Twenty-two years ago this month, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon. Has the company been a success? The company clearly delivers on measures such as revenue, market share, and new product growth. Amazon has tremendous influence on shaping the way business works today – across every industry. Yet it has some serious shortcomings. If Amazon wants to be around to celebrate its 100th birthday, it must expand its definition of value.

Every morning, regardless of where I am in the world, I get up, make a cup of coffee, and just sit for a few minutes to reflect on the day ahead. I begin my daily ritual with an expression of gratitude, usually for my wife Karen, other members of our family, and for people I know and care about. I cultivate the mindset of abundance and thankfulness that carries me into the day with the feeling of “my cup runneth over.”  

After simple reflection and quiet breathing with no pencil or cell phone in hand, I like to pick up a book of short readings. Recently I’ve been reading Wendell Barry, the poet who lives on a farm in Kentucky and left New York City to connect with nature and the earth. I’ve worked at memorizing his poem, The Peace of Wild Things. 

The 2017 graduation season is just about to conclude. Graduation is one of those natural times to pause, reflect, and think about what matters most to you, what mark you want to make on the world. And it’s never too late to tread that path of thinking again. Those of us sitting as parents in the audience, or just watching the speeches online can take time and think about our own priorities. How far have we progressed in our personal journeys?

Looking across the many great commencement speeches this year, here are five that stood out to me.