In 2000 I first met my friend Juan Olaizola. We both worked in McKinsey&Co. I said him “Hi, my name is Francisco Hernandez” and he replied “Hi, I am Juan Olaizola and I want to do my MBA at Stanford”.

That was great! At McKinsey almost all Business Analysts (like him or me) were preparing the admision into an MBA program. Conversely to Juan, if you asked anyone what his/her favourite University was, you could spend and hour and you did not get the name, responses were vague and nobody would give you a ranking. People were conservative because if they failed, it would be evident.

I rather prefer someone honest that states clearly his/her ambitions without achieving them that someone “reserved”. And of course I prefer people who explicit their ambitions and achive them, like Juan. He got admission at Stanford and graduated in 2005. I think his honesty and clearness was not actually a handicap but indeed a real advantadge for him. He truly believed in what he was pursuing.

After Juan and Emi (my cousin… yes they got married and now Juan and I are relatives!) returned to Spain from California we met and I asked him about his experience. I remember he spent quite a long time speaking about the graduation ceremony. While talking Juan had the same bright in his eyes I saw when I met him for the first time. He was specially delighted by the guest speaker of his graduation ceremony and his speech: It was Steve Jobs.

In my opinion this is one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever seen.

Enjoy it!