Top 10 Inspiring Commencement Speeches in 2017

Who says commencement speeches must be boring? I remember battling sleep during my undergraduate commencement ceremony. In the end, I believe sleep won the battle. However, I still believe that commencement speeches are one of the best speeches to listen to and be inspired by.

Pharell Willimas, New York University

In a generation that is crazy about social media and carried away by what is defined as success by the media, Pharrell Williams speech is a much-needed reminder of what a life of impact is and how we must focus on things that really matter. A short excerpt from his speech reads:

“In this day and age, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that it is the people who serve humanity that make the world really go round. Most social media and media itself will lead you to believe otherwise but this group’s work doesn’t fill gossip. Sadly it doesn’t generate a lot of clicks among the seas of headlines designed to bait. Their work is often too important to be boiled down to a quick headline. Their work has never been more important. Yet in this society, we seem to celebrate less important achievement far more frequently. I am glad to be a part of the moment that recognizes these people – the real movers and shakers. Think about it these great scientists, public servants, and activists cannot be bothered with building their Instagram followers or how many views they get on YouTube but they are the real influencers. Their works make us healthier, safer, more enriched and more intelligent. Their work is designed to improve the quality of life for all people not just themselves. They are motivated by the attention but rather they are motivated by the idea of creating change for the better.”

Octavia Spencer, Kent State University

We often times let others dictate for us who we can be and who we cannot. Octavia Spencer in her speech at Kent State University reminds the graduands that nobody else should define what success means to them.

“My dear graduates let me be frank, the best years are very much ahead of you and they can be whatever you want them to be. Your work, your life, your weekdays, your weekends, can all be filled with as much meaning as you dictate. As you go off now to start new jobs, new graduate programs or maybe you already have a career or a million followers on Instagram, you don’t even need my advice but whatever your next chapter is, define it by being true to your authentic self. Fill it with meaning because you are on the other side now and maybe fear is starting to creep in, perhaps aggressively – fear of the unknown. Oh, the excitement of today is about to become a memory and you would have to join the rest of us in a world where there are no more graduations. It is your turn to choose and define what success means to you. Now, others will try to define it for you but yours is the only voice that matters. The journey you take now will be led by you alone.”

Will Ferrell, University of Southern California

Will Ferrell’s speech at USC reminds us that we must learn to combat our fears daily. He uses his life experiences to illustrate the beauty of our individual processes and how though we may not look like where we are headed for but in the end, it would be worth it. Interestingly his definition of success is giving back to society. His speech has gone on to trend online line as he ended with a song for the graduands of USC.

“Now one may look at me as having great success, which I have in the strictest sense of the word, and don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and I feel so fortunate to get to entertain people. But to me, my definition of success is my 16-and-a-half-year marriage to my beautiful and talented wife, Vivica. Success are my three amazing sons, Magnus, 13, Matthias, 10 and Axel age 7. Right there, stand up guys, take a bow, there you go. Success to me is my involvement in the charity Cancer for College, which gives college scholarships to cancer survivors, started by my great friend and SC alum Craig Pollard, a two-time cancer survivor himself, who thought of the charity while we were fraternity brothers at the Delta house, up on West Adams. Craig was also one of the members of my Trojan family sitting front-and-center at my bad stand-up comedy shows, cheering me on. No matter how cliché it may sound you will never truly be successful until you learn to give beyond yourself. Empathy and kindness are the true signs of emotional intelligence, and that’s what Viv and I try to teach our boys. Hey Matthias, get your hands off Axel right now! Stop it. I can see you. Okay? Dr. Ferrell’s watching you. To those of you graduates sitting out there who have a pretty good idea of what you’d like to do with your life, congratulations. For many of you who maybe don’t have it all figured out, it’s okay. That’s the same chair that I sat in. Enjoy the process of your search without succumbing to the pressure of the result. Trust your gut, keep throwing darts at the dartboard. Don’t listen to the critics and you will figure it out.”

Adam Grant, Utah State University

Adam Grant’s commencement speech was based on other commencement speeches that have been given over time. According to Adam, these speeches had omitted the one important virtue required – resilience. A very resounding advice from his speech was:

“A third popular virtue is grit. “Never give up” appears in more than four of every ten graduation speeches. Persistence is one of the most important forces in success and happiness. There’s the author whose novel was rejected half a dozen times. The artist whose cartoons were turned down over and over. And the musicians who were told “guitar groups are on the way out” and they’d never make it in show business. If they had quit, Harry Potter, Disney, and the Beatles wouldn’t exist. But that’s only half the story. For every J.K. Rowling and Walt Disney and Lennon and McCartney, there are thousands of writers and entrepreneurs and musicians who fail not for lack of grit, but because of how narrowly they apply grit. I know from experience. As a kid I loved sports. I spent hours shooting baskets and when I didn’t make my sixth-grade basketball team, I went to Chris Webber’s basketball camp. When the Orlando Magic drafted him, I spray-painted Shaq and Webber kick butt across our driveway. The Magic immediately traded Webber away but the kick butt stayed on my driveway. I worked my butt off practicing. But… I didn’t make the seventh-grade team. I didn’t make the eighth-grade team either. When I started high school I was under five feet tall, and I finally gave up. I suddenly had a lot of free time and I decided to try my hand at diving. My coach told me I walked like Frankenstein and his grandmother jumped higher than me. But diving was a nerd sport: it attracted people too short for basketball and too weak for football. I ended up qualifying for the junior Olympic nationals twice and competing at the NCAA level. Never give up is bad advice. Sometimes quitting is a virtue…Don’t give up on your values but be willing to give up on your plans.”

Steven Levitan, University of Wisconsin

“The point is no matter how dark it gets the door will open the sunlight will return and all you will be left with is how you acted when the going gets tough.”

Steven Levitan shares five insightful lessons he has learned since he graduated from the University of Wisconsin. His speech encourages the graduands to start early, follow their passion and remain hopeful.

Jake Tapper, Dartmouth University

The Graduands of Dartmouth University were reminded during Jake Tapper’s commencement speech that rejection is normal, however, there should be some rejection that should be taken more personally. He agrees that it is okay not to have it all figured out citing his life as an example.

“For you, my dearest Class of 2017. Even if you have jobs or grad school lined up, you are no doubt stressing a bit about the question: What are you going to do with the rest of your life? And my first serious bit of advice to you is: Do not worry if you do not know what you want to do with the rest of your life; it is OK if you take years to figure it out. Wall Street, Silicon Valley, law school—they ain’t going anywhere. I did not become a full-time journalist until I was almost 29. It took me a little time to figure out where my particular qualities of annoying persistence, uncomfortable observations, and curiously rooted self-regard might best be suited. Now, our society worships the prodigies. The Mozarts. To paraphrase Tom Lehrer, it is a sobering thought to consider that when Mozart was my age he had been dead for twelve years. But to measure success by how old you are when you achieve it is silly. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer wasn’t published until Mark Twain was 41. Do not stress if you have no idea what you want to do with the rest of your life. View these years, where your responsibilities are relatively few, as a journey, as an adventure. Adventures are not seamless trips from point A to point B; they have ups and downs and obstacles. And every crappy internship, every rude boss, every remedial chore that makes you wonder, “Why did I bother working so hard to get into Dartmouth and graduate from Dartmouth?”—it is all part of this voyage.”

Howard Schultz, Arizona State University

Executive Chairman of Starbucks, Howard Schultz speech shares life lessons from a period in which his business almost failed because as a business they lost sight of their purpose and principles. He reminded them what mattered the most in life pursuits:

“This milestone in your life may come with some anxiety about what tomorrow holds and you may have questions that only time can answer. But as a young man, who once sat nervously at his own commencement, I encourage you to always trust yourself and to be mindful of these three enduring questions. How will you respect your parents and honor your family? How will you share your success and serve others with dignity? And how will you lead with humility and demonstrate moral courage? You are leaving this campus as the best-prepared generation in the history of our country. You each possess an entrepreneurial spirit, the passion, and the commitment to create the future you deserve. However, don’t stop there. Try not to rely only on what you have learned in the classroom. Summon your compassion, your curiosity, your empathy towards others and your commitment to service. Give more than you receive and I promise you, it will come back to you in ways you can’t possibly imagine.”

Martin Casado, North Arizona University

Martin Casado speech was very short yet it contained very useful nuggets for the graduating class. Martin charged the graduands to embrace failure as that will measure progress and he reminds them to embrace opportunities as they come. A notable highlight in his speech was his second point:

“Second, you are going to fail. A lot. It’s inevitable. I only found computer science because I couldn’t hack it as a physicist and then I failed as a microbiology student. I made many, many missteps as the first-time founder of a company. You are going to fail because you’re going to be navigating a shifting landscape with a lot of things not under your control. You’re going to fail because the goals are going to change or be unclear. You’re going to fail because you’ll start something and realize it’s not what you want to do. And here’s the key: Failing will be your only true measure of progress. It’s inevitable. The system you’re about to walk into is simply too dynamic and too poorly defined for you not to. And so my guidance to you is to learn to embrace failure — not only embrace failure, get good at it, and by that I mean to get back up, apply what you’ve learned, and hit reset.”

Sally Yates, Harvard Law School

In Sally Yates speech to Harvard’s law school graduates, she charged each and every one of them to not be limited by their mistakes. Although her speech seemed channeled for lawyers, it can apply to every other person.

“You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to have mediocre moments and some outright blunders. You’re going to be disappointed in your performance. While I’m not suggesting that is something to aspire to, give yourself the space for that, to learn from it, and not be limited by it.”

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