毕业典礼积极英语演讲稿范文（精选26篇）
About the common stuff about entrepreneurship, I'd read too much from books and talks. So, I'm going to share my own opinion. Something special, I think.
At the beginning of the talk, he told that he's really intense because it is his first time to present in front of a crowd of academics. He suggested the students should complete the academic study, and don't give up.
If I had the chance to take all the wealth and so called fame and glory that I have right now, and buy back 15 years of life, but keep the knowledge that I have now, and relive the physique I had 15 years ago and trade places with you right now, I would make that trade in a heartbeat.
Now I know this feels really good to you to be here today and feels even better to me. And let me tell you why. May I tell you why? Because I got the mic. You know I’m going to do it anyway. It’s not only your graduation day, it’s Sunday.
And Sundays have always been special in my family. Sundays are for speaking up – and for bringing people together. My grandfather, the late William Holmes Borders Sr., was the pastor at Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta. Martin Luther King, Jr. attended many of his sermons – the very same sermons I loved as a girl, and the same sermons that encouraged me to be the person that I am today.
And it’s not just any Sunday for me. It’s been forty years since I graduated from Duke. Can you believe – do I look like it’s been 40 years?
So because it’s such a really special day, what I thought I would do is commemorate this day. Will you indulge me with a selfie? Come on now. Will you indulge me? Okay, here we go. You ready? Let me start with section one over here. You ready, section 1? Oh, wait. Okay. Love it! Section 2. Thank you! All right, let me get over here and get section 3. You’re ready? Let’s do this. Let’s do this. And then section 4, last but certainly not least. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
The answer is no. I could have brought myparents to a new place for buffet breakfast on an awesome autumn Sunday morning, I could have bought a SUV in Xiamen and move them around. I didn’t, due to various restrictions.
Would I choose a different path had we got achance to turn the clock back to the time when I was in my early 20s? I don't thinkso. Let me tell you why.
I quite agree with the following the quote fromB. J. Neblett.
“We are the sum total of our experiences. Thoseexperiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at anygiven point in our lives.”
Part of the reasons why we are who we are todayis those experiences and those people we have encountered over the years. In hindsight, I can’t even tell whether certain decisions I have made, certain paths I have taken, are right or wrong. We may regret for those things we didn’t do enough. What we can is to make up for it within our capacity while it is in time, while your parents are still alive, while your kids haven’t entered puberty stage.
Over to you, Toastmaster.
Duke accepted me as an ‘early decision’ candidate and, for the first time, I felt seen, and heard and valued. One of the finest universities in the nation was willing to bet on me. I was, and I remain, eternally grateful for the opportunity to attend and graduate in the Trinity Class of 1979. My Duke degree and our Blue Devil family have opened more doors than I could have imagined and stood in support when I needed it the most.
Graduates, today, we still find ourselves in the same morass of exclusion and intolerance I experienced all those years ago. The high degree of acrimony is unyielding and discouraging, but I want to make sure you hear this: Discouragement doesn’t have to be debilitating. If anything, discouragement should drive you to open your own doors and design your own future.
And just remember when you open those doors, there will be people on the other side. Some of them will be cheerleaders, and some of them will be critics. The challenges you face on your uphill climb will often come with an audience, because the reality is this: Adversity doesn’t happen always in private.
I know this all too well.
As I said, my grandfather was a pastor for 50 plus years, leading the civil rights movement and marches, desegregating the public transit system and helping the first African-American policemen secure steady jobs. My father was a physician, one of only 100 black doctors in Atlanta when he started his practice, and my mother was a civic leader who co-founded a coalition of neighborhoods across segregated communities.
Following in the tradition of my elders, I pursued a role in public service as President of the City Council and you heard that I served for six years. As the leader of the Legislative Branch of municipal government, I learned all the mechanics and the operations of the City. And when it was time for my next step, I threw my hat in the ring and ran for Mayor.
I entered as the front runner with the highest name recognition. I raised a ton of money, I knocked on tens of thousands of doors. That said, there were issues along the way; my parents became ill – my father with the ravages of diabetes and two amputated legs and my mother diagnosed with the early onset of dementia – and I decided I needed to withdraw from the race to look after them.
But my father, he wasn’t having it. He told me I need to step up! That I should return to the race and try to get elected and give back to the city that had given us so much. But by then, my campaign’s momentum was gone. I lost the race and I was absolutely devastated. Every question you can possibly image went through my head. Had the people of Atlanta forgotten me? Had they forgotten all the work that I had done? Did they lose faith in me? Were they disappointing [disappointed]?
i think one of the things i have been talking about, the mentorship, we have so many services. there is score, offices manned by retired executives, or executives lending their time to advise on business programs, web design, to kind of walk youthrough how you can expand and scale your business. small business development centers are also available. you can go to any of those district offices, 68 around the country. those areeven more bountiful in the district offices in every state. you cango to and look at the different modules. you can self-study. lots of tools are available.one of the things i got excited about in early discussionswith ms. mcmahon about the capacity of sba, most people think of it along the lines of capital. availability of capital, and how they can support businesses in that regard. these mentorship opportunities are very impactful. as i meet with entrepreneurs,consistently they talk about what is the biggest barriers to scaling a business is lack of mentorship opportunities. that is what made the difference in terms of execution on their ideas.first of all, congratulations on now being a small business owner and job creator. thank you for your service prior to that as a firefighter. my advice to you would be to look at the whole ecosystem as you think about how to start this business for thefirst time . listen to a lot of people, including people who say your ideas are bad. internalize that feedback. ultimately, i think that thinking through and bringing on partners, and people that can complement your skill set and help you to think about theexecution of your business plan is critical as you think aboutscale any meaningful way. in addition to utilizing resources,getting feedback, from people about the idea and the concept, think about how you can supplement your team to complement the skill set that you have.
any other questions? ok.
Medusa is just one of many Greek myths that have encouraged me to fantasize, turning me into the creative girl I am today.
The myth talks about Poseidon, god of the sea, kissing Medusa in Athena’s temple. Athena was furious. I can picture Athena’s punishment for Medusa as if it were happening before my very eyes. The transformation from beauty to beast is as vivid and clear to me as is the light of day. The utter dread and bewilderment on Medusa’s face as she changed is unforgettable and so eerie it chills me to the bone even still.
I am Medusa, scariest of all.
My prey turn to stone while I stand tall.
One kiss with Poseidon, god of the sea.
Turned me to a monster no one dares to see.
Greek myths have introduced me to a brand new world where imagination is boundless.
Throughout my entire life, I have witnessed his empathy and generosity towards others, especially those who are suffering. It is just his way of being in your corner when you’re down. My father not only has the strength and ability necessary to be our next President, but also the kindness and compassion that will enable him to be the leader that this country needs.
I’ve learned a lot about the world from walking construction jobs by his side. When run properly, construction sites are true meritocracies. Competence in the building trades is easy to spot and incompetence is impossible to hide.These sites are also incredible melting pots, gathering people from all walks of life and uniting them to work towards a single mission. There have always been men of all backgrounds and ethnicities on my father’s job sites. And long before it was commonplace, you also saw women.
my name is richard daphne. i have over 30 years in different sizebusinesses, with many ups and downs. my question is for ivanka.what do you feel has been your biggest challenge, most exciting success? mrs.
as an entrepreneur you try to balance yourown time, energy, focus, especially when you think big. you sometimes have to slow yourself down. so, to not -- to impose thediscipline on yourself to enable you to achieve the growth youwant, especially in the early days, you have limited people. you arejust launching a product or a service. you hopefully feel thatearly momentum. when you are an entrepreneur you have to be a visionary. we also have to be an secured her. successfulentrepreneurs are both. they dream big. they think big. they also are highly pragmatic, able to execute at the task at hand.sometimes there is an imbalance. i think for anyone to besuccessful, they have to reconcile those things. ultimately we were talking about it, in terms of recruitment, you are as good as your people. investing in your teams, your employees, making sureyou have cultivated a group that complements you, that pushesyou , that will enable you to succeed. for me, success that is scaled and done tremendously well is because they have a great team and great people.
thank you for doing this work today. we are a marketing publicengagement firm. we are a serviced a bold veteran small business. we have been based in northern virginia for many years. virginia is the number one state for veteran owned businesses. our right to pursue the american dream is something i hold dear to my heart.i'm curious, i'm sure you have had the opportunity to meet greatentrepreneurs. is there one story that is the most inspirational story?
it is been incredible to hear so many stories.during the two years prior campaigning, traveling around the country. one of the unique things about this experience, my father was running for president. people would come up to youwherever you were and tell you their stories. with suchtremendous detail, and tell you of their hardest challenges, and share with you things in a way they neither -- never would have.they would never open themselves up to you in the same way theydo during the process of a campaign. now today, being part of this administration. i feel blessed for the candor in which people share their ideas and personal stories. linda and i were together in baltimore just days after the inauguration. we did a roundtable with small business owners, predominantly female, hosted by the national urban league. one of those women who actually i brought her to the white house a few months later is named lisa phillips. she had a small's ness. she told me her storyand i think -- we were all crying. it was so amazing. she started out homeless. she is now engaged. this spring she got her mastersdegree. she has a small but thriving small business and party planning. she is volunteering with homeless youth in baltimore. so this is -- these types of stories forever change you. it is unbelievable to hear the purser variants, the grant, the energy. i know she is going to make an enormous impact not just in her business but her community. we talk about small business, how it is going to grow our economy and benefit american workers, butthe amount of philanthropy being done on the local level by small business is a norm is enormous. i'm sure each of you can share your own stories just about how you are able to give act and you do in such a tremendous way. lisa story was moving to me.
dear audience and judges, my topic is can money buy happiness. as we all know, money can buy all the goods in our life, no matter how huge it
is. a spaceship, for example, if you really feel your bank account can afford it. anyhow, money equal wealthy in life but not happiness in mind. only by changing
our attitude to money and enjoying every day, can we obtain a truely happy future!
What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown.
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
english is a useful language all over the world. why are we began to learn english when we were little children beacause it is very important for us to learn it.in the world, if you cannot speak english you will lose half a chance to success. i began to learn english when i was 8 years old.at that moment,i do not like english.i connot remember all the words which i have learnt.i think it is very difficult for me to learn it well.so i cannot read english loudly and i never answer the questions in the english classes.
now, i like english very well and i still use the ways he tells me.i know i must learn english even hard.
I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now.
So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.
I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.
I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.
Good morning, my name Cindy, it is really a great honor to have this opportunity for a interview, i would like to answer whatever you may raise, and i hope i can make a good performance today, eventually enroll in this prestigious university in september. now i will introduce myself briefly,I am 23 years old,born in province ,and i am curruently a senior student at beijing university.my major is.and I will receive my bachelor degree after my graduation in june.in the past 4 years,i spend most of my time on study,i have passed CET6 with a ease. and i have acquired basic knowledge of packaging and publishing both in theory and in practice. besides, i have attend
several packaging exhibition hold in Beijing, this is our advantage study here, I have taken a tour to some big factory and company. through these I have a deeply understanding of domestic packaging industry. compared to developed countries such as us, unfortunately, although we have made extraordinary progress since 1978,our packaging industry are still underdeveloped, mess, unstable, the situation of employees in this field are awkard. but I have full confidence in a bright future if only our economy can keep the growth pace still.
I guess you maybe interested in the reason itch to law, and what is my plan during graduate study life,I would like to tell you that pursue law is one of my lifelong goal,I like my major packaging and I wont give up,if I can pursue my master degree here I will combine law with my former education.
I will work hard in thesefields ,patent ,trademark, copyright, on the base of my years study in department of p&p, my character? i cannot describe it well, but i know I am optimistic and confident. sometimes i prefer to stay alone, reading, listening to music, but I am not lonely, i like to chat with my classmates, almost talk everything ,my favorite pastime is valleyball,playing cards or surf online. through college life,I learn how to balance between study and entertainment. by the way, I was a actor of our amazing drama club. i had a few glorious memory on stage. that is my pride.
“Good morning, sir. My name is…”打招呼和过场基本是必须的。
“I’m , I’m , and I’m very .”按照我们的传统思维，自我夸耀一番也是难以避免的。但是这真的好吗?
如果说自我夸耀是正常的，那么就有99%的人在面试时这么做了。然而，那么多人都用一样的措辞自夸，真的会有积极的效果?就怕非但没有积极效果，反而让人觉得你很浮夸，尽说大话很不可靠。而且，老外们对此更加在意，一听到某些单词，说不定就触碰到“雷区”，马上say “Good bye”了。
这里有10个单词，不适合在面试的时候形容自己。看看你有没有如此自夸的习惯吧。
1. generous(宽宏大量的)
肚量是看在旁人眼里的，并不是喊出来的，尤其是不适合从自己的嘴巴里喊出来。真正心胸开阔的人，从不会炫耀，也不会索取别人的称赞。他们就不认为自己的心胸气度如此广阔，因为他们觉得他们还能做得更多。
2. humble(谦恭的)
认为自己很谦虚的人其实并不谦虚，因为真正谦虚的人从不称赞自己谦虚。如果你真要让别人了解自己有多谦虚，就在言语中表现出自己的谦和吧，千万不要直接就说“其实啊，我这个人很谦虚的”。你听到别人这么说，会怎么想?
3. self-disciplined(严格自律的)
自律是好事，但是如果自律过了头，会给别人什么印象?不懂变通，缺乏弹性，死脑筋，不好相处……你身边有没有对待自己特别严格的人?你觉不觉得这样的人太硬不太好相处呢?所以别说自我要求特别严格了，职场不如军队，不需要铁一般的纪律，这样反而会让人觉得你缺乏人性化的变通，也难以沟通。
4. passionate(充满激情的)
热情从来不是喊出来的，而是在实际工作中做出来的。说得好听比做什么都容易，千万别让人觉得你只是嘴巴上特别有干劲而已。另外，热爱工作是好事，但是太过于热爱工作，会让人担心你是否会做出什么过激的举动。而且，如果让别人觉得你动不动就满怀激情地工作，这样你的同事也会很累。
5. witty(机智幽默的)
一般很机智又有幽默感的人，是不会刻意这么称赞自己的，除非他擅长说冷笑话。想想，如果一个人对你说“你知道吗?我是个很机智幽默的人”，你的反应一定是两个字——呵呵。真正机智幽默的人，在谈吐间就能让别人感受到了，用得着挑明了说吗?这反而是愚笨的自夸。
Years later, I was on my second teaching round in a Melbourne high school, and I was about 20 minutes into a year 11 legal studies class when this boy put up his hand and said, "Hey miss, when are you going to start doing your speech?" And I said, "What speech?" You know, I'd been talking them about defamation law for a good 20 minutes. And he said, "You know, like, your motivational speaking. You know, when people in wheelchairs come to school, they usually say, like, inspirational stuff?" "It's usually in the big hall." And that's when it dawned on me: This kid had only ever experienced disabled
people as objects of inspiration. We are not, to this kid -- and it's not his fault, I mean, that's true for many of us. For lots of us, disabled people are not our teachers or our doctors or our manicurists. We're not real people. We are there to inspire. And in fact, I am sitting on this stage looking like I do in this wheelchair, and you are probably kind of expecting me to inspire you. Right? (Laughter) Yeah.
i've had an interesting experience. i'm an entrepreneur, having started my own business, also worked in the context of a family business that was highly entrepreneurial.i've had both, working in a large family business, that grew to be arather large business. i think for me, one of the challenges wasmanaging the competing demands of raising a family and, and running a business, working in a family business. and then politics got layered on top of that. then i got pregnant with my thirdchild in the midst of that. one of the things, there is no right answer. people ask about balance a lot. i don't think you can plan for balance. you can structure your schedule to avoid worktravel, coming home and having an event or you have to be out.you can manage things like that. we are one kid illness away from losing balance. there's no way you can plan for certain things. i have found every time i think a challenge is large and will behard to overcome that has been put in my path, if you grindthrough it, you look back in retrospect and it feels much more manageable than it was in the moment. this perspective, staying in the moment, keeping a laser focus on what your priorities are. i tell people not to architect their life for balance, but aligned with what their priorities are. and fully measure yourself againstpriorities to ensure you are where you needed to be in the long term. give yourself a little slack in the short term. i will say as anadministration, we are focused on thinking about how weempower the american working family and empower people to achieve a balance through policies around making child caremore affordable and accessible, advocating strongly for paid family leave. to support the reality of of the dual income modernworking family. thinking through policies that support the family is informed by what i have seen and what i have witnessed.
Now I seriously want to thank you for that. I had to take that picture. My mother always took photos of me at every progress point growing up. She’d show off those photos to everyone who came to our house, and she would be so proud that I am here at my old stomping ground with all of you.
So, now graduates, it’s certainly your day, but President Price already reminded us it’s Mother’s Day – but you know women never get enough love, never. So the one day we have here to offer a deserved salute to those who bore us biologically and those who stood in as surrogates for many of our needs and wants – deserve some more love. I want all the graduates to stand up and give their mothers and their surrogate mothers some love. Thank you.
Now this is my first Mother’s Day without my own mother, who I lost last August.
And while she’s not here physically, I can still hear her voice when I reach a significant milestone or face what appears to be an insurmountable obstacle.
And if she were here today, I know exactly what she would say to you.
In response to your achievement, it would, no doubt, be crisp and compelling a show of support: “You did it!” And she would offer you a huge smile and an even bigger hug.
But she would also keep it real with you like she always did with me. She would tell you that your future, like any of ours, is going to be hard work. I can hear her say: “Lisa, listen to me and hear me clearly. Adversity is like the agitator in the washing machine. It beats the heck out of the clothes, but they’re clean when they come out”.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you dramatically. I am not here to inspire you. I am here to tell you that we have been lied to about disability. Yeah, we've been sold the lie that disability is a Bad Thing, capital B, capital T. It's a bad thing, and to live with a disability makes you exceptional. It's not a bad thing, and it doesn't make you exceptional. And in the past few years, we've been able to propagate this lie even further via social media. You may have seen images like this one: "The only disability in life is a bad attitude." Or this one: "Your excuse is invalid." Indeed. Or this one: "Before you quit, try!" These are just a couple of examples, but there are a lot of these images out there. You know, you might have seen the one, the little girl with no hands drawing a picture with a pencil held in her mouth. You might have seen a child running on carbon fiber prosthetic legs. And these images, there are lots of them out there, they are what we call inspiration porn. (Laughter)
So, I’m not just asking you, I’m advising you to anticipate defeat, strongly advising it. Don’t be surprised when it comes your way. Acknowledge it. Engage with inquisitive abandon and leave indelible fingerprints wherever you may go. Search for environments that may give you grief but they may also help you to grow.
Now, no one taught me the importance of that existential exploration better than my parents. And it was my father who showed me that in fact, it is in discomfort that we find our most defining moments.
My dad became a doctor because he knew the circumstances were not the same for everybody, that some people were not as fortunate as our family was. And as he put it, he wanted to eliminate “dis-ease.” Are you with me, graduates? “Dis-ease.” That’s exactly how he said it to me.
When I was a little girl, I would go on house calls with him. The patients all knew and loved him and I saw how much he prided himself on being a caretaker, someone who did his very best to reverse their compromised positions of his patients – to put their mind and bodies at ease.
But there was one house call I remember in particular. It’s seared in the back of my brain as if it happened yesterday. His diabetic patient was having a hypoglycemic attack. He told me to get the orange juice. I did, and I watched him save a woman’s life that day.
Good Morning.
Thank you.
Well, it’s a privilege to be here with all of you.
Let me thank President Price, for the opportunity to address the 20xx Graduates. It’s certainly a privilege and my great pleasure.
To my fellow trustees, the Faculty of the University, the Administrative teams, the parents, the guardians, significant others and friends, thank you for not only enabling this occasion, but also joining us to celebrate the fruits of your labor.
And to our Honorary Degree Recipients, thank you for your incredible contributions and achievements. There’s a reason you now hold ‘Laudable Blue Devil’ status. Give them some love, ya’ll.
Now, I’m from the South, so we’re going to offer a whole lot of gratitude today. And when I call you to respond to what I’m saying, do you have me, graduates?
I love it. I love it.
And most importantly, let me start with gratitude for the graduates, thank you for the work you’ve put in and the contributions that you’ve made to Duke. We are absolutely thrilled that you had...and I quote… “the courage to start, the strength to endure, and the resolve to finish.”
Somebody say amen.
And because of that, you are about to be awarded all the rights and privileges of minted Blue Devils. So, congratulations to you! I’m going to give you some love.
my name is sherry. i'm from ohio. i'm a proud owner of a trucking company. second generation, woman-owned. our familybusiness is 50 years in the making. one of our challenges afterbecoming with one truck, now close to 100 drugs, and 150employees, some of our challenges are hiring qualified workforce. truck drivers and technicians, those are our challenges. finding skilled workers to fill those jobs, and the training they need, it is surprisingly difficult. do you have any thoughts on how we could solve this problem together as a nation to fill
I’ve never been able to shake the haunting feeling of this specific house call because of the significance it would take on later in my own life – and it reminds me, of course, that even doctors can meet the same inevitable fate of becoming patients.
When I tried to tend to the diabetes my father developed later in life, I thought of that woman’s shaking, pale face.
And when I looked at his limbs – a double amputee, and recognized he was in renal failure, I thought of how he fought for a life, when she could not fight for her own.
And I thought of how in his twilight years, he was experiencing the same discomfort and dis-ease he had so seamlessly kept at bay for everyone else.
But even so, I knew we were lucky, my family. We could afford my father’s insulin. We could afford to do what it took to take care of him.
After three days of self-pity, my perspective changed. I realized there were more ways to serve my fellow citizens and my city than just being in elective office.
But the lesson became crystal clear several roles into the future. And graduates, here’s the lesson:
Failure’s not fatal. It’s feedback.
Did you hear me? Put that in your phones. Failure is not fatal. It’s feedback.
I wasn’t supposed to be the Mayor. Had I been the Mayor, I would not have been available to work as a senior officer at the Coca-Cola company where my maternal grandparents had worked for a combined 45 years – jobs that enabled my mother and her sister to be ‘first generation college graduates’.
Nor would I perhaps have been on the radar to become a trustee here at Duke, alongside my good friend and fellow Dukie, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Ya’ll know who that is? That’s a bad boy.
And had I not met Adam, I may never have been a candidate for the President of the WNBA, the Women’s National Basketball Association, somebody say amen, one of the most rewarding roles that I have ever undertaken.
So for any of us in this room today, let's start out by admitting we're lucky. We don't live in the world our mothers lived in, our grandmothers lived in, where career choices for women were so limited. And if you're in this room today, most of us grew up in a world where we have basic civil rights, and amazingly, we still live in a world where some women don't have them.But all that aside, we still have a problem,and it's a real problem. And the problem is this: Women are not making it to the top of any professionanywhere in the world. The numbers tell the story quite clearly. 190 heads of state — nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13 percent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs, board seats — tops out at 15, 16 percent. The numbers have not moved since 20xxand are going in the wrong direction. And even in the non-profit world, a world we sometimes think of as being led by more women, women at the top: 20 percent.
I can't even notice that the men's hands are still raised, and the women's hands are still raised, how good are we as managers of our companies and our organizations at seeing that the men are reaching for opportunitiesmore than women?" We've got to get women to sit at the table.Message number two: Make your partner a real partner. I've become convinced that we've made more progress in the workforce than we have in the home. The data shows this very clearly. If a woman and a man work full-time and have a child, the woman does twice the amount of housework the man does, and the woman does three times the amount of childcare the man does. So she's got three jobs or two jobs, and he's got one. Who do you think drops out when someone needs to be home more? The causes of this are really complicated, and I don't have time to go into them. And I don't think Sunday football-watching and general laziness is the cause.
how many people here in this room smile more than 20 times per day? raise your hand if you do. oh, wow. outside of this room, more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day, whereas less than 14 percent of us smile less than five. in fact, those with the most amazing superpowers are actually children who smile as many as 400 times per day.have you ever wondered why being around children who smile so frequently makes you smile very often? a recent study at uppsala university in sweden found that its very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. you ask, why? because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles. mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically help us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.