Week One at UC Berkeley: Top quotes from the MEng Bootcamp
I collect mugs, scarves and quotes.

I love quotes. Inspiring, motivational quotes have an instant effect on me, even if it’s not very durable. Meh, it’s always nice to have a small rush of Aha! moments.
So while my classmates thought I was frenetically trying to take note of everything that was said… I was frenetically trying to take note of my favorite quotes.
Orientation Day
- Our goal is to pop the technology bubble around you. Coleman Fung*
- Technology is the economy. Coleman Fung
- Our mission statement is to transform you, engineers, into leaders, in 9 months. Lee Fleming*
- Act with honesty, integrity and respect for others. UC Berkeley Honor Code.
- What is your personal brand? You need to find your uniqueness, which people will remember you by. Han Jin*
- You should focus on your strengths, and build a team to deal with your weaknesses. Han Jin
Bootcamp
All of these are from Dan Himelstein*, one of my two Bootcamp professors. I don’t have any quotes from Lee, since we were more focused on the case studies!
- You need to learn how to manage your manager.
- I’m a generalist in my mind.
- My wife relates every situation to dating.
- You can’t have power and influence if you only understand yourself. You have to invest time to earn empathy and creativity.
- As a CEO, we need to divorce ourselves from our personal feelings.
- People aren’t stupid. You underestimate them at your own peril.
- You need to meet people at their self-interest.
- The goal of the first interview is NOT to get hired. It’s to get another interview. If you understand that, you’re ahead of all the other candidates.
- If you’re not arguing with your co-founder, you’re not getting to where you should.
- You don’t want to be in a situation where the solution is chasing the problem.
- We have the irrational belief that numbers are accurate and that they tell the whole story.
- Individuals are mainly interested about themselves.
- Failure is overrated.
- The only reason the Silicon Valley is so successful is that we celebrate failure. Failure is an acceptable option. It is embraced.
*Coleman Fung is the founder of the Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership and CEO & Co-Founder of Blue Goji.
*Lee Fleming is the Faculty Director of the Fung Institute, and both an intimidating and amazing professor. At first, you’ll dread his cold call. By the end of the bootcamp, you’ll beg for him to interrogate you!
*Han Jin is an MEng alumni, CEO & Co-Founder of Lucid VR. He has a pretty unique personal brand: “Have you ever met a German-Chinese entrepreneur?”
*Dan Himelstein is a Haas Business School professor in Global Business, Entrepreneurship & Communication. He’s also an entrepreneur and he has a great love-hate relationship with frameworks.

