Who Are You?

I saw a clip of a recent interview with Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google and worth more than $100 billion. He was being interviewed in front of a live audience. The first question he was asked was how much time he was spending at Google. Brin responded that he was there pretty much every day and said that he was reluctant to accept the invitation to be interviewed because he didn’t really want to miss being at work.?

I had a few different reactions to what Brin said. My first, and probably common reaction, was wow, here is a guy worth over $100 billion and could do anything he wants and be anywhere he wants, and he’s choosing to come back to work every day, and he’s feeling guilty about not being there?.

What is that all about? Was he bored having so much freedom? Was he lacking some kind of purpose and wanted to find it again by going back to work on a daily basis? I also found it incredibly admirable that was how he was choosing to spend his time.

I also figured if I continued to listen to the interview the answer may become more apparent. After all, there has to be a reason. Sure enough he said that it was all about A.I. which, of course, makes complete sense. To me, however, what was even more enlightening was how he first introduced what was getting him excited about A.I. And that was when he started off by saying “As a computer scientist.” He didn’t just say it once, he said it a few times. He didn’t say co-founder of Google, inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor, playboy, billionaire, etc.

He said computer scientist. And this is what Brin said about what brought him back.

“As a computer scientist I have never seen anything as exciting as all of the A.I progress that’s been happening in the last few years.”?

To a computer scientist there is no other place he would rather be than working at a company on the cutting edge of A.I.. If he thought of himself as an investor or playboy, then there were plenty of other places he would rather be. Since he thinks of himself as a computer scientist, however, then he really has no choice but to be there as it’s his calling. And while of course having so much wealth is an incredibly enviable position to be in, I would venture to guess that, for Brin, it could also have been an incredible distraction because of the endless options it can provide. But, once again, he said that he is a computer scientist. Given this he has no choice but to be working on the most exciting thing he’s seen in his lifetime. There is nothing else he could be spending his time on that would provide as much challenge, excitement, and continued growth as what he’s doing at Google regarding A.I. And what’s even more impressive is how humble he appears to be. It really seems like he came back to go to work and not for any kind of need for power or to just fill his time.

I saw this tweet from another incredibly successful tech founder and billionaire, Michael Dell. He, too, is expressing his enthusiasm for AI and its incredible potential to improve people's well-being.

Once you define who you really are at your core, you can gain tremendous clarity and begin living life from your quiet center.

For many years I have found great wisdom in the writings and interviews of Joseph Campbell. I think what he said about athletes and how this can be extrapolated to everyone speaks to the importance of clarity about who you truly are and what you’re living for as exemplified by Sergey Brin.

“The athlete who is in championship form has a quiet place in himself and it’s out of that his action comes. If he’s all in the action field, he’s not performing properly. There’s a center out of which you act; and Jean, my wife, being a dancer tells me the same is true – the center has to be known and held and it’s quite physically recognized by the person. Unless this center has been found, they’re torn apart and tension comes.”

“Now, the Buddha’s word is Nirvana. Nirvana is a psychological state of mind. It’s not a place like heaven. It’s not something that’s not here. It is here in the middle of the turmoil – what’s called Sangsara – the whirlpool of life conditions.”

"Nirvana is what? It's the condition that comes when you are not compelled by desire, or by fear, or by social commitments - when you hold your center and act out of that."

When we’re in the swirl of our lives being pushed and pulled by fear, desire, insecurities, social expectations, etc. we are not standing on firm ground.

As John Mellencamp says,

“You’ve got to stand for something or you’re going to fall for anything.”

Standing on quicksand makes it very difficult to say no because we don’t know what we truly want. Eventually we come to feel like our life is not our own and, at its extreme, can lead to an identity crisis and breakdown. We’re put here for a reason and it’s up to us to ascertain what that is so we can pursue our purpose. One should avoid striving for happiness as our primary goal because that is a deadend that will only lead to selfishness and disappointment because happiness is a byproduct of a life well lived, and it should never be the main focus of it. As it’s been said, a pleasure seeker becomes a pain finder. A purpose seeker, however, can live a much more fulfilling life if one actually finds that purpose and is guided by it.

Returning to music, I’ve written recently about Oasis reuniting. One of my favorite songs of theirs is Acquiesce. I love the power of the song and how Liam sings the intro and verses and Noel the chorus. The lyrics are incredibly powerful and speak to the stirring of the human soul to find its purpose.

I don’t know what it is that makes me feel alive I don’t know how to wake the things that sleep inside I only wanna see the light that shines behind your eyes

I hope that I can say the things I wish I’d said To sing my soul to sleep and take me back to bed Who wants to be alone when we can feel alive instead

Because we need each other We believe in one another And I know we’re going to uncover What’s sleepin’ in our soul Because we need each other We believe in one another I know we’re going to uncover What’s sleepin’ in our soul What’s sleepin’ in our soul

There are many things that I would like to know And there are many places that I wish to go But everything’s depending on the way the wind may blow?

The protagonist is hungering to find out what makes him feel alive and at the same time he has fallen prey to the vicissitudes of life that are out of his control. He is craving to kindle the stirring of his soul into a powerful purpose and to do so with a partner with whom he can grow over time. He wants more control over his life driven by the fire raging in his soul.? More timeless wisdom.

People need three things—something to live for, something to believe in, and someone to love. I think Noel Gallagher’s lyrics speak to this.

I have gone from Sergey Brin to Joseph Campbell to John Mellencamp and to Oasis. Interestingly I haven’t gone to The Who whose song Who Are You influenced the title for this blog. If you read the background of the song, which is quite interesting you may come to understand why.?

I will end this post with an incredibly powerful quote from Carl Jung who speaks to the need to truly find what makes us feel so alive and have that fire burn within us.

Do you have a deeply embedded identity (e.g. computer scientist, explorer, inventor, parent, teacher, competitor, etc.) that drives everything that you do such that if you had more money than you ever dreamed of it still wouldn’t stop you from coming to work every day like Sergey Brin?