Welcome to the thirty-fourth issue of CEE News!
This is the time of the year that many of us attend the Pomp and Circumstance processional at graduation ceremonies across the country. I’ve curated three of the best of this year’s commencement speeches for advice that could be applied by both freshly minted graduates and senior executives:
Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of Chobani
Speaking at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School
“We are entering a new era, when the center of gravity for social change has moved to the private sector,” Ulakaya said. “It’s business, not government, that is in the best position to lead today. It’s not government hiring refugees, it’s business. It’s not government cutting emissions, it’s business. It’s not government standing up to gun violence, it’s business.”
Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
Speaking at University of Southern California
“It is impossible to ignore that we have stopped listening to each other. Or, for that matter, that we have stopped listening to natural laws. Listening is a task that is a ‘uniquely human capacity’ and takes three forms — being empathetic with others, listening to the past and listening to nature, ‘eavesdropping on the universe, learning its natural laws, its geometries, its rhythms, its constancies, its mind.”
Oprah Winfrey, Chair and CEO of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Speaking at Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California
“You need to know this: Your job is not always going to fulfill you. There will be some days that you just might be bored. Other days you may not feel like going to work at all. Go anyway, and remember that your job is not who you are. It’s just what you are doing on the way to who you will become. With every remedial chore, every boss who takes credit for your ideas — that is going to happen — look for the lessons, because the lessons are always there.”
To the graduates of the Class of 2018, I wish for you a career that positively impacts others, the ability to truly listen, and a lifelong journey of lessons that enable you to gain insight and continuous growth.
Sheri Nasim | President & CEO
