Gurbaksh Chahal | Facebook

Dear America, Please Wake Up.

I'm going to go out of the limb here and probably going to write one of the more controversial blogs. But, as an entrepreneur, I feel Hollywood & Media are doing an unfortunate job for America.

The upcoming movie "Social Network" is based on Mark Zuckerberg's creation of Facebook with the idea that he stole ideas from his friends and thus became a billionaire. One thing, I've always preached in entrepreneurship is that an idea doesn't mean anything. It's all about the execution. 1% is the idea. 99% is the execution. Most of the people in the movie, left early on and aren't part of Facebook. However, all involved will either become millionaires and some even billionaires as a result of Zuckerberg's execution. They should be thanking him - not act like victims.

As you can remember, Facebook was first just a private ivy-league social network, later opening up to all EDUs, then opened up to all users, and now has created one of the most successful platforms where games and applications reside with 500 million users a month. All of this was stemmed from execution, not an idea.

I'm sure the movie will highlight a lot of the immaturities a young CEO makes. I started at 16 and probably made some mistakes because I just didn't know any better. But, every mistake in the real world builds your character.

More importantly there is an interesting dichotomy going on in America and the media. We're telling people, "Be stupid, Act trashy on TV, we'll give you fame and fortune" (a la Jersey Shore). Or "Dream. Work hard. Become Successful. And we'll figure out a way to make you a villain, because no one likes it when someone succeeds." This is unfortunate, because if America is going to remain the superpower we need more success not drama.

Speaking from an entrepreneur's, an uncle and someday a future parents perspective - I don't want my nephews/niece/and future kids to think there is some shortcut in life. True heroes are the ones that make something out of nothing. People that derive fame and fortune for being stupid aren't people I want them to ever watch or aspire to be. Hollywood and the media, you can do a better job at creating role models.

Kudos again Mark for your success. You've set the bar even higher for every entrepreneur. You deserve it.

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Graduation Commencement Speech
by Gurbaksh Chahal on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 12:08pm

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=426639925986

Great post-- and timely, considering our recent thread w/ "ideaguy", who thinks his idea is worth millions.

I think this article strikes at the heart of what is wrong w/today's media/movies-- that ignorant, outrageous, trashy behavior is rewarded, and skillful, learning (and polite) behavior is vilified.

I honestly believe this has a bit to do w/the people doing the reportage and making the movies-- in the 1930s and 40s, newspapers and movie studios were run by the heads of them-- the reporters and directors took direction from the chief, who set policy and charted the direction of the entire enterprise.

This approach had its flaws (it could be argued that someone like Wm Randolph Hearst did not live in the real world, nor did tycoons like Jack Warner (Warner Bros) or Loius B Mayer (the last "M" of MGM).

But wasn't that the whole point?

These guys had a vision for the world they wanted-- and their enterprises wrote articles, and made movies, based on this vision. This is why movies from that era are so "good"-- many of them play up the honorable parts of society, and show that good triumphs over evil.

As the current society shifts away from:

Hard work and honesty = good life

. . . over to:

Lying/feeling entitled = the way to get ahead

. . . it's only natural that our books, movies, and newspapers/TV reflect this change.

I think our current political frustrations of NO ONE trusting government are closely tied to this. When a society always blames others for their problems and does not take personal responsibility to correct and move ahead, but instead feels entitled to things they did not work for and wants a free ride, there is a fundamental disconnect between personal responsibility and how to get the job done. It's always somebody else's fault.

How to stop this, and turn the tide?

THAT is a great question for the fastlane, and something that could change our world.

-Russ H.

Russ H said:

Great post-- and timely, considering our recent thread w/ "ideaguy", who thinks his idea is worth millions.

Click to expand...

Ideaguy is like most of society; he thinks that having a great idea will somehow make him a fortune. Instead of taking our advice and trying to execute his idea he believes that someone else will do it for him and give him money just for his idea. He should look to the examples of pretty much every self-made millionaire or billionaire; they went through a lot of hard work before they finally succeeded and made a fortune.

Bill Gates for instance spent hours every day working on his software and he never missed a single day of work, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the first decade of his companies existence; that's the kind of dedication it takes to become the world's richest man. The same goes for a star athlete as well; the casual observer might think that they're getting paid millions without having to work for it, but they put in years of workouts, practices, conditioning sessions, etc. from the time they were kids so that they can elevate their game to the level where they could make millions.

Russ H said:

I think this article strikes at the heart of what is wrong w/today's media/movies-- that ignorant, outrageous, trashy behavior is rewarded, and skillful, learning (and polite) behavior is vilified.

Click to expand...

Exactly. And, this is because most people believe in get rich quick schemes; they don't want to have to work for it. That's why society is more likely to think highly of someone who does outrageous things to get rich quickly than someone who does it the hard way, by starting a business.

How very relevant to some active threads going on here right now ...

Russ H said:

Lying/feeling entitled = the way to get ahead

Click to expand...

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/fa...27394-dirtiest-scandal-all-time-new-post.html

JayKim said:

I've always preached in entrepreneurship is that an idea doesn't mean anything.

Click to expand...

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...ally-feel-like-im-going-millionaire-idea.html