Randy Komisar stands as one of the most well-respected and intriguing venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. Randy is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers (KPCB), arguably the most dominant firm in the history of venture capital. Their humble portfolio includes: Google, Sun Microsystems, Elance, Electronic Arts (plus a lot more).
Randy holds a BA in Economics from Brown University and a JD from Harvard Law School. He is a Consulting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University and author of the best-selling book The Monk and the Riddle, as well as several articles on leadership and entrepreneurship.
I decided to ask Randy one question regarding life. His response is below:
What’s your life’s purpose, and how should one strive to live?
Ha!
After decades wrestling with the first, I have found some solace in the second.
Life’s purpose….. the purpose of life. What?
A question that may even pre-date man J
As I have cycled through DL’s hierarchy (not much different than Maslow’s) I have stumbled upon one revelation after another, only to find them hollow.
I thought it was happiness, first others’ then mine. I thought it was making some tangible difference. I thought it was defending the indefensible.
My problem was I thought, and thought and thought.
First rivers are rivers and mountains are mountains, then rivers are more than rivers and mountains transcend (breath taking) and then the let down, rivers are rivers and mountains are mountains, only different this time.
So I retreat to Socrates and Plato. How to live one’s life?
For eons this was a much more important question that how to get more. It is only in the last three hundred years since the Industrial Revolution that we have been able to distract ourselves with such mundane questions.
How to live? Buddhism puts such a fine lens on that. To see the world for what it is allows us to live in it with much less confusion.
To live honestly, genuinely, with attention to what is and not what one thinks. This bedrock seems to make all the higher level bits like not harming, not stealing, not lying, etc. evaporate. Is there any reason to remember those interim steps when one has found their place where they are and found the way in this moment?
The trick is to constantly remind oneself. This is where practice is soooooooooooooooo important. As Suzuki Roshi once said, we practice so that in the case of an emergency we might just do the right thing. How perfect.
We are always in an emergency. We are always trying to do the right thing. Practice keeps us awake. This wakefulness begs the right thing from us. Just pay attention.
And in between we stumble, and fall, and try too hard, and think too much. Touch stone, sit on the cushion, and don’t get up until it is real again. Then go out into the world and hope to do the right thing.
Good luck
r
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I came across this per chance and remember Randy from Apple days in the mid-late 80′s. I was on one of those excellent Apple leadership team building escapades. Looks like he has had some excellent adventures as have I as we flow (muddle sometimes) through our journeys.
Up hill and down dale as we say in England.
I was born in Birmingham UK the home of the Industrial Revolution and for sure studied Maslow and Hertzberg plus many others. I found when I reached “self -actualization” per Maslow…….it really was not what I wanted or who or what i wanted to be and in addition I ended up in Hospital and learned what true “burn-out”…nearly “lights out” was all about. I guess I experienced more learnings via that recovery and struggling does indeed make you stronger if you survive. Lfe now looks and feels different and better as a result of these learnings.
Today, I really love researching what you may call the study of pre-History and what has really happened or not. They wrote interesting things on tablets…..clay that is and I like digging as they say for whatever truth may be and I believe the best truths are in nature and all it shows us.
Biz wise after founding a Company Eclipse then having to close it in 2001 I have now and founded “Reclipse” with a smile…..not a word in the Dictionary…..but a good word and name….Reclipsing both personally and professional. Helping people and helping business along the way and having fun.
I remember Randy as a great guy….”full of beans” as we would say in England. Best to Everyone.
Excellent tale! Really appreciate the comment and insight. Good luck with reclipse. Great name, great idea. I’m sure you’ve learned a lot and will do something meaningful.