Leadership

That fairness that my parents and I take for granted, that many Americans take for granted, is in many ways resting on your shoulders to uphold. You represent those who will make laws and effect change.

You take words, and you turn them into the infrastructure that keeps our world stable. A lot of you will become the quiet heroes of our country.

I look at all of you and see America's future — attorneys, corporate lawyers, public prosecutors, judges, politicians, maybe even the President. Those are all positions of such great influence. Understand that one day, you will have the power to make a difference. So use it well.

Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard. Don't be content to work around the edges of your profession. Speak up. Volunteer. Show your enthusiasm. Knock on doors.

People don't care what you know until they know that you care. Success is always a team effort, and no one does great things alone.

Remember that hope is not a strategy. And problems don't go away when you ignore them — they get bigger.

The first time I spoke out about what it was like to be a woman in the workforce was less than five years ago. That means that for eighteen years, from where you sit to where I stand, my silence implied that everything was OK. You can do better than I did.

If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.

It betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do.

Whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy.

I'd rather be wrong and cringe than right and regret not speaking up.