Oct. 31, 2021
Here is the link.
David Cote, University of New Hampshire Class of 1976, was the Commencement Speaker at the 2011 Ceremony. His speech was named to NPR's list of Best Commencement Speeches, Ever: http://apps.npr.org/commencement/spee...
7:11/
What I have learned | Condensed to four major areas
- First Recognize the importance of people and your own behaviors
- Be self-aware, be honest with yourself and face reality
- Know who you are in your personal characteristics, what are your strengths and what are the areas where you are not so strong.
- You can't be good at everything so how can you fill in where you aren't and I can tell you when you are younger this is one of the toughest things to do.
- We're all born with different skills and aptitudes, I was fortune to be born at a time when my skill with a pencil was valuable a hundred years ago
- I'd have probably just been a bad farmer now , that is not something you can control
- What you can control are your behaviors, how you look at life, how you maximize the skills you do have
- Be aware of the impact that you have on people around you
- Do people feel better as a result of spending time with you during the course of your career
- Your biggest accomplishments will be achieved by motivating and inspiring others
- Develop personal credibility in your dealings
- Do what you say is not an empty phrase
- Stand for something and have values
- Be open to new ideas
- Have opinions and sate them but be willing to modify them for a better suggestion
- Acknowledge the contribution of others
- Even if it's painful it reflects on you recognize because someone disagrees you
- Don't want to make it personal, at the same time not everybody you deal with is reasonable
- There truly are zealots in the world who can only see their point of view and these people are the most dangerous and they can be found in all walks of life
- Be tolerant if a decision doesn't see right
- Change it better the embarrassment of a changed mind, then the lifetime penance of a bad decision in business and in life
- Be prepared to take hits to your ego whether deserved or not
- My dad was a very proud man who could have quite a temper, he owned a service station and one day when I was working with him when I was about 14, I watched him take an unwarranted verbal beating from a customer, I was shocked because three was no response when the customer left, he came back and sat next to me on the curb and said Dave, sometimes in business, sometimes in life you have to put your pride in your back pocket. Don't let anyone break you down emotionally. Be able to take that hit, they will happen.
- Second get out of your comfort zone, better yet get comfortable about being out of your comfort zone.
- Be a learner. The greatest learning occurs where you're uncomfortable because you don't know it all.
- Push yourself. Be willing to take a chance. Take a risk with something, new career, hobbies, dating, sports whatever.
- It doesn't mean you should be impulsive. It doesn't mean you should take calculated risks.
- Get yourself into the arena. Be a participant. Not a spectator. Don't always wait for approval or perfect knowledge.
- Do something.
- Have the confidence in yourself to take that chance.
- If you don't certainly others won't and there will always be plenty of people to tell you why it won't work including some friends and family and sometimes they'll be right and that's painful.
- And as my mom always said think for yourself.
- Just because everyone is doing something, it doesn't mean it's a right which also means you have to be able to handle rejection and failure.
- Successful people have failures, sometimes spectacularly embarrassing ones, but they learn from it and move on to the next success.
No comments:
Post a Comment