Change the World?

My fiance and I saw The Social Network last night. I remember the very first moment when I signed up for Facebook. It was around March of 2005. There weren’t any photos, just profile pics. No status updates. No ‘likes’. The wall was just a simple html textarea. You could delete what other people wrote. Honestly, I remember feeling a bit jealous. Here was someone who developed a popular site that I could have easily developed. Facebook was written in PHP… I was fluent in PHP. I let my jealousy go, as I had too much to focus on. I also realize (but didn’t at the time), that developing the same technology at the same time wouldn’t necessarily have meant the same success.

I remember when Facebook dropped the “The” from “TheFacebook.” I remember when Facebook added photos. I remember when they allowed anyone to join. Facebook’s execution was brilliant. I must admit, I admire Mark Zuckerberg. I’ve read time and time again that he’s an asshole, the movie definitely portrays him as an asshole. What I admire is what he built and then how he refused the multiple billion+ acquisition offers. I believe that he truly wants to change the world. But what he did is 1 in a billion.

Let’s examine for a second what the phrase “change the world” means. When someone says this, what do you think? When someone writes this, what do you think? Is the phrase overused? Is the phrase cliche? I believe that when a person uses this phrase to describe their motivations, they are stating that they want to have some measurable impact upon the world. That’s how it is for me.

I keep waiting for my ‘wow’ idea. How can I revolutionize an industry? What can I do to have the largest impact? I think that my line of thinking may be part of the problem. Perhaps I should be asking ‘why’ instead of ‘what’?

After the movie, my fiance and I grabbed a beer at Old Chicago. She understands how passionate I am and my positive motivations. She asked me an intriguing question:

“Do you think that Mother Teresa set out to change the world? Or, did she set out to change one person?”

-JP

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-JP