![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2188268161-e1782398501502.jpg?w=2048\")
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\u201cI\u2019m going to let you in on a little secret: While these things matter in the moment, they are much less consequential than you might think,\u201d Pichai told Stanford University graduates earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have failed that biology test, skipped a class, never learned to play the tuba. And you\u2019d still probably be here today.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lesson Pichai learned first hand back when he too was a student at Stanford studying materials science and engineering. He admitted he was often obsessed over grades, career prospects, and mapping out his future. Then an unexpected road trip to Las Vegas shifted his perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The soft-spoken tech leader recalled how a classmate once convinced him to skip a lecture and drive to Sin City\u2014a move that felt wildly out of character for someone who had never missed class before. Along the way, he saw snow for the first time, learned to play blackjack, and discovered something even more valuable when nobody noticed his absence.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time, I realized the world won\u2019t end if I relaxed a little,\u201d the 54-year-old recalled.<\/p>\n
Pichai added that while some life decisions are critical you get right\u2014such as choosing a partner, deciding whether to start a family, or making a major career pivot\u2014ultimately, among the rest, \u201cvery few of them are make or break.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you are able to filter the signal through the noise you can nudge your life in these moments into having the impact you want,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
For Gen Z, tuning out the noise about the economy and the future of work might feel easier said than done. But Pichai is far from alone in pushing young people to loosen their grip on rigid career plans\u2014and to accept that setbacks, not smooth sailing, tend to produce the most success.<\/p>\n
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently urged young professionals to embrace starting at the bottom rather than chasing shortcuts to the top.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you aren\u2019t willing to start at the bottom and pay your dues, it\u2019s unlikely that you\u2019re going to ever be successful,\u201d Jassy said earlier this year on Capital Group\u2019s Power of Advice<\/em> podcast. \u201cYou have to be willing to start at the bottom. You have to do whatever people ask you to do, within reason.\u201d<\/p>\n Mistakes and setbacks are an inevitable part of career journeys, he said. What matters is maintaining curiosity and a willingness to adapt: \u201cYou just have to be a learning machine.\u201d<\/p>\n JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has delivered a similar message\u2014albeit with considerably more tough love.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a grunt part to every part of a job,\u201d Dimon said at an event in Davos, Switzerland earlier this year. \u201cGet over it.\u201d<\/p>\n And even when times are tough, Dimon advised against trying to job-hop simply for the sake of avoiding friction.<\/p>\n \u201cDo not get a new job,\u201d Dimon said. \u201cSome people are always thinking, and they\u2019re ruining their lives because they should just enjoy what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n The lesson even extends beyond the corporate corner office. Fox News anchor Dana Perino has said her career accelerated once she took someone\u2019s advice and stopped trying to manufacture a perfect path.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I focused and stopped trying to do everything, all the other opportunities came at the right time,\u201d she told Fortune<\/em> earlier this year.<\/p>\n Her advice to young people mirrors Pichai\u2019s broader message: don\u2019t obsess over finding the perfect first step.<\/p>\n \u201cJust start working\u2014wherever it is,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean you have to stay there for two years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Google #CEO #tells #graduates #stop #obsessing #jobsits #lesson #learned #Vegas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI\u2019m going to let you in on a little secret: While these things matter in the moment, they are much less consequential than you might think,\u201d Pichai told Stanford University… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1250,2412,424,913,5140,426,369,1285,1909,428,744,1734,7875,11170,6247,11171,9048,42,1270,4597,1712,4978],"class_list":["post-9123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-alphabet","tag-building-your-career","tag-career-advice","tag-career-success","tag-career-tips","tag-careers","tag-ceo","tag-chief-executive-officer-ceo","tag-colleges-and-universities","tag-gen-z","tag-google","tag-graduates","tag-jobsits","tag-las-vegas","tag-learned","tag-lesson","tag-obsessing","tag-stop","tag-sundar-pichai","tag-tells","tag-vegas","tag-view-from-the-c-suite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}