Key Facts

• Sundar Pichai, an alumnus of Stanford University, gave his second commencement speech, with the first being a filmed address during COVID in 2020 as part of a virtual YouTube series.
• Pichai shared a story about a road trip he took to Vegas during his time at Stanford, where he learned that "very few moments in life are make or break," and that one should focus on filtering the signal through the noise to make the most of life's moments.
• Pichai advised the graduates to "gravitate towards working on hard things" and to "choose optimism," citing his experience working on Google Chrome, which was initially dismissed by Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer but ultimately achieved success.
• Pichai also suggested that when all else is equal, one should "do the thing that excites you," citing his own excitement about working on projects that enable human progress, such as bringing the internet to as many people as possible.
• Pichai shared "three simple filters" that have helped him make the most of life's moments, including choosing optimism, working on hard things, and doing what excites you.