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LeadershipMark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg calls the ‘a-ha!’ moment a myth

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January 15, 2015, 3:34 PM ET
President, founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos walk before an event at the presidential palace in Bogota
President, founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg (R) and Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos walk before an event at the presidential palace in Bogota January 14, 2015. Zuckerberg is in Colombia for a Facebook international town hall and to work with the Colombian government to launch and formalize an internet program for the poor. REUTERS/Cesar Carrion/Colombian Presidency/Handout via Reuters (COLOMBIA - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTR4LGAIPhotograph by Reuters

This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.

By Geoff Weiss, Entrepreneur.com

During Mark Zuckerberg’s first-ever trip to Bogata, Colombia — where he touched down yesterday to herald the launch of Internet.org — the Facebook (FB) founder made a rather surprising admission: “I’m a big fan of Shakira. A really big fan,” he blushed. “I don’t speak Spanish, but I like her Spanish music.”

Zuckerberg, who seems more visible than ever of late after kicking off a virtual book club and rolling out a series of public town hall-style discussions, spoke of his love for the pop star — among more serious topics — during the third-ever installment of Q&A with Mark, which can be viewed in full right here.

In his latest talk, Zuckerberg took the time to share some fascinating thoughts about entrepreneurship, including common misconceptions that surround founders. When asked about the ‘exact moment’ that he came up with the idea for Facebook, Zuckerberg paused quizzically and said, “I don’t think that’s how the world works.”

“Ideas typically do not just come to you,” he said. “It’s a lot of dots that you connect to make it so that you finally realize that you can potentially do something.”

Another popular fallacy, he said, is the notion that he created Facebook singlehandedly. “Yeah, me and thousands of other people — and then millions of people using our products — built the community.”

The danger in propagating such narratives, Zuckerberg says, is that it can be deeply discouraging to aspiring entrepreneurs. “It makes you feel like, ‘Hey, I haven’t had my moment…maybe I’m not as good as people who built a whole company buy themselves.’”

Building businesses, he believes, is actually a lot more accessible than the media makes it sound.

At the end of the day, Zuckerberg also attributes Facebook’s success to an incredible stroke of luck. “There was no reason why a group of college students should’ve been able to build this network,” he said. “Some company that knew way more about building things should’ve done that instead. So there was definitely a lot of luck involved in the fact that we ended up being the people to do it.”

And for that opportunity, he says, he is endlessly grateful.

Related from Entrepreneur:

‘I Am Not a Cool Person’: Our 5 Favorite Takeaways From Mark Zuckerberg’s First Public Q&A

To Improve His ‘Media Diet,’ Mark Zuckerberg Announces Virtual Book Club

Mark Zuckerberg Asks the World to Decide His New Year’s Resolution

Watch more of the latest news about Facebook from Coins2Day’s video team:

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