What is the best advice you have ever received?

Originally asked

Vogue, to one guest at a time, on camera, 73 Questions

A repeated rapid-fire prompt in Vogue's 73 Questions, verified in separate English- and Korean-language episodes.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Mellody Hobson said elsewhere, not written here
He says: Take your gloves off, Mellody, but use your power for good. He's giving me my hands back. Use your power for good. And I have never - I've used that analogy in all things in my life, something as simple as getting my hands back, using my powers for good in the water but also day-to-day life using your power for good no matter who you are.

Kathleen J. McInnis, Smart Women, Smart Power podcast, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 28 August 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

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Vince Gill Musician, singer and songwriter
I think some of the best advice I got as a young session musician — the first time I played on something — they came back and said, “Now just play me half of what you know. Okay, that was impressive, but that’s not what I need here.” So it’s really an exercise on what’s best going to serve the work in front of you, what’s the job that will do that the best.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Singita Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa, 5 July 2009 source ↗
Tony Fadell Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
Elliot, he has such passion for what it was we were doing that he instilled that passion in me. He was like, “Just go for it. Make it happen.” And I would give him some wild idea, and he’d say, “Go try it.” It was that next set of just knocking down the fear of failure. Just go try anything.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Palo Alto, California, 5 February 2016 source ↗
Richard Feynman Theoretical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 1965
Then there was Von Neumann, the great mathemati-cian. We used to go for walks on Sunday. We'd walk in the canyons, and we'd often walk with Bethe, and Von Neumann, and Bacher. It was a great pleasure. And Von Neumann gave me an interesting idea; that you don't have to be responsible for the world that you're in.
Recorded First Annual Santa Barbara Lectures on Science and Society, University of California at Santa Barbara, Engineering and Science / Caltech Magazine, 1976 source ↗
Andrew Young Civil rights leader, US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mayor of Atlanta
Her lesson all the time was “To them to whom much has been given, of them will much be required.”
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Washington, D.C., 14 August 2013 source ↗

More from Mellody Hobson

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Question What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you have ever made — of money, time, or energy? Money & investment
Our business everyday is to make money for people. And I take it as seriously as doctors who are trying to cure cancer, because by giving people financial freedom, we allow them to do great things in their lives - from retire to send their kids to college, to buy their first house, to fund a business that they might want to start.
Recorded Farai Chideya, News & Notes, Leading Ladies series, NPR, 22 March 2007 source ↗
Question Which teacher, parent, coach or friend most made you who you are, and what did you learn from them? Relationships
Well, I think I am her in some ways. I grew up with a mother who said anything is possible. She had a grand vision of life and a grand vision for me. And she didn't know what it would be, but she just constantly told me whatever I wanted to do would happen. That's what she felt about her own life, and still does.
Recorded Farai Chideya, News & Notes, Leading Ladies series, NPR, 22 March 2007 source ↗
Question What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore? Time & hindsight
I'd say be just like you. I once had someone tell me that I don't remind them of anyone that they ever met. And I took that as a huge compliment, which meant I was original. And so I would suggest to her that she speak her truth with her life, with her own sense of purpose and pursue her dreams.
Recorded Farai Chideya, News & Notes, Leading Ladies series, NPR, 22 March 2007 source ↗
Question What do you consider your greatest achievement? Craft & work
I remember the day. It was just such a big day. It happened to be the same day that I got to be on the cover of Forbes. And I remember just being so overwhelmed by the opportunity that we had at hand, that we had closed this $1.45 billion fund - first time - probably in the top five of first-time funds ever that had been closed.
Recorded Kathleen J. McInnis, Smart Women, Smart Power podcast, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 28 August 2024 source ↗

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