Rapport's Director of trainer recruitment and development mitra mcnally delivers 2006 commencement address at kansas university
On July 22, 2006, Mitra McNally of Rapport Leadership International delivered the commencement address for Kansas Universities newest MBA's. Her powerful speech focused on the urgent need for leaders in today's world. We have provided the full text and audio of this impactful speech to share with our whole family of Rapport graduates. To listen to the speech please click here. Please allow time for file to load.
Congratulations to each of you on this amazing day. The responsibility of leadership is now before you. Let’s look at GRADUATE versus LEADERSHIP. Keeping in mind that Graduate doesn’t necessarily equal Leadership. The world is asking for more graduates; and the world is asking for more leadership. Each year we see thousands of new graduates and the world still cries for more leadership. What will you do as a graduate? What will you do as a leader in this world?
As you go back out into the world, into your businesses, communities and into your homes it is time for you to step up to the leadership platform like you’ve never done before. On this platform there won’t be a degree, nor a diploma, yet it will make your degree and diploma mean that much more. The responsibility and honor of this platform is just as great – and the rewards even greater. I am going to talk to you about three specific responsibilities as a leader: the responsibility to Learn and Grow; the responsibility to Give Back; and the responsibility to Act.
You have been fulfilling your duties of learning and growing to get to this point. I have good news and I have some great news . . . the good news is that you have reached the graduate platform. The great news is the leadership platform demands constant learning, and continuous growth. Your purpose on your journey up until now was not to learn. Once again, your purpose on your journey up until now was not to learn. Your purpose was to learn how to learn. Everything in the world is changing. It has already changed. Information moves at the speed of light. We have heard the world is flat. We know the world is Googlized. Learning how to learn is what you have achieved. Your strength as a graduate, and your responsibility as a leader, is the ability to continue learning, to keep growing.
As you become CEO’s, business owners, professors and parents it is your responsibility to move beyond the titles, to get past the egos because in doing so you allow yourself to continue to learn. Truly effective leaders, whether the age of 25 or 75, whether leading multi-billion dollar organizations or just beginning their careers realize that they do not know everything there is to know and there is always more to learn. Because we cannot ask others to do what we are not willing to do. We cannot give what we do not have. We can not truly and effectively lead if we are not willing to allow ourselves to be led. And we definitely cannot deliver the message of learning, if we are not willing to live the message of learning. Your responsibility in leadership is to be the consummate student – always learning, always growing.
Leaders also have the responsibility to give back. Seek out opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others – it always comes back. Givers Gain! We have all recently been given a new paradigm of corporate wealth and the responsibility to give back to society. Mr. Warren Buffet just pledged $37 billion of his fortune to make a difference in the world. The majority of his gift went to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, as they have joined forces to make the greatest philanthropic impact this world has ever seen! The game is not just to accumulate – it’s to disseminate. There is great power in being both a go-getter and a go-giver! Another great example of this is in this month’s July 10th issue of Newsweek highlighted the Giving Back Awards. You may be familiar with an article that shared about two amazing women; Benita Singh and Ruth DeGolia. They found a way to give back. They discovered their purpose helping children in Guatemala. After visiting the country and witnessing first hand the impact of the impoverished community, they decided to start a business selling handcrafted items that were made by the members of the Guatemalan community. The money the business generated helps to fund scholarships for children - children whose parents could not afford the mere $50 it costs to send their child to elementary school. Benita and Ruth’s company will raise $600,000 this year to send Guatemalan kids to school - and they are both under the age of 25. What will you do as a leader with this kind of responsibility? How will you give back and make a difference? What legacy will you leave in this world?
This brings me to your third responsibility as a leader – the responsibility to act. The world has plenty of fans sitting in the bleachers just watching games; plenty of spectators watching life; plenty of graduates not leading. We are lucky to have events such as graduation to remind us that it is time to move from one place to the next. There will times you will have to create your own “graduation ceremony” in order to psychologically move to the next level. This ceremony today symbolizes the end of one place and the need to move to the next. Life is asking you to move. Life is asking you to get outside of your comfort zone. Life is saying it’s time to take ACTION!
Without bold action we get complacent and life does not afford us that luxury. The U.S. experienced complacency prior to 9/11. We got hit hard to wake us up into taking action. Many stood around talking and discussing the events. And the leaders said move out of the way, it is time to take action. I had the opportunity to train three days following the events of 9/11. Everyone told our company to cancel the class; that this was the wrong time to train leadership. Rapport Leadership International said this is not the time for spectators; this is the time for action! In making the decision to train I was fighting my own internal battles.The battle against my own comfort zone. The battle of being of Middle Eastern decent. And the biggest battle of spending the weekend with a group of strangers rather than supporting my family many of whom still lived in the Middle East on that day. I made the decision to be a leader that takes action, and I trained the class. The emotions were flowing, the learning was powerful. We broke through judgmental and prejudicial barriers that weekend and we knew we were stronger people, strong leaders, and that was more important than it was to sit around and mourn. Yes we mourned; yet we took action through our mourning.
Life will throw you obstacles. Expect challenges. Expect adversity. In fact the only time the challenges will disappear is when you’re six feet under. In a hospital, when you see a flat line. What does it mean? It means you are dead. And when that monitor shows waves and ups and downs what does that mean? It means you are alive! Life is about living with passion and purpose. Life is about continuing your learning and growth. It is about giving back and making a difference. Life is about taking action! Be a graduate that takes action. Be a leader that takes action!
What will you do to learn and grow?
How will you give back and make a difference?
What action will you take?
GRADUATE versus LEADERSHIP? No.
Graduate INTO Leadership! We welcome YOU to the
leadership platform!
