毕业典礼老师英语演讲稿范文（精选29篇）
Hello everybody!Outstanding during the period in school, eager to have its own personality, strong teamwork spirit, but also no lack of independence, the ability to accept new things, but dedicated Lok Kwan, in a certain professional ability to innovate.
I am a person who loves design, believe the design will be in his future career, I also believe that they will have a designer should be the quality because I am a motivated person, I will work hard and aggressive! Although I do not have much social experience, but I will redouble our efforts to make up our deficiencies, I believe that life will not be a moment of a particular cell, but the extent depends on their struggle, is an adherent of the study, self-improving process!
I am a girl from Shandong Yantai, I think people should have nothing exciting life tends to level customs, and should have their own pursuits, the courage to challenge the limits of life, because I believe in the potential is very large , will only play a certain pressure, so I would prefer a greater competitive pressure for me the environment to life! This life is a positive, happy! This is the life of the rich! I have been in all aspects of the University of enriched themselves as outstanding, I was fortunate to have chosen our city planning department, as my mentor, in the past two years, I have to follow the instructors have done a lot of projects, including program design, graphics, etc. , with better graphics operation ability, and all aspects of my design thi#from
ennkingdivergent, thus, also trained me to do something serious and responsible, pragmatic fine style, our work has always been to create a harmonious home man, I would like to do work attitude is very important!Thank you!
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!
In the matter of courage we all have our limits. There never was a hero who did not have his bounds. I suppose it may be said of Nelson and all the others whose courage has been advertised that there came times in their lives when their bravery knew it had come to its limit.
I have found mine a good many times. Sometimes this was expected--often it was unexpected. I know a man who is not afraid to sleep with a rattle-snake, but you could not get him to sleep with a safety-razor.
I never had the courage to talk across a long, narrow room. I should be at the end of the room facing all the audience. If I attempt to talk across a room I find myself turning this way and that, and thus at alternate periods I have part of the audience behind me. You ought never to have any part of the audience behind you; you never can tell what they are going to do.
I'll sit down.
Make no mistake: There are plenty of reasons to be outraged. My generation, your generation – we face not only grave moral challenges but existential threats: rising ocean levels globally and rising inequality in America; violence around the world and in our own backyards; the fraying of the social fabric. “The falcon cannot hear the falconer,” and we wonder if the center can hold.
I understand the impulse toward negativity. Like many of you, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the challenges we face, by the injustices that call out for our condemnation. Yet it is precisely because our challenges are so great that outrage is not enough. Pointing out what is wrong is merely the beginning, not the end, of our work.
The Czech author Ivan Klima wrote, “To destroy is easier than to create, and that is why so many people are ready to demonstrate against what they reject. But what would they say if one asked them what they wanted instead?”
What would you say? What would I say? What are you for?
Klima’s life story is one of both criticism and creation. Born in Prague in 1931, he was sent to a Nazi concentration camp as a child. He survived and became an outspoken voice for democracy in Czechoslovakia.
one day in 1819, 3,000 miles off the coast of chile, in one of the most remote regions of the pacific ocean, 20 american sailors watched their ship flood with seawater. heyd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped a catastrophic hole in the ships hull. as their ship began to sink beneath the swells, the men huddled together inthree small whaleboats.these men were 10,000 miles from home, more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land. in their small boats, they carried only rudimentary navigational equipment and limited supplies of food and water.these were the men of the whaleship essex, whose story would later inspire parts of moby dick.we know how fear feels, but im not sure we spend enough time thinking about what our fears mean.as we grow up, were often encouraged to think of fear as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard like baby teeth or roller skates.
Hello , everybody! Do you know me ? My name is Liang Qikun. My English name is Jenny. I am from China . I am ten years old . I am a clever girl . I have short black hair , big black eyes , big ears , a small nose and a small mouth . I am not very tall and not very thin . My hobby is reading books . My favourite sport is adventuring. I can play the piano very well . This is me.
i am very glad to stand here to give thier a short my topic is that the youth are the future of motherlandso what?s my chinese dream ? finally i will announce.
we had learned a lot of knowledge and understood a lot of truth in the book. we had a basic concept to our country at that time. we know that our country is full of sunshine , and we are the future of our country, and our dreams are to be the hope of our motherland.are we sick, or is our dear motherland sick?i dont want to talk about the construction of our country politics, andalso speak impassioned speech on the diaoyu island event .i just want to appeal young people,showing the side of youth,good and must learn to organize our own thoughts, correct our own concept, and change our direction to the right side in future life. china dream actually lies in our young generation, especially of the intellectuals.i dream to construct our beauty china with millions of young people who have the same dream. we do it without exaggeration but only with persistence.that is my speech,thanks everyone.
Eliminating or easing legal and cultural barriers so that more parents can make the choices that are right for their families is a core mission for our generation. We don’t label men “working men.” And it is my hope that by the time my daughter Arabella grows into a woman she will not be defined by whether she works inside or outside the home. She will simply be a woman, afforded the same opportunities as her male peers and equipped with the education and support she needs to fulfill her unique potential.
This is how I believe we will empower women – and in so doing, enable them to raise confident, empathetic, and ambitious sons and daughters, to propel unprecedented growth and job creation, and to cultivate a society that embraces the fullness of life, the dignity of work, and the gift of strong and flourishing families.
So today, I hope you will join me in imagining this future and working together to make it a reality- for our children, for our nations, and for the hope of a more vibrant and inclusive economy.
Who was the most well-known figure in China last month? It’s Ma Jia Jue—the college student who murdered 4 of his roommates. Many people attributed his crime to his poverty and deficient education. In my opinion, his crime also has much to do with his classmates’ indifference.
Indifference is a terrible disease in today’s colleges and the whole society. It’s not rare that two students who have studied together for 4 years have never spoken to each other. It’s not rare that a student who has been absent from class for several days is not noticed at all. It’s also not rare that a student who has severe psychological problems is not cared about at all.
Some people may say ‘What the students with psychological problems like Ma JiaJue need is not care but psychotherapy.” However, when people are ill, what they need most is not only medical treatment, but also care from people around them. Every smile and every caring word will bring sunshine to their life.
I once heard one of my roommates who was an introverted girl sobbing at mid-night. Being afraid of disturbing her, I sent a text message to comfort her. The next day, she told me that she was crying for not being invited to one of her friend’s birthday party. She thought she was neglected by others. But my message was really comforting which told her someone still cared about her.
What can we do to prevent the tragedy of Ma JiaJue from happening again? Some people may say ‘Let’s open more psychological courses in schools.’ and other people may say ‘Let’s donate more money for the poor students.’ But I’ll say “My fellow student, let’s give more love and care to our roommates, our classmates and every person around us!”
someone said “we are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book, whose pages are infinite”. i don?t know who wrote these words, but i?ve always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want it to be. we are all in the position of the farmers. if we plant a good seed ,we reap a good harvest. if we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.we are young. “how to spend the youth?” it is a meaningfulquestion. to answer it, first i have to ask “what do you understand by the word youth?” youth is not a time of life, it?s a state of mind. it?s not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips or supple knees. it?s the matter of the will. it?s the freshness of the deep spring of life.youth means a temperamental predominance of courage overtimidity of the appetite , for adventure over the love of ease. this often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20 . nobody grows old merely by a number of years . we grow old by deserting our ideals. years wrinkle the skin , but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul . worry , fear , self –distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust .whether 60 of 16 , there is in every human being ?s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite of what?s next and the joy of the game of living . in the center of your heart and my heart there?s a wireless station : so long as it receives messages of beauty , hope ,cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long as you are young .
I encourage you to look up the scene on YouTube – but not right now – because it’s still a very funny piece. And it’s funny because it’s ridiculous, but also because it contains a kernel of truth. And the truth applies not only to college presidents, but to all of us.
How many times have we decided we’re against an idea before we’ve even heard it? How guilty are we of deciding “I’m against it” without even knowing what “it” is?
Many times, we know what we’re against based on who is saying it. If an idea comes from a certain public figure, politician, or media outlet, we already know how we feel. Partly this is because our public discourse has become so predictable. We’ve lost the capacity for surprise, for revelation.
Speaking of predictable, here is the moment where an ambassador of an older generation – that would be me – tells millennials – most of you – about the evils of social media! But hear me out…
Obviously, social media has transformed our lives and our relationships. It obviously has many advantages, allowing us to share news and information quickly with people around the world. But it also heightens our sense of outrage and speeds up arguments, depriving us of the time and space for careful reflection.
Bombarded with notifications, pressured to respond before the media cycle turns over, we tap out our position – our opposition – in seconds. It’s easy to be against something in fewer than 280 characters. It’s far more difficult to articulate what you are for – and to do it at warp speed.
good afternoon. i'm the president and ceo of pda drywall. we are based in raleigh, north carolina. one of the biggest setbacks in the last 12 years has been tax regulations. as we are embarking on tax forms discussions, what are you going to do for small businesses to help change those regulations in favor of small businesses?
many of the same things we have been discussing,comprehensive tax reform. mr. gary co. in the here has beenspearheading this charge at the white house. you can definitely pick his brain about tax reform. it is high on his mind these days.lowering the corporate rate, encouraging business to grow,encouraging businesses based here to stay here, bring theircapital back that has been trapped overseas will have anenormously positive impact within our country and free updollars that can be reinvested. in conjunction with regulatoryreform, we have come out of the gate swinging. it's a major focus. my father's particular sensitivity to this issue is havingbeen a successful person in business himself. he understands thelimitations, whether businesses he was looking to buy or grow, dealing with suppliers and smaller businesses that services companies. he very much understands how the regulatory environment, while important has grown to a place where it is the unintended consequences is stifling entrepreneurial spirit. we are going to bring that back. we have started doing it. tax reform is going to be incredibly important for every american. we are optimistic about those things. and continued progress.
i would like to add, small businesses will say to me any tax reduction will be great. just let me know what it is. what is going to be my percentage. tell me what the rate is going to be so i can plan. without fail, every single one of those businesses tell me they will take that money and reinvest it in their business and hire more people. that will grow our economy. we will see that growth when we see tax rates go down. especially those in thellcs, all that money flows through. you know exactly how that works. we are working on it.
Graduates of the Class of 20xx, family members, and friends:
Good morning. It’s a privilege to be here with you today. Commencement is a time of beginnings and endings; of looking to the future with hope while saying farewell with both joy and, perhaps, nostalgia. It is a jumble of emotions for all of us – and a field-day for a psychologist! Enjoy all those feelings: it’s hard to imagine you’ll have an experience quite like this again.
So, there is a wonderful Yale tradition that I would like to honor right now:
So, may I ask all of the families and friends here who are today to rise and recognize the outstanding – and graduating – members of the Class of 20xx?
And now, may I ask the Class of 20xx to consider all those who have supported your arrival at this milestone, and to please rise and recognize them?
Thank you!
you will no longer fear making new sounds, showing new facial expressions, using your body in new ways,approaching new people, and asking new questions. you will live every single day of your life with absolute passion, and you will show your passion through the words you speak and the actions you take. you will focus all your time and effort on the most important goals of your life. you will never succumb to challenges of hardships. you will never waver in your pursuit of excellence. after all,you are the best, and you deserve the best!
as your coach and friend, i can assure you the door to all the best things in the world will open to you, but the key to that door is in your hand. you must do your part, you must faithfully follow the plans you make and take the actions you plan, you must never quit, you must never fear. i know you must do it, you can do it, you will do it, and you will succeed!
last year,, this year, during national small -- smallbusiness week there was a company just outside of austin, texas.their company was all about electronics and small circuit boards. you have a warehouse of all of these intricate circuit boards and electronic equipment. the river flooded and came in and just flooded their entire operation. water was deep. med. ithink it destroyed a third of their inventory. everybody they hadnot processed. the gentleman who was the proprietor of thiscompany said what was so amazing, sba was able to come in with a $2 million disaster relief loan. he talked about how his employees would come and work all hours. they had to take cloths andwhite down all of the wires and cables and clean the circuitboards that were salvageable. they spent hours doing this. in six weeks they were back up and running. many couldn't come in and work during that time. he continued to pay his employees andtheir benefits through that entire time and helped with donations in the community as well. it lets you know the heart ofentrepreneurs. they are risk takers but they are on 24/7. that is why they will always have a special place in my heart . i know what that is like. we all started small.
wonderful stories just like many in this room. we have time for one more.
i'm the owner of the newtown athletic club in pennsylvania. i'malso cochair of the largest trade organization for fitnessindustry, and an advocate through my business of the right to try bill. i would like to ask both of you, what are the experiences you have had that you would like to share, some of the do's anddon'ts that would be beneficial to us today?
every entrepreneur goes into business knowing they are taking a risk. you have to manage the downside risk. one of the ups and downs, i have been bankrupt. my house was auctioned in my car repossessed. seven months pregnant with our second child. when i talked to entrepreneurs with failing businesses, some referred to it as a bad patch. they are determined to come back. one of the most inspirational things to me is to listen to entrepreneurs, how they get through thetough times. i've often said it is not how you fall, it is how you get back up. mrs.
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.
But in 1968, with the Soviet invasion and crackdown, Klima’s ideas became dangerous. He could have fled, but he chose to return home and continue his work in defiance of the Communist regime. He organized an underground meeting of writers who circulated manuscripts in secret. Over the course of 18 years, those writers produced three hundred different works of art. They were critics, of course: critics of tyranny, critics of violence. But they were creators, too, creators of plays, novels, and poetry. They imagined, and helped create, a new and better world.
What will you imagine? A better business, a smarter school, a stronger community? Whatever you are against, it is time to create something you are for.
At Yale, you have learned to do both: to imagine and create. You have studied and explored new ideas; made art and music; excelled in athletics; launched companies; and served your neighbors and the world. You have created a vibrant, diverse, and exciting community.
Take these experiences with you and draw on them when you need encouragement. Remember a class that surprised you; a conversation that inspired you; a professor who believed in you. And take care to avoid what Toni Morrison calls “second-rate goals and secondhand ideas.”
“Our past is bleak. Our future dim,” Morrison writes. “But if we see the world as one long brutal game, then we bump into another mystery, the mystery of beauty, of light, of the canary that sings on our skulls.”
Being for something is a search for those mysteries, for that light: it is an act of radical optimism, a belief that a more perfect world is within reach and that we can help build it.
What are you for?
You may well turn that question back to me. What are you for, Peter Salovey?
I am for the transformative power of a liberal education – one that asks you to think broadly, question everything, and embrace the joy of learning.
I am for the American Dream in all its rich promise – the idea that opportunities are shared widely and that access to education is within reach for the many, not the few.
You’re about to hear a fine student response at the end of today’s program. (I know that because I get a sneak peek at those remarks.) But I wish you could also have heard the two talks given at last December’s winter commencements.
Jordan Cebulla told of being a poor student in high school here locally who almost abandoned any idea of higher education. But, told by a family friend that Lafayette is, quote, “a gritty town full of gritty people,” he gave Ivy Tech a try. And four years later, he is a Purdue alum. He told his classmates, “In the end, if we quit on ourselves, everyone else will quit on us, too.”
In his response speech, Seon Shoopman confided that, out of sixteen schools he applied to, Purdue was the only one to admit him, provided he attend our summer boot camp. Three and a half years later, he, too, earned his Purdue degree, with honors, becoming the first in his family to graduate from college. Seon said that, more than any other motive, he wanted to do it for the mother who had pushed him all the way. “When I wanted to quit, she told me not to. When I wanted to leave school, she told me not to. She told me to fight, be strong, and make something of myself.”
Some in today’s world think they have discovered something new in the concept of “grit.” A Harvard Business School article just last fall was titled “Organizational Grit,” and reported that, quote, “High achievers have extraordinary stamina. ... When easier paths beckon, their commitment is steadfast. Grit predicts who will accomplish challenging goals.” So that’s why a Harvard MBA costs 200 grand.
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.
One of my father’s greatest talents is the ability to see potential in people, before they see it in themselves. It was like that for us to growing up. He taught us that potential vanishes into nothing without effort.And like him, we each had a responsibility to work, not just for ourselves but for the betterment of the world around us.Over the years, on too many occasions to count, I saw my father tear stories out of the newspaper about people whom he had never met, who were facing some injustice or hardship.He’d write a note to his assistant, in a signature black，felt-tip pen, and request that the person be found and invited to Trump Tower to meet with him. He would talk to them and then draw upon his extensive network to find them a job or get them a break. And they would leave his office, as people so often do after having been with Donald Trump, feeling that life could be great again.
My Opinion on Campus Lectures
In recent years, more and more lectures are being given on campus. They are organized either by the departments or by the students unions with an aim to improve the students quality both mentally and academically. These lectures are usually in series and on different topics, such as arts, life, economy, psychology and world issues.
Generally speaking, the advantages of good lectures are various. First they broaden the students knowledge horizon and cultivate interest in different fields. Second, they make the life of the students colorful and enjoyable.
With these merits, lectures are just complementary and subordinate to our school work. If students spend too much time attending lectures, their regular study will be affected and disturbed. So, in my opinion, the students should, on the one hand, do their class work and homework well first, on the other hand, set as more time as possible to attend good lectures which are helpful to our life and study.
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude to me is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past,than education,than money,than circumstances,than failures,than successes,than what the other people think, say,or do.
It is more important than the appearance,the giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company,a church ,a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day, regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past.We cannot change the fact that people will act in acertain way.We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one stage we have.And that is our attitudes.
I am convinced that life is ten percent what happens to me ,and ninety percent how I react to it.And so it is with you.
We are in charge of our attitudes.
Integrating and empowering women is not just good corporate policy, it’s good business.
Second, in addition to changing the corporate culture, we must advance public policies that address the composition of our modern workforce.
In the United States, while single women without children make 95 cents for each dollar earned by a man, married mothers earn only 81 cents. Too many women in the United States are forced to leave the workforce following the birth of a child.
We must ensure that federal policies support working mothers and enable them to reach their full potential. This is how we will create an environment where closely bonded families can flourish and our economy can grow at unprecedented levels.
That is why in the United States, we are working to pass sweeping and long over-due tax reform that will afford families much needed relief. We are seeking to simplify the tax code, lower rates, expand the child tax credit, eliminate the marriage penalty, and put more money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans.
Our administration is working to address the high cost of childcare in the United States which currently outstrips housing expenses and state college tuition in much of the Country. It cannot be too expensive for the modern working family to have children.
My mother was right – because you will encounter difficult times in your life, requiring tough decisions and tough time-sensitive responses.
My first taste of adversity came in 1969, when I helped to integrate a private school in my home city of Atlanta. I was a handful of…I was one of a handful of African-American students – student of color8– who passed the entrance exam and was admitted to attend. Now while passing the exam was the technical requirement for admission and acceptance, it was not the path to acceptance from my peers. In fact, from 7th grade to 12th grade, I endured being called the N-word at least once a day.
It was tough to get through a single day, let alone come back and repeat the entire process all over again. I can recall that I told my mother I didn’t want to go to school there anymore; the challenges were just too much. And she would repeat the washing machine adage to me more times than I can count.
In September 1974, Kingman Brewster, then president of Yale, spoke to members of the Class of 1978, seated right where you are now. He told them, “Many of us have just been on a ten-year trip of moral outrage: anti-Wallace, anti-War, and anti-Watergate. We have been so sure about what we were against that we have almost forgotten how difficult it is to know what we are for and how to achieve it.”
Does this sound familiar? Today, perhaps more than ever, it is easy to know what you’re against. And it’s far more difficult to say what you’re for.
What we’re against is going to be different for each of us. Maybe you’re against border walls and I’m against guns; your neighbor is against trade wars and your cousin is against abortion. For some, capitalism is the problem, while others fear the specter of socialism. By this point, I bet all of you are against sitting in old buildings with no air conditioning, listening to a long speech! So, I’ll get to the point…
How many of you have ever seen a Marx Brothers movie? [Right, pretty good.] So, although I’m not mistaken for Groucho Marx as often since I shaved my moustache, I…I still do…do have a weakness for his humor.
And one of Groucho’s best performances, of course, is when he plays a college president. (It is a funny role!) So, in the opening scene of the movie Horse Feathers, Groucho, the new president of Huxley College, is told that the trustees have “a few suggestions” for him. Then he breaks into this song:
“I don’t know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I’m against it
No matter what it is or who commenced it
I’m against it
Your proposition may be good
But let’s have one thing understood:
Whatever it is, I’m against it.”
I am for the robust and free exchange of ideas, as essential to the mission of a great university as it is to the health of our democracy.
I am for a world where we welcome the immigrant, the poor, and the forgotten; we did [do] not shut them out or silence them; a world where showing empathy and understanding is considered the true hallmark of success, of a life well-lived.
That is what I am for.
Yale’s mission says, in part, that we are “committed to improving the world today and for future generations.” That commitment does not end at graduation.
Soon you will leave Yale and, as Robert Penn Warren, who studied and taught at Yale, wrote, “You will go into the convulsion of the world, out of history and into history.”
Indeed, you’ll go into history and make history.
I deeply respect and honor women who choose to work inside the home full-time to care for their families. We never want to discourage that incredible calling, but we must also ensure that every woman has the freedom to work outside of the home – if they so choose.
Therefore, in order to empower women to reach our full economic potential, we must embrace four fundamental changes that will propel us into the future.
First, as leaders in both business and government, we must pave the way in modernizing the workplace.
While the percentage of working women has dramatically increased, corporate expectations have remained all-too stagnant.
Today, in the United States, women now comprise 47 percent of the workforce.
In the vast majority of American homes with children, all parents work – and in 40 percent of households, women are the primary breadwinners.
Yet, work environments and social institutions still largely operate on a single-earner mindset, in which one parent – traditionally the mother – stays at home to provide full time care.
All too often, our workplace culture has failed to treat women with appropriate respect. This takes many forms, including harassment, which can never be tolerated.
Traditional and rigid corporate culture also fails working mothers – and fathers – who work long and often wildly unpredictable hours and get little time off.
Too many mothers dread telling their boss they must stay home to take care of a sick child – and many must go back to work just weeks after having a new baby – because they can’t afford not to.
Every day, working parents are forced to make hard but unavoidable choices.
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.
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.