years ago, will catch on. But he also heard a lot of criticism from skeptics who couldn’t imagine it would work. One of the skeptics is investor Andrew Chen, now a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. When Chen met the Facebook team, there were only about 12 people on the team. He was not impressed and walked away from what would have been a blockbuster investment.
“They don’t know much about advertising,” Chen Later wrote. “Their monetization strategy is superficial at best.” He added that the idea that Facebook would one day be bigger than portals like Yahoo, MSN and AOL “never entered my mind,” admitting that he “failed to understand The Potential of Facebook”.
Of course, Zuckerberg remains optimistic — and the rest is history.
He remains equally optimistic about the potential of the Metaverse, even as investors are nervous that Meta is spending tens of billions of dollars on the project with little success. “Those who are patient and invest with us will ultimately be rewarded,” he insisted on an analyst call last year.
He has also been optimistic about the potential of artificial intelligence to improve people’s lives, while Tesla CEO Musk described artificial intelligence as “a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.”
“Especially about artificial intelligence, I’m very optimistic,” Zuckerberg explain During a Facebook Live broadcast in 2017. “I think people who are naysayers and try to promote these doomsday scenarios – I just, I don’t get it. It’s really negative, and in some ways I actually think it’s quite irresponsible. In the next five years Within ten years, artificial intelligence will bring huge improvements to our quality of life.”
Of course, many will argue that Zuckerberg is overly optimistic in some respects, and in the eyes of many, Facebook has become a cesspool of disinformation and conspiracy. The company has been accused of privacy violations on several occasions, including during the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It seems that being a little more pessimistic might save Zuckerberg a lot of trouble.
That said, he’s not one to filter criticism. “If you ignore all the people who think you’re not doing it right, you’re going to miss a lot of really valuable signals that will allow you to do things better than you are today,” he said. Tell Last year’s edge.
Also on the podcast is Zuckerberg’s wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, with whom Zuckerberg co-founded the Zuckerberg Chan Initiative. The organization has an optimistic goal of curing all human diseases by the end of the century and is focused on funding projects at the intersection of biology, engineering and artificial intelligence.
“I would say we are very hopeful people,” Chen said. “But it manifested itself in different ways between the two of us.”
Zuckerberg said he’s “technically optimistic about what can be built,” but for Chen, a doctor, it’s more about “being able to improve individual lives.”
Chen agreed, but also described a shortcoming of her husband’s optimism in daily life:
“As life partners we were relatively optimistic because Mark was overly optimistic with his time management and would get engrossed in interesting ideas. And he was running late. Whenever I was waiting for him I had to say ‘Mark is an optimist ‘… His optimism translated into some lateness.”
Svlook
