Chanced upon a video of a talk by Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD. It was a talk about a program started by AMD called 50*15, where they aim to connect 50% of the world’s population to the internet by the year 2015.

It is a fantastic overarching theme to have as a vision, something that will set direction for the computing giant for the coming years, and more so because it involves other companies, even competitors in delivering a stretch goal that will benefit all of them, and the part of the world that is still hungry for information and enlightenment.

But what struck me most, was Hector’s relationship with his father and the way the old man egged his young son to perform better, in all aspects of life.

“For a civilization to progress, every generation has to perform better than the previous one.

A seemingly simple statement, but with great impact on young Hector’s mind. In his teenage years, the importance of this did not hit him, but when he set out on his way to a great career, his father reminded him of this one statement, coaching him that it’s not a job that he has set out to do, it’s a transformation, at an individual and societal level. Hector’s father again repeated the same mantra on the day of his marriage, reminding him that he had to be a better husband than his dad, and again, on the day Hector had his first child, reminding him that he had to be a better father too.

For a civilization to progress, every generation has to perform better than the previous one. In every aspect of humanity. In understanding, in treating fellow human beings, and in living as a whole.

Touche.

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