On Monday, tomorrow, during your commencement ceremonies, I will confer on you all the “rights and responsibilities” of a Yale degree. Yours is a great responsibility. You will have to know what you are for.
What are you for?
“Surely in the light of history,” Eleanor Roosevelt said, “it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try.”
Yale has prepared you, as a scholar and a human being, to try; to face challenges with courage and determination. And I trust you are leaving Yale with a sense of your own responsibilities to one another, to the planet, and to our shared future.
By serving others and our communities with the many gifts you have been given, you will live a life that is for something, a life of meaning and purpose.
There is no time to waste; there are no words to waste: As a young Bob Dylan sang in 1965, “He not busy being born is busy dying.” We must give life to new ideas, imagine new ways of being in the world, new answers to the problems that vex us and our neighbors.
Now is the time.
Members of the Class of 20xx, please rise:
We are delighted to salute your accomplishments, and we are proud of your achievements. Remember to give thanks for all that has brought you to this day. And go forth from this place with grateful hearts, paying back the gifts you have received here by using your minds, your voices, and your hands to imagine and create the new worlds you wish to see.
What are you for?
Congratulations, Class of 20xx!
Thank you. Thank you.
in a recent mimicking study at the university of clermont-ferrand in france, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles. without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their mouth, when they could not mimic the smile they saw, their judgment was impaired.in addition to theorizing on evolution in the origin of species, charles darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory. his theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better -- rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good. in his study, darwin actually cited a french neurologist, guillaume duchenne, who used electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles. please, dont try this at home.
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!
i started my journey in california with a uc berkley 30-year
longitudinal study that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life. by measuring their student smiles, researchers were able to predict how fulfilling and long-lasting a subjects marriage will be, how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being and how inspiring she would be to others. in another yearbook, i stumbledupon barry obamas picture. when i first saw his picture, i thought that these superpowers came from his super collar. but now i know it was all in his smile. nother aha! moment came from a 20xx wayne state university research project that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of major league players. the researchers found that the span of a players smile could actually predict the span of his life. players who didnt smile in their pictures lived an average of only years, where players with beaming smiles lived an average of almost 80 years.
Dress me up in army fatigues. Throw me on top of a moving train. Ask me to play Malcolm X, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Alonzo from Training Day: I can do all that.
But a commencement speech? It’s a very serious affair. Different ballgame. There’s literally thousands and thousands of people here.
And for those who say—you’re a movie star, millions of people watch you speak all the time…
… Yes, that’s technically true. But I’m not actually there in the theater—watching them watching me.
I’m not there when they cough… or fidget… or pull out their iPhone and text their boyfriend… or scratch their behinds.
From up here: I can see every single one of you. And that makes me uncomfortable.
So please, don’t pull out your iPhone and text your boyfriend until after I’m done.
But if you need to scratch your behinds, go right ahead. I’ll understand.
Thinking about the speech, I figured the best way to keep your attention would be to talk about some really, juicy Hollywood stuff.
I thought I could start with me and Russell Crowe getting into some arguments on the set of American Gangster…
… but no. You’re a group of high-minded intellectuals. You’re not interested in that.
Or how about that “private” moment I had with Angelina Jolie half naked in her dressing room backstage at the Oscars?… Who wants to hear about that?
I don’t think so. This is an Ivy League school. Angelina Jolie in her dressing room…?
President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.
The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindor reunion.
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.
i am from luoyang,a beautiful city in henan province. it is famous as the capital of nine dynasties and enjoy yhe honer that luoyang peony is the best in the world.
luoyang played a very important role in chinese history. so it has a profound cultural background and many great heritagesites have been well reverved. such as longmen grotto, one of the three grottoes in china ang white horse temple, being regarded as the cradle of chnese buddhism.
i like my hometown very much.
ok, that is all,thank you for your attention.
when we xfaced with the difficulty x,avoidingx is not a good way for us. it can not solve the problems.what we need to do is that analying the cause and trying to changed our place .so we should be brave and face the trap directly. the film also teachs us to love others.precious is someone who may exit near us .if precious own a good family and some friends,she may not fell so despaired. in spite of the development of our world ,there still many people suject misfortune.love and help can make them fell better ,so we should not scant our love .
as what i said at the beginning, “we are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book, whose pages are infinite”. the past has gone. nothing we do will change it. but the future is in front of us. believe that what we give to the world, the world will give to us. and from today on, lets be the owners of ourselves, and speak out “we are the world, we are the future.”
So for any of us in this room today, let's start out by admitting we're lucky. We don't live in the world our mothers lived in, our grandmothers lived in, where career choices for women were so limited. And if you're in this room today, most of us grew up in a world where we have basic civil rights, and amazingly, we still live in a world where some women don't have them.But all that aside, we still have a problem,and it's a real problem. And the problem is this: Women are not making it to the top of any professionanywhere in the world. The numbers tell the story quite clearly. 190 heads of state — nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13 percent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs, board seats — tops out at 15, 16 percent. The numbers have not moved since 20xxand are going in the wrong direction. And even in the non-profit world, a world we sometimes think of as being led by more women, women at the top: 20 percent.
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.
Maybe this is all revelatory at Harvard. But in our part of the country, it’s not news. The slogan of the Whiteland (Indiana) High School Class of 1930 was “Grit Wins.” It could be a slogan at Purdue every year. I’m tempted to call Roget’s Thesaurus and let them know the antonym of “snowflake” is “Boilermaker.”
Just as physical strength is built through hard exercise, emotional fortitude is enhanced by adversity and conflict. Every great achievement requires a confrontation with stress, a conquest of fear. Our engineers know, there is no traction without friction. Wilbur Wright, father of the aviation world Purdue now leads, wrote, “No bird soars in a calm.” Your strength of intellect and character will give you opportunities to lead, but it will be your strength of purpose, your resilience, your grit that will enable you to lead successfully, and by your example, to give new heart and strength to those around you.
There’s one sure way to minimize stress and difficulty in life: attempt nothing that’s bold, challenge nothing that’s wrong, risk nothing that’s dangerous. Those endeavors always bring disappointment, frustration, criticism, setbacks. But they also are the source of the achievements that make life fulfilling, and the even greater grit that will get you ready for the next challenge.
From opposite ends of life’s continuum, and I offer you two closing examples of the qualities I hope you have built here at this institution. Both stories involve Purdue students even younger than you are today.
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.
atlab, I designed a simulation program for transportation scheduling system. It is noy future research interests include: Network Scheduling Problem, Heuristic Algorithm research (especially in GA and Neural network), Supply chain network research, Hybrid system performance analysis with Petri nets and Data Mining.
Good morning/afternoon/evening, my name is . It is really a great honor to have this opportunity/chance to introduce myself. I would like to answer whatever you may raise, and I hope I can make a good performance today.
I applaud Prime Minister Abe for expanding paid family leave here in Japan, an important step in addressing the modern challenges of working families and maintaining women’s attachment to the workforce.
This year, for the first time ever, the President’s Budget included a proposal to establish a nationwide paid family leave program. We know this will take time, but we are deeply committed to working with members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to get it done and deliver more pro-family solutions to hardworking Americans.
Third, in this age of rapid technology, we must also confront the challenges of workforce development.
It is critical as we look toward the future, that we don’t allow women in the United States and around the world to be left behind by the 4th Industrial Revolution – a revolution that’s integrating robotics, computer programing, artificial intelligence, social media, and cutting-edge technologies into every aspect of our society.
As technology transforms every industry, we must work to ensure that women have access to the same education and industry opportunities as men.
Female and minority participation in STEM fields is moving in the wrong direction. Women today represent only 13 percent of engineers and 24 percent of Computer Science professionals, down from 35 percent in 1990. We must create equal participation in these traditionally male-dominated sectors of our economy, which are among the fastest-growing and most lucrative industries in the world. Over the coming decades, technologies such as automation and robotics will transform the way we work, and we want to make sure that women can lead in the economy of the future. Otherwise, not only will we fail in closing the persistent gender wage gap, we will risk reversing the hard-fought progress we have made in this fight.
On every one of hisprojects, you’ll see him talking to the super, the painter, the engineers, the electricians, he’ll ask them for their feedback, if they think something should be done differently, or could be done better. When Donald Trump is in charge, all that counts is ability, effort and excellence.This has long been the philosophy at the Trump Organization. At my father’s company, there are more female than male executives. Women are paid equally for the work that we do and when a woman becomes a mother, she is supported, not shut out.Women represent 46 percent of the total U.S. labor force, and 40 percent of American households have female primary breadwinners. In 20xx, women made 83 cents for every dollar madeby a man. Single women without children earn 94 cents for each dollar earned by a man, whereas married mothers made only 77 cents. As researchers have noted, gender is no longer the factor creating the greatest wage discrepancy in this country, motherhood is.
Good morning, my name Cindy, it is really a great honor to have this opportunity for a interview, i would like to answer whatever you may raise, and i hope i can make a good performance today, eventually enroll in this prestigious university in september. now i will introduce myself briefly,I am 23 years old,born in province ,and i am curruently a senior student at beijing university.my major is.and I will receive my bachelor degree after my graduation in june.in the past 4 years,i spend most of my time on study,i have passed CET6 with a ease. and i have acquired basic knowledge of packaging and publishing both in theory and in practice. besides, i have attend
several packaging exhibition hold in Beijing, this is our advantage study here, I have taken a tour to some big factory and company. through these I have a deeply understanding of domestic packaging industry. compared to developed countries such as us, unfortunately, although we have made extraordinary progress since 1978,our packaging industry are still underdeveloped, mess, unstable, the situation of employees in this field are awkard. but I have full confidence in a bright future if only our economy can keep the growth pace still.
I guess you maybe interested in the reason itch to law, and what is my plan during graduate study life,I would like to tell you that pursue law is one of my lifelong goal,I like my major packaging and I wont give up,if I can pursue my master degree here I will combine law with my former education.
I will work hard in thesefields ,patent ,trademark, copyright, on the base of my years study in department of p&p, my character? i cannot describe it well, but i know I am optimistic and confident. sometimes i prefer to stay alone, reading, listening to music, but I am not lonely, i like to chat with my classmates, almost talk everything ,my favorite pastime is valleyball,playing cards or surf online. through college life,I learn how to balance between study and entertainment. by the way, I was a actor of our amazing drama club. i had a few glorious memory on stage. that is my pride.
“Good morning, sir. My name is…”打招呼和过场基本是必须的。
“I’m , I’m , and I’m very .”按照我们的传统思维，自我夸耀一番也是难以避免的。但是这真的好吗?
如果说自我夸耀是正常的，那么就有99%的人在面试时这么做了。然而，那么多人都用一样的措辞自夸，真的会有积极的效果?就怕非但没有积极效果，反而让人觉得你很浮夸，尽说大话很不可靠。而且，老外们对此更加在意，一听到某些单词，说不定就触碰到“雷区”，马上say “Good bye”了。
这里有10个单词，不适合在面试的时候形容自己。看看你有没有如此自夸的习惯吧。
1. generous(宽宏大量的)
肚量是看在旁人眼里的，并不是喊出来的，尤其是不适合从自己的嘴巴里喊出来。真正心胸开阔的人，从不会炫耀，也不会索取别人的称赞。他们就不认为自己的心胸气度如此广阔，因为他们觉得他们还能做得更多。
2. humble(谦恭的)
认为自己很谦虚的人其实并不谦虚，因为真正谦虚的人从不称赞自己谦虚。如果你真要让别人了解自己有多谦虚，就在言语中表现出自己的谦和吧，千万不要直接就说“其实啊，我这个人很谦虚的”。你听到别人这么说，会怎么想?
3. self-disciplined(严格自律的)
自律是好事，但是如果自律过了头，会给别人什么印象?不懂变通，缺乏弹性，死脑筋，不好相处……你身边有没有对待自己特别严格的人?你觉不觉得这样的人太硬不太好相处呢?所以别说自我要求特别严格了，职场不如军队，不需要铁一般的纪律，这样反而会让人觉得你缺乏人性化的变通，也难以沟通。
4. passionate(充满激情的)
热情从来不是喊出来的，而是在实际工作中做出来的。说得好听比做什么都容易，千万别让人觉得你只是嘴巴上特别有干劲而已。另外，热爱工作是好事，但是太过于热爱工作，会让人担心你是否会做出什么过激的举动。而且，如果让别人觉得你动不动就满怀激情地工作，这样你的同事也会很累。
5. witty(机智幽默的)
一般很机智又有幽默感的人，是不会刻意这么称赞自己的，除非他擅长说冷笑话。想想，如果一个人对你说“你知道吗?我是个很机智幽默的人”，你的反应一定是两个字——呵呵。真正机智幽默的人，在谈吐间就能让别人感受到了，用得着挑明了说吗?这反而是愚笨的自夸。
That night I returned to Singapore. I didn’t think it was a big deal as my father was 73 years old at the time and old people were supposed to forgetful, until the next day when I called my mum. Over the phone she told me that on the flight to Toronto, three of them sat side byside, with my father sitting in the middle. All of a sudden, my father looked at my sister but totally couldn't recognize her, he asked my mum, "what is the name of this young lady and why is she so nice to us"? The moment when he said this, my sister burst into tears. At that time, we haven’t heard of a disease called Alzheimers, but we realized we were starting to lose our dad day by day from that turning point.
Fast forward to September 20xx, my father has been with a nursing home in Xiamen for close to 4 years. He is very skinny butstill survives, thanks to the professional care provided there. Over the years I flew back to visit him from time to time. He couldn’t tell my name but Icould tell that he probably knew I am someone important for him, as he always grabbedmy hands tightly.
Throughout my entire life, I have witnessed his empathy and generosity towards others, especially those who are suffering. It is just his way of being in your corner when you’re down. My father not only has the strength and ability necessary to be our next President, but also the kindness and compassion that will enable him to be the leader that this country needs.
I’ve learned a lot about the world from walking construction jobs by his side. When run properly, construction sites are true meritocracies. Competence in the building trades is easy to spot and incompetence is impossible to hide.These sites are also incredible melting pots, gathering people from all walks of life and uniting them to work towards a single mission. There have always been men of all backgrounds and ethnicities on my father’s job sites. And long before it was commonplace, you also saw women.
Toastmaster of the day, fellow toastmasters, awonderful afternoon to all of you. My name is Jeff. Today I want to share withyou part of my life experiences and I hope some of you will find it useful.
March 15, 20xx, Xiamen, China. My phone rang the moment when I stepped into themain entrance of our condominium. It was my 68-year-old mum. She said, “your dad and I are now at the boarding gate, but we couldn’t find your dad’s bag, which contains his IC and a few thousand dollars”. Just 35 minutes back, I saw my dadand mum off at the airport. They were about to board a domestic flight toPudong where they would join my sister to fly to Toronto and stay there for another one year. A couple of days before that, I purposely went back to Xiamen, my hometown to see my parents off. I asked my parents to board the airplane first and I would make a second trip to airport and fetch my dad’s bag home. We were so fortunate that my mum kept the passports of both in her handbag.I quickly called the airport and got to the team in charge of security check.They found the bag and verified my identity.
dear audience and judges, my topic is can money buy happiness. as we all know, money can buy all the goods in our life, no matter how huge it
is. a spaceship, for example, if you really feel your bank account can afford it. anyhow, money equal wealthy in life but not happiness in mind. only by changing
our attitude to money and enjoying every day, can we obtain a truely happy future!
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.
a poet said “to see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an
hour. several days ago, i had a chance to listen to a lecture. i learnt a lot there. i?d like to share it with all of you. let?s show our right palms. we can see three lines that show how our and life is. i have a short line of life. what about yours? i wondered whether we could see our future in this way. well, let?s make
a fist. where is our future? where is our love, career, and life? tell , it is in our hands. it is held in ourselves.
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.
Medusa is just one of many Greek myths that have encouraged me to fantasize, turning me into the creative girl I am today.
The myth talks about Poseidon, god of the sea, kissing Medusa in Athena’s temple. Athena was furious. I can picture Athena’s punishment for Medusa as if it were happening before my very eyes. The transformation from beauty to beast is as vivid and clear to me as is the light of day. The utter dread and bewilderment on Medusa’s face as she changed is unforgettable and so eerie it chills me to the bone even still.
I am Medusa, scariest of all.
My prey turn to stone while I stand tall.
One kiss with Poseidon, god of the sea.
Turned me to a monster no one dares to see.
Greek myths have introduced me to a brand new world where imagination is boundless.
Looking around me today, I think of the generations of Yale graduates who have come before you. Individuals who have been for something.
There are many names we know and others that would be less familiar – presidents and world leaders, artists and business executives, scholars and scientists.
Like them, I know you will heed the call to leadership and service and leave your mark on every realm of human endeavor.
That is Yale’s mission – that is what Yale is for.
As members of the Yale community, what do we believe?
We believe that facts and expertise, applied with creativity and wisdom, can transform the world.
We believe that education and research save lives and make life more meaningful.
We believe that diversity of thought and diversity indeed are essential to human progress.
We believe, most of all, in the boundless potential of human ingenuity; that together, we can solve great challenges and bring light and truth to a world in great need of it.
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.
in a related german study, researchers used fmri imaging to measure brain activity before and after injecting botox to suppress smiling muscles. the finding supported darwins theory by showing that facial feedback modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain in a way that helps us feel better when we smile. smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in a way that even chocolate -- a well-regarded pleasure inducer -- cannot match.british researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate. (laughter) wait. the same study found that smiling is as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash. thats like 25 grand a smile. its not bad. and think about it this way: 25,000 times 400 -- quite a few kids out there feel like mark zuckerberg every day.and, unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine, increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphin and reduce overall blood pressure.
That is why this summer, at the G20 conference, the United States and Japan were founding members of a bold, new initiative with the World Bank – the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative. This facility is the first of its kind to empower women entrepreneurs in developing countries. It will provide access to the capital, networks, and mentorship needed to thrive and will dramatically impact the ecosystem of women’s entrepreneurship globally.
And we are just getting started!
As we gather in Tokyo today, I can’t help but think of some of the great women pioneers in this country who have inspired our generation.
Women like Yoshiko Shinohara
She survived World War Two, started as a secretary and went on to open a small business in her one-bedroom apartment. Her company grew into a world renowned business in over a dozen countries. Today, as you all know, Yoshiko is Japan’s first female self-made billionaire. Now, she helps young people afford the education they need to pursue their dreams and contribute to society.
Because of pioneers like Yoshiko, women in this country – and around the world – aspire to greater feats, climb to higher positions, and pave new pathways forward.
Today, we are redefining success. We’re discarding the old formula of the ideal woman-the ideal worker -the ideal mother. We are helping to shape a more realistic and complete picture of what it is to be a woman who thrives – and who helps her business, community and family do the same.
The fact is, ALL women are “working women.” Whether they make the commute to work each morning, or spend each day with their children at home, or some combination of both. Truth be told, on Sunday nights, after a messy and wonderful weekend with my children, I am far more exhausted than on Friday evenings, after a long week of work at the office. I deeply admire women who choose to work inside the home raising their children and respect this decision.
Life is short, before you realize it, you have missed the opportunity to accompany those important people in your life, and more importantly, to let them sense your love and gratitude towards them.
When I was young, like any other young people who aspire to explore the outside world, I joined a multinational company, upon graduation. I subsequently moved to Hong Kong to work and eventually settled down in Singapore and started my own family. Over the years I indeed saw many parts of the world, especially in my current job. The preparation for icebreaker speech last night allowed me to take a reflection on whether I havedone enough for these important people while I am constantly shuttling here andthere to satiate my own desire.
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.
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