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iQuestions Faculty, Pat Gelsinger 
 
 
Question: 
 
How does one lay out a long-term plan for success? 
 
Answer:  
 
As one begins their career, they have to think about where and what is 
that long-term plan, and where do you want to get to. 
 
Early in my career, I was working on a big project and I got a call one 
day from Andy Grove, and he was the president of the company, and 
he’s TIME Magazine “Man of the Year.” This enormous figure in the 
industry, and he calls me up and he starts grilling me with questions.  
You know, “What do you read? What are you studying? What’s the 
next job that you want to get to? How on earth are you going to be 
successful in this company here?” 
 
Boy, when he started asking those questions, I was overwhelmed. I 
wasn’t ready. I hadn’t thought about what it was I wanted to 
accomplish in my career. 
 
That, and a number of other things challenged me to put together 
what I call a “personal mission statement,” where you think carefully 
about what it is you want to accomplish in your family, in your 
personal life, as well as in your career—and then set specific goals, 
and then start working on those goals.  
 
Maybe you need education. Maybe you need different job experiences. 
Maybe you need different things that you’re not studying or reading 
today to prepare you for those assignments long-term.  
 
 
 
And then regularly come back to that personal mission statement. 
Measure yourself: “Am I accomplishing what I hope to do?” 
 
So many of us go through life simply living day-to-day without really 
allocating our time and our energies with a thought to where we want 
to get to. The personal mission statement can be that guidebook, that 
roadmap to your career and to what you want to accomplish in all 
areas of your life. 
 
Gelsinger -2- 
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