Welcome to Edition #63 of Did You Know? (DYK), the weekly newsletter by Gorick Ng, Harvard career adviser and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules, where we deconstruct the untold story of how someone (or something) became successful—and what you can do to follow in their footsteps.
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Did You Know? Stay hungry!
(1) A story from the past
Did you know? Fei-Fei Li—named the “godmother of AI”—took advantage of every opportunity in her career.
When we think of AI, at least today in 2024, we probably think of tools like ChatGPT that we can ask to “write this email,” “fix this code,” “come up with 10 romantic date ideas,” and more.
But, 18 years ago, back in 2006, Artificial Intelligence was far less intelligent. You needed an entirely custom-built algorithm just to identify yellow rubber ducks and an entirely different custom-built algorithm just to identify blue rubber ducks.
So how did AI get from point A (performing small, focused tasks) to point B (performing broad, gargantuan tasks)?
Partly thanks to Fei-Fei Li—a computer scientist who kept pushing, even though she had already reached her goals.
The year is 2006—and 29-year-old Li had finally gotten her PhD and a job.
The job? A six-figure position as an assistant professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and later at Princeton University.
In the U.S., only about 13% of PhDs go on to obtain academic positions. Li became one of the 13%. As cutthroat as climbing the academic career ladder can be, Li could have sat back and chillaxed. After all, she had already “made it”.
But she also knew that she now had access few others had—in this case, to world-class research facilities. So, she crushed complacency—and took advantage of the opportunity.
Li noticed that her fellow computer scientists—who were all clamoring to come up with more sophisticated algorithms—all lacked the same thing: data that reflected the real world.
So, she spent the next three years building “ImageNet”, a database of 3.2 million hand-tagged images to be used for computer classification, i.e., AI.
Publishing papers is a part of the job in academia, yes, but few academics can say they’ve developed and published a first-of-its-kind dataset that’s widely used by others. By all accounts, Li had, once again, made it.
But she also knew that she now had a new platform few others had—in this case, to conduct research at an even higher level. So, she crushed complacency—and took advantage of the opportunity.
So, Li transferred to Stanford University, continued as an assistant professor for another 4 years, became an associate professor (one level up in the academic career ladder), and, in 2012, became Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab.
Few get to lead an entire center at a world-renowned academic institution. By all accounts, Li had, once again, made it.
But she also knew she now had the reputation and resources few others had—in this case, to make even further advances in artificial intelligence. So, she crushed complacency—and took advantage of the opportunity.
So, Li co-founded Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute and even joined Google Cloud as Chief Scientist of AI and Vice President.
To date, Li has co-founded a nonprofit to educate the next generation of AI thinkers and a Stanford AI Lab-hosted summer camp for high school girls. She has also written and published over 300 peer-reviewed research papers, been recognized as one of the Time AI100, and become a board member of the United Nations Scientific Advisory Board.
Today, at the age of 48, Li is still at it, even after becoming a tenured professor: She's now a startup entrepreneur who, just last week, raised $1 billion to create a spatial intelligence startup.
What does this mean for you? The next time you find yourself on a winning streak and think, “Look at everything I now have!”, remember Li, who saw her success and thought, “Look at everything I can now do!”
(2) A strategy for your future
Did you know? Stay hungry!
Fei-Fei Li could have stopped at any time. In fact, she could have stopped even sooner—back when she graduated from Princeton with her BS or Caltech with her PhD. But she kept going—and, along the way, brought the field of computer science and AI with her.
Make no mistake! Li’s story isn’t about hustling ‘til you collapse or sacrificing everything for your career. After all, it’s important to rest, as we learned from Charles Darwin.
Instead, Li’s story is about the importance of focusing not just on getting into something, but also on making the most of an opportunity once you’re there.
As we learned from geneticist Mary-Claire King, career success = skill x drive x luck. It’s not good enough to just be good. You also need drive—and consistent drive.
Just got into your dream school or landed your dream job? Don’t stop now!
Try filling in the following blank:
1. “I wanted _______ really badly because I wanted _______.”
- E.g., “I wanted to get into this MBA program really badly because I wanted to impress my friends and because I wanted to switch careers but wasn’t sure which one to choose.”
2. “Now that I’ve gotten _______, I have the opportunity to _______ (that few others have).”
- E.g., “Now that I’ve gotten into this MBA program, I have the opportunity to work on a side project and get a summer internship in a field I could have never otherwise tried.”
3. “So, instead of _______, I’m going to try / work on / build / take advantage of _______.”
- E.g., “So, instead of just befriending people in tech and working at another big tech company over the summer, I’m going to try to start a search fund instead.”
You can change your mind! This is why the first and second blanks exist—because sometimes your intentions when you first applied are different from the ones you now have.
What’s most important is that you take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, since whatever opportunity you have now is a privilege. Don’t forget that!
I know it because I’ve experienced it: When I first got into management consulting, I reminded myself that management consulting offered a perk that few other jobs did: the chance to see a lot of industries and company settings in a short period of time. So, I prioritized working on short projects—and especially ones that allowed me to travel. It was one of the best decisions I made in my early career.
Crush complacency!
Gorick
Sources
- “godmother of AI”
- Partly thanks to Fei-Fei Li
- A six-figure position as an assistant professor
- In the U.S., only about 13% of PhDs go on to obtain academic positions.
- Li noticed that her fellow computer scientists
- So, Li transferred to Stanford University
- To date, Li has
- raised $1 billion to create a spatial intelligence startup.
