You can learn how something can be done and then go back to first principles and ask yourself, ‘Given the conditions today, given my motivation, given the instruments, the tools, given how things have changed, how would I redo this? How would I reinvent this whole thing?’
The times we’re in call for us to no longer seek refuge in ivory towers and gated communities. Today, and each day for the rest of our lives, we must do more than simply be successful . . . work hard . . . try to be perfect. We must make the affirmative choice to be good.
Uncertainty is uncomfortable. But I encourage you to dive into the deep end of discomfort, and as you do, bring with you a Beginner’s mind, an ethic of not knowing. As Emily Dickinson had said, “Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door.”
We are standing on the rubble of the world that was, and we must have the foresight and courage to imagine – and create the world as it should be: more compassionate, more equal, more sustainable – a world safe from fascists and tyrants.
Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problems. It’s about challenging anger, frustration, and heartbreak to find a solution. It’s about doing what you believe is right, even when it’s hard and lonely.
It’s an opportunity to reflect on all that we, together, have learned and achieved since Trinity College was transformed into Duke University. And it’s an opportunity to look ahead to the great promise of this university’s second century, to your great promise as a generation called to lead the way in an uncertain world.
So you’re at center court and it’s time for tip-off. The game is about to begin. 1. Always keep good teammates. 2. Give of your time, talent and treasure. 3. Know your crystal balls from your rubber balls. 4. Do the right thing. 5. Rebound with grace; and 6. Conduct yourself like a GROWN-up — grateful, ready, open, willing and nice.
Hold tight to all the things you carry from Berkeley, and may they always serve you — and the world around you — well. We are immensely proud of what you have done, and even more, of who you will become.
When you leave the safety of this campus, this faculty, this community, keep hoping, keep dreaming, keep striving, keep giving, keep failing, and keep fighting. The future of this small world rests on your shoulders. Just as it rested on mine, and on my parents’, and their parents’.
I wish four things:1. That you are bold and have good fortune. Fortune favors the bold. 2. That you give and get the feedback you need. Feedback is a gift. 3. That you empower everyone. Nothing is somebody else’s problem. 4. That you support equality. Lean In!
I hope you will carry with you MIT’s tradition of taking – and making – moonshots. Be ambitious in every facet of your life. And don’t ever let something stop you because people say it’s impossible. Let those words inspire you.
It’s not enough to be technologists — we have to make sure that technology serves people. It’s not enough or even possible to be neutral — tools are shaped by the minds that make them and by the hands that use them. And it’s not enough to have a good idea — you have to know when to stop a bad one.
There’s never a clear path to the top. But what makes it all worth it is learning that you are often stronger than you imagined, and that if you ask for help, you’ll be amazed by the people who will be there to keep you steady and on course.
One of the greatest joys in life is the feeling of using your skills to the limit, to do something important for others: your community, your discipline, your institution, your country – or even the whole human family and our fragile planet.
This has given me a mine of precious materials from which to draw, from the national to the quotidian. I love each, and I love them all together. I still do not understand all I need to, but as they intersect, I understand each better. I hope and expect you will find the same is true in your lives.
We are living in science fiction times, and our fate is in your hands. I think I shouldn’t say congratulations; I should say welcome to the battlefield.
Leaving here, you carry with you the respect of your fellow citizens. You will represent a nation with history and hope on our side. Your charge, now, is not only to protect our country, but to do what is right and just. As your Commander-in-Chief, I know you will.
I have no doubt that you will have added your name to the book of history. I have no doubt that we will have prevailed in the struggles of our times. I have no doubt that your legacy will be an America that has emerged stronger, and a world that is more just, because we are Americans, and our destiny is never written for us, it is written by us, and we are ready to lead once more.
Over the many years of practicing, I have come to the realization that history is not a fixed thing, a collection of precise dates, facts and events (even cogent commencement quotes) that add up to a quantifiable, certain, confidently known, truth. It is a mysterious and malleable thing.
Take care of each other. Take care of those under your command. And as long as you keep strong that Long Blue Line, stay true to the values you’ve learned here — integrity, service before self, excellence — do this and I’m confident that we will always remain one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
