Graduates urged to lead with compassion

“While convocation speeches often serve as rousing calls for ambition and risk-taking, this year many are striking a softer tone. Against a backdrop of global conflict, political division and economic uncertainty, speakers are encouraging graduates to embrace tolerance and kindness as they embark on the next stage of their lives. Here, we share a selection of excerpts from honorary degree recipients across Canada, starting with Marion Buller , a retired judge and former chief commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Accepting an honorary degree from the University of Toronto, she asked graduates to consider how they see others: What would our world look like if we saw every person we met as part of our shared journey? Not a threat to defeat, but a human to walk alongside. At the University of Victoria, where I’m from, we’ve learned from the Lekwungen-speaking People that we must work together. We must bring our good hearts and minds into all that we do. We must be prepared for the work to come, and we must help each other move forward. All of you have learned to work with each other, to do your best work and to understand your field of study. I expect also that you’ve learned to always bring in your good heart and mind to all that you do. Some of you will go into tech, civil service, research, education, health, the arts. Some of you will become leaders in boardrooms, classrooms, courtrooms and on Zoom calls. You’ll shape policy, and you’ll shape culture. Most of all, you will shape others, and by doing so you will shape the future for all of us. I ask you, let kindness be part of your legacy. Make space for each other. Offer grace when someone is learning. Choose generosity over ego. Speak truth but speak it with care. Promote hope. As you leave here today, remember that degrees open doors, but it’s your character that walks you through those doors. And, in a world that often tells us to be right, to be fast, to be first, choose instead to be fair, compassionate, choose to be kind. Latha Vishnubhotla , a technology executive and dedicated mentor, urged graduates to help guide the use of artificial intelligence (AI), as she accepted an honorary doctorate in engineering from her alma mater, Carleton University. Across every technology wave that I lived through — networking, cloud, and now AI — the work I’m most proud of is the work that expanded opportunity, connected people and improved lives. You are entering the AI era at one of the most consequential moments in history. AI will amplify whatever values we build into it — inclusion or exclusion, trust or fear, empowerment or concentration of power. So, be the person in the room who asks what positive impact will this create at scale and will this be expansive and inclusive? Ask this question. Do not wait for someone to assign meaning to your work. Bring meaning to whatever work you do. Professional hockey player and three-time Olympic gold medalist Marie-Philip Poulin reflected on the challenges and opportunities of working with others as she accepted an honorary degree from Bishop’s University. One thing I learned playing for Team Canada and La Victoire is that the best teams are not perfect teams. They are connected teams. They are groups that stay together when things become difficult. There were moments in my career where we lost games where we probably should have won. Moments where injuries challenged us. Moments where pressure felt pretty heavy. But the teams that stayed connected during adversity were usually the teams that came out stronger on the other side — and often the difference was how people chose to show up for one another. As you leave here today, I encourage you to chase excellence, work hard, be ambitious, dream big and push yourself. But, while you build your career, also build your character. Be someone people trust. Be someone who brings energy into a room. Be someone who listens. Be someone who helps others succeed. Be someone who stays kind even in competitive environments. At the University of Saskatchewan, Murad Al-Katib , an entrepreneur and winner of the Oslo Business for Peace Award in 2017, discussed the importance of compassion in business. Social conscience is a cornerstone of life in an increasingly connected global world. It’s an expectation in business today, and it should be central to the culture and strategy of how you live your life and how you have a business career in whatever you do decide to do. There’s much to be said about social entrepreneurship, but I don’t believe that social entrepreneurship exists. I believe that only entrepreneurship or business or life with social purpose exists. Social purpose is no longer optional. It’s essential, and consumers and stakeholders, your employees, people who are counting on your company, are actually driving that purpose. Consumers are driving it by the way they buy and spend their hard-earned dollars. And, compassionate entrepreneurism is a principle, a philosophy of something that I strongly believe in. It means to use investment in private enterprise to solve societal problems and create entrepreneurial opportunity at the same time. You know, when we talk about feeding millions of refugee meals with the United Nations World Food Program and the International Red Cross/Red Crescent, I want to remind you that that is not philanthropy — that is the alignment of profit and purpose. When you can do that effectively, you have an unlimited license to do good in the world. Accepting an honorary degree from the University of British Columbia alongside his wife, scientific colleague and fellow honoree Rosemary Grant, evolutionary biologist Peter Grant invoked a quote from Michelle Obama as he encouraged graduates to celebrate diversity and lead with empathy. In the post-graduation world of society and the professions, and even in universities, all is not harmonious coexistence. Conflicts inevitably arise, and it’s always good to remind ourselves to be as tolerant and understanding as best as we can, in conflict with others who are different from us. On leaving the White House, Michelle Obama appealed to young people this way. ‘Lead in hope,’ she said, ‘not in fear.’ Those inspirational words have since grown massively in importance. These two themes of tolerance and understanding on the one hand, and of leadership on the other, need to be woven together. Leadership in society lies ahead for all of you. Some will attain social positions of leadership, and your leadership will be obvious to everyone. You will be a chair of a physics department. You will be a heart surgeon, a dean, an Arctic explorer, or a lawyer in the service of First Nations people. Many more of you will lead simply by example, by your rational, kind and socially responsible behavior, by your opinions and ethics, fundamentally by your attitudes towards others, imbued by your experience at UBC. At Dalhousie University, honorary degree recipient Roslyn Bern , an educator and philanthropist dedicated to creating opportunities for women and girls, took a creative approach as she wrapped up her advice to graduates. And now I will do something for you that you’ll say, ‘What the heck is she doing?’ I like spoken word. Are you ready? Okay: You sit in your seats. You stare at the screen. You begin your journey sight unseen, but you view the world unfurled before you. You question ethics and directives from so many voices that choices stretch before you. It’s your world, not mine, to create. Debate, uncrate into the void. It’s your turn to shine. Combine your forces with your voices that define a kinder, gentler population that rises with anticipation of the dawning of a new day. Hold your degree and decree your rewards in a way that allows for change. The post Graduates urged to lead with compassion appeared first on University Affairs .

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