It’s graduation season in the US which means a number of high-profile men and women will be delivering motivational, passionate and inspiring commencement speeches to thousands of outgoing college students over the coming weeks.
Already this week we’ve heard advice from Jill Abramson on resilience and Anne-Marie Slaughter imploring the next generation to start thinking about work/life balance. Sandra Bullock surprised a high school graduating class by dispensing some important advice about not picking your nose in public (among other more important lessons).
In the spirit of celebrating achievements and success, we’ve taken a look at some of the words of wisdom shared by a number high-profile women during their commencement speeches.
Ellen Degeneres
Top-rated television host Ellen DeGeneres spoke to the “Katrina Class” at New Orleans’ Tulane University graduation in 2009 about the benefits of carving your own path. She told the graduation class to treat life like one big Mardi Gras, but instead of “showing your boobs or beads”, show people your brain.
“As you grow, you’ll realize the definition of success changes. For many of you, today, success is being able to hold down 20 shots of tequila. For me, the most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity, and not to give into peer pressure; to try to be something that you’re not. To live your life as an honest and compassionate person, to contribute in some way. So to conclude my conclusion: follow your passion, stay true to yourself. Never follow anyone else’s path, unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path, and by all means you should follow that.”
Hillary Clinton
At a 2009 commencement speech to an all Barnard College, the all-woman school affiliated with Columbia University, the former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, focused on women’s issues and once again spoke about supporting girls and women.
“I want to talk about a particular area where you can, you should, and you must make a difference . . . And that is the plight of women and girls around the world . . . I have concluded after traveling many miles and visiting many places in the last decade that talent is universally distributed, but opportunity is not. The futures of these women and girls will affect yours and mine, and therefore it is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing.”
Amy Poehler
Actress, writer and all-around funny-woman Amy Poehler, addressed the Harvard Day Class graduation in 2011 about why it’s important to be open to collaboration.
“As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you,spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”
Sheryl Sandberg
Before “lean in” became the popular catch-phrase it is now, the Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg explored the idea in a 2011 commencement speech at Barnard College.
“We will never close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap. But if all young women start to lean in, we can close the ambition gap right here,right now, if every single one of you leans in. Leadership belongs to those who take it. Leadership starts with you.”
JK Rowling
The author of Harry Potter, JK Rowling, talked about the power of failing at the 2008 graduating class at Harvard — it’s a topic the author is familiar with.
“So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant astripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
Meryl Streep
In 2010 sixteen-time Academy Award nominee Meryl Streep spoke at Barnard about embracing change and happiness, and in 1983 at Vassar College on why a challenging career is beneficial.
“This is your time and it feels normal to you but really there is no normal. There’s only change, and resistance to it, and then more change.”
“The work itself is the reward, and if i choose challenging work, it’ll pay me back with interest. At least I’ll be interested even if nobody else is”.