Here’s a click through set of key quotes from Commencement speeches at Business Schools: Slept Through Commencement? Here Are The Best Business School Graduation Speeches Of 2011. They are all good; here are two that are especially timely, and worth a careful look.
Twitter’s Biz Stone spoke to Babson College at the University of St. Gallen
“Opportunity can be manufactured. Yes, you can wait around for the right set of circumstances to fall into place and then leap into action, but you can also create those sets of circumstances on your own. In so doing, you manufacture your opportunities.”
National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling spoke to graduates of American University’s Kogod School of Business
“You need to know, when the time comes to make the hard decision, that you have done everything, everything in your power, to check every angle, challenge every assumption, learn from every previous mistake, analyze every contingency, plan for everything that can go wrong and understand what is likely to occur not only immediately, but five steps down the road, and how your decision could lead to an unanticipated consequence. The world, of course, will reward you with applause, promotions, money, and even fame when your call turns out to be the right one. But as Kipling wisely wrote, ‘In reality triumph and disaster can both be imposters.’ It is a mistake for any of us to judge our decisions and certainly our lives solely on how fate or powers beyond our control smile or don’t smile on our choices.”
First Friday Book Synopsis 