"Don’t Eat Fortune Cookies" – Flashcards
Flashcard maker : Isabel Padilla
The audience for Michael Lewis’s speech is
the Princeton University graduating class of 2012.
The tone of Lewis’s speech can best be described as
engaging.
At the beginning of his speech, Lewis states that when he graduated from college, he
did not feel prepared for the job market.
Lewis first realized he wanted to be a writer when he
wrote his senior thesis in college.
Lewis says he was hired for a prestigious position with a Wall Street investment firm because
an executive’s wife convinced her husband to hire him.
Lewis quit his high-paying Wall Street job to
write a book about Wall Street.
For his book Moneyball, Lewis studied how baseball teams hired players. An important lesson he
learned from this research is that
learned from this research is that
team managers often misjudge a player’s value because they fail to consider the
role of luck in the player’s success.
role of luck in the player’s success.
Lewis uses the word arbitrarily when he describes how he was assigned his Wall Street position
and also when he describes how a leader was chosen in the cookie experiment. In this context,
arbitrarily means
and also when he describes how a leader was chosen in the cookie experiment. In this context,
arbitrarily means
in a manner determined by chance or whim.
According to Lewis, the cookie experiment shows that when people are “blind to their own luck,”
they
they
believe they deserve extra rewards
Which of the following statements best expresses what Lewis wants his audience to “never
forget”?
forget”?
They have all been lucky, so they should not feel entitled.
At the beginning of the speech, Lewis says he will explain how he “wound up rich and famous”
because he wants his audience “to understand just how mysterious careers can be.” What would
Lewis consider to be the mysterious aspect of his career? Cite examples from the speech.
because he wants his audience “to understand just how mysterious careers can be.” What would
Lewis consider to be the mysterious aspect of his career? Cite examples from the speech.
Lewis would consider luck to be the mysterious aspect of his career. He was lucky in being able to
go to Princeton, in getting his Wall Street job, in having the support of his parents, and in following his
interests to become a successful writer.
go to Princeton, in getting his Wall Street job, in having the support of his parents, and in following his
interests to become a successful writer.
Why does Lewis tell his audience that all of them “have been faced with the extra cookie”? What
does he want them to do when they are faced with more extra cookies?
does he want them to do when they are faced with more extra cookies?
Lewis means that the graduates have all been lucky and successful. Because they are Princeton
graduates, they will be perceived as leaders. He wants them to remember that luck has played a role
in their success and they should not allow themselves to be carried away by a sense of entitlement.
They should remember their obligation to act “in the nation’s service, in the service of all nations.”
graduates, they will be perceived as leaders. He wants them to remember that luck has played a role
in their success and they should not allow themselves to be carried away by a sense of entitlement.
They should remember their obligation to act “in the nation’s service, in the service of all nations.”
