Michelle Obama | WHO ARE YOU GONNA BE? | Your Motivation
Summary
TLDRThis inspiring speech emphasizes the importance of personal character traits over achievements and credentials. It highlights resilience and conscientiousness as key to success, illustrated by West Point cadets' examples. The speaker encourages graduates to embrace diversity, engage with different perspectives, and develop skills applicable to any situation. The speech concludes with advice on the value of hard work, reliability, and serving others, qualities that define a person's true worth.
Takeaways
- 🎓 **Personal Identity Over Profession**: The speaker emphasizes defining who you are rather than focusing solely on what job you will have.
- 🚀 **Resilience is Key**: Resilience and conscientiousness are highlighted as critical skills for success, often more so than traditional metrics like test scores or IQ.
- 🏆 **Success Beyond Achievements**: Success is defined by how one responds to challenges and setbacks, not just by achievements or accolades.
- 💪 **Grit Determines Completion**: Cadets with high grit and determination are more likely to complete challenging tasks, such as basic training at West Point.
- 🌱 **Personal Growth Through Struggle**: The speaker encourages developing skills by overcoming weaknesses and working hard, which can be applied to any situation.
- 🤝 **Embrace Diversity**: The importance of seeking out and engaging with diverse experiences and viewpoints is stressed.
- 👂 **Listen Beyond Your Echo Chamber**: Engaging with people of different political affiliations can lead to new understandings and personal growth.
- 🌐 **Leverage Global Connectivity**: Technology allows for unprecedented connection with the world, which can be used to break down old divisions.
- 👥 **Value of Character in Hiring**: The speaker shares that character traits like hard work, reliability, and open-mindedness are more valued than test scores or elite education in hiring decisions.
- 🌟 **Inherent Qualities for Impact**: The qualities that move society forward are already embodied by the graduates, learned from their upbringing and developed further at Eastern Kentucky University.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the speech?
-The main focus of the speech is to inspire individuals to reflect on their character and resilience, rather than just their achievements or goals, emphasizing the importance of personal qualities such as grit and determination.
Why does the speaker emphasize the question 'who are you going to be'?
-The speaker emphasizes 'who are you going to be' to highlight the importance of personal character development over specific achievements, as it defines how individuals respond to life's challenges and setbacks.
What role do skills like resilience and conscientiousness play according to the speaker?
-According to the speaker, skills like resilience and conscientiousness are as important to success as test scores or IQ, influencing one's ability to overcome obstacles and achieve goals.
What example does the speaker give to illustrate the importance of character traits like grit?
-The speaker cites the example of West Point cadets, where those who scored high on traits like grit and determination were more likely to complete basic training than those who ranked high in other areas.
Why does the speaker encourage graduates to embrace diversity?
-The speaker encourages embracing diversity to broaden perspectives, foster understanding, and learn from different experiences and viewpoints.
What advice does the speaker give regarding engaging with people with different political views?
-The speaker advises engaging with people of different political views, such as having a conversation between a Democrat and a Republican, to find common ground or gain new insights.
How does the speaker suggest using the freedom of an open mind?
-The speaker suggests using the freedom of an open mind to reject old divisions and embrace different points of view, potentially leading to new opportunities and perspectives.
What does the speaker imply about the importance of character in hiring decisions?
-The speaker implies that character traits such as hard work, reliability, and openness to other viewpoints are more important in hiring decisions than test scores or the prestige of the educational institution attended.
What qualities does the speaker value on a team?
-The speaker values qualities like hard work, reliability, openness to other viewpoints, and a willingness to serve others on a team.
How does the speaker describe the qualities that move businesses, schools, and the country forward?
-The speaker describes these qualities as the ones that embody the values learned from parents and communities, and the skills developed through hard work and education.
What is the speaker's hope for the graduates after they have faced various ups and downs?
-The speaker hopes that the graduates will not only question their ability to succeed but also consider how and where they will make a positive impact in the world.
Outlines
🚀 Personal Growth and Resilience
This paragraph emphasizes the importance of personal character over specific achievements. It questions how individuals will react to life's challenges rather than their career goals. The speaker discusses the significance of resilience and conscientiousness, citing research that these traits are as crucial as test scores or IQ for success. The example of West Point cadets illustrates that those with high grit and determination are more likely to complete training. The message is that by persevering and turning weaknesses into strengths, one can develop skills applicable to any situation.
🌐 Embracing Diversity and Open-mindedness
The second paragraph focuses on the values of diversity and open-mindedness. It encourages graduates to engage with people from different backgrounds and perspectives, suggesting that such interactions can lead to learning and personal growth. The speaker shares personal experiences from hiring and management, emphasizing that qualities like hard work, reliability, and openness to other viewpoints are more important than academic achievements or the prestige of one's school. The paragraph concludes with an encouragement to use the freedom of an open mind and technology to connect with others and to reject old divisions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Resilience
💡Conscientiousness
💡Character
💡Grit
💡Determination
💡Success
💡Diversity
💡Open Mind
💡Self-Interest
💡Embrace
💡Freedom
Highlights
The importance of defining who you are rather than what you do.
How personal responses to challenges shape one's character.
The significance of resilience and conscientiousness for success.
Research showing that certain skills are as important as test scores or IQ.
Example of West Point cadets demonstrating the value of grit and determination.
The idea that personal qualities can be developed and applied to any situation.
The necessity of making a choice about one's character.
Encouragement to consider how these ideas apply to future life.
The value of embracing diversity in life experiences and opinions.
Advice to seek out and learn from different viewpoints.
The impact of engaging with others with an open mind and heart.
The freedom of an open mind and the connectivity provided by technology.
The choice to either continue old fights or embrace new perspectives.
The potential for personal growth through embracing different viewpoints.
The importance of personal qualities in hiring decisions over academic achievements.
The qualities that move businesses, schools, and the country forward.
The qualities that the audience already embodies and their origins.
The world's need for more people with the audience's qualities.
The question of how and where the audience will make their mark in the world.
Transcripts
[Music]
who are you going to be
and if you'll notice i'm not asking what
are you going to do
but who are you going to be
i'm asking you about how you plan to
live your life every day
how are you going to respond
when you don't get that job you had your
heart set on
for all of you who are going to be
teachers what are you going to do
if the students in your class next year
just don't respond to your lessons
for all of you going into business how
will you react when your boss gives you
a goal that feels way too
high
see these are the moments that define us
not the day you get the promotion
not the day you win teacher of the year
but the times that force you to claw and
scratch and fight just to get through
the day
the moments when you get knocked down
and you're wondering whether it's even
worth it to get back up
see those are the times when you've got
to ask yourself who am i going to be
and i want to be clear this isn't just
some vague platitude about building
character
in recent years we've actually been
seeing a growing body of research that
shows that skills like resilience
and conscientiousness can be just as
important to your success as your test
scores or even your iq
for instance west point cadets who
scored high on things like grit and
determination were more likely to
complete basic training than those who
ranked high on things like class rank
s.a.t sports and physical fitness
so what we're seeing is that
if you're willing to dig deep if you're
willing to pick yourself up when you
fall
if you're willing to work and work until
your weaknesses become your strengths
then you'll develop a set of skills that
you can mold and apply to any situation
you encounter any job you might have any
crisis you might confront
but you've got to make that choice
who are you going to be
so graduates think about how this will
apply to your own lives in the future
as you move on
you're gonna come across all kinds of
people from all different places and
faiths and walks of life
and you can choose to pass them by
without a word
or you can choose to reach out to them
no matter who they are or where they
come from or what ideas they might have
embracing the diversity of experience
and opinion that surrounds us everywhere
we go
so i encourage you all seek it out
don't just spend time with people your
own age you would be amazed at the
wisdom they have to offer
if you're a democrat
spend some time talking to a republican
and if you're a republican have a chat
with a democrat
maybe you'll find some common ground
maybe you won't
but if you honestly engage with an open
mind and an open heart i guarantee you
will learn something
and goodness knows
we need more of that
because we know what happens when we
only talk to people who think like we do
we just get more stuck in our way
[Music]
you all can you can get past all that
you've got the freedom of an open mind
and thanks to today's technology you're
connected to each other into the world
like never before
so
you you can either choose to use those
opportunities to continue fighting the
fights that we've been locked in for
decades or you can choose to reject
those old divisions and embrace folks
with a different point of view and if
you do that
the latter
who knows where it might take you
and let me just share just a little
secret before i end
as someone who has hired and managed
hundreds of young people over the course
of my career
the answers to those questions believe
me are far more important than you can
ever imagine
whether it was during my time as a
lawyer as an administrator as a
university a non-profit manager even now
as first lady
i have never once asked someone i was
interviewing to explain a test score or
a grade in a class never
i have never
once
made a hire
just because someone went to an ivy
league school instead of a state school
never what i have looked for
is what kind of person you are
are you a hard worker
are you reliable
are you open to other viewpoints have
you stepped outside of your own
self-interest to serve others again and
again i have seen that those are the
qualities that i want on my team
because those are the qualities that
move our businesses and schools and our
entire country forward
and just understand this
those are the qualities
that you all already embody
they're the values you learned from your
parents
from the communities you grew up in
they are the skills you developed here
at eku as you work so hard to make it to
this day
and today more than ever before
that's what the world needs
we need more people like you
so after you've come this far
after all of the ups and downs i hope
that it is no longer a question of
whether or not you can make it in this
world but how and where you're going to
make your mark
[Music]
you
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