Michelle Yeoh addresses the Harvard Law School Class of 2023

Summary

In her keynote address to the Class of 2023, Michelle Yeoh shares powerful life lessons based on her own career journey. She encourages graduates to stay adaptable, embrace challenges, and find strength in community. Drawing from her experiences, she emphasizes the importance of staying loose in the face of adversity, knowing one's limits, and pushing through external barriers. Yeoh highlights the power of collaboration, diversity, and empathy, urging the graduates to leap into the unknown with courage and love. Her message is one of resilience, empowerment, and the importance of personal growth through connection and compassion.

Takeaways

• 😀 Stay loose: In challenging situations, remain calm and curious instead of tightening up. Embrace uncertainty and adaptability.
• 😀 Know your limits: Recognize both your personal boundaries and external constraints. Use limitations as motivation to push beyond them.
• 😀 Embrace challenges: The obstacles and limitations you face can fuel personal growth and propel you towards new opportunities.
• 😀 Find your people: Success is often a result of collaboration, not competition. Surround yourself with supportive and like-minded individuals.
• 😀 Empowering others: Representation and diversity are key to creating a more inclusive world, especially for women in leadership roles.
• 😀 Compassion is a superpower: Empathy and understanding others' perspectives are crucial to creating positive, real-world change.
• 😀 Life can be unpredictable: Prepare for the unexpected, as not everything will go according to plan. Flexibility and resilience are essential.
• 😀 Take risks: Sometimes, leaping into the unknown is necessary for growth. Be brave in taking chances even when the outcome is uncertain.
• 😀 Pursue passion with purpose: Stay true to what excites you, even if it requires patience and waiting for the right opportunity.
• 😀 Impact of community: True success and fulfillment are often linked to the strength of your community and the positive influence you can share with others.

Q & A

What is the primary theme of Michelle Yeoh's keynote speech?

The primary theme of Michelle Yeoh's speech revolves around resilience, adaptability, and the importance of community. She emphasizes staying flexible in the face of adversity, understanding one’s limits, and finding a supportive network to succeed in life and career.

Why does Michelle Yeoh stress the importance of staying loose?

Michelle Yeoh stresses staying loose because, in difficult situations or during major life changes, tightening up can increase the risk of failure. By staying calm and open, one can adapt more effectively and be ready for unexpected opportunities, as she did after her injury and the shift from dance to acting.

What personal experience does Michelle Yeoh share about her journey to acting?

Michelle Yeoh shares her early career transition from dance to acting after suffering a spinal injury, which crushed her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. She credits her school's principal for encouraging her to stay flexible about her future, which ultimately led her to acting.

What does Michelle Yeoh mean by 'know your limits'?

Knowing your limits involves understanding both what you are capable of and what you cannot do. Internally, it keeps you focused and humble, while externally, it helps you identify the limitations set by others and challenge them, as she did in her career in Hong Kong cinema.

How did Michelle Yeoh challenge the limitations in Hong Kong's film industry?

Michelle Yeoh challenged limitations by defying stereotypical roles for women, which were often passive and demure. She pushed for action roles traditionally reserved for men, using her dance background to excel in action choreography and proving herself as a capable action star.

Why does Michelle Yeoh emphasize finding your people?

Michelle Yeoh emphasizes finding your people because success is often a collective effort. Building a supportive community of family, friends, colleagues, and mentors can help you overcome obstacles and achieve more than you could alone.

What role does diversity play in Michelle Yeoh's career and advocacy?

Diversity is central to Michelle Yeoh’s career and advocacy. She champions greater representation for women, particularly in lead roles in film, and believes that diverse perspectives enrich storytelling. She also supports diversity in other sectors to create a more inclusive society.

How does Michelle Yeoh define empathy, and why is it important?

Michelle Yeoh defines empathy as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. She believes that empathy is crucial for creating real-world change because it activates compassion, which drives people to take meaningful action and address inequalities.

What significance does *Everything Everywhere All at Once* hold in Michelle Yeoh's speech?

In her speech, *Everything Everywhere All at Once* represents the culmination of Michelle Yeoh’s life lessons. The film challenges genre boundaries, showcases a community of creatives, and embodies the themes of adaptability, overcoming limitations, and love that she discussed throughout her speech.

What does Michelle Yeoh mean by 'leap and leap again'?

Michelle Yeoh uses the phrase 'leap and leap again' to encourage graduates to take risks, pursue opportunities, and embrace the unknown. Each leap represents courage in facing challenges and growing from the experience, ultimately leading to greater success and fulfillment.