by Charlie Rivkin
Again, I am so honored to have the chance to talk to you and before I depart, I’d like to leave you with these thoughts.
At the State Department, my bureau convened global entrepreneurship summits to support the aspirations of entrepreneurs everywhere. And one of those summits brought us to Silicon Valley itself – which was the promised land for so many of these international dreamers.
What I saw there was some amazing technology. But I also saw the human spirit behind it. These minds were never daunted by what others told them was impossible. They were too busy working towards “yes: to take “no” for an answer.
I’ve seen what Silicon Valley is capable of. I’ve witnessed it. And I can’t help but imagine the success if the online platforms could evolve from being at the heart of the problem to being architects of our shared success.
Every stakeholder, including us, must be a player in that shared success.
All of us teaming our collective technological might with our common resolve.
All of us working together to create safeguards against abuses.
All of us fixing those broken windows and restoring order to our digital neighborhood.
And like those brilliant minds in Silicon Valley, all of us working towards “yes.”
At the end of the day, we all want this ecosystem of ours to thrive for generations to come.
Speech reprinted with permission. See the original here.