Who are you gonna be? And if you'll notice I'm not asking what are
you gonna do but who are you gonna be?
I'm asking you about how you plan to live your life every day.
How are you gonna respond when you don't get that job you had your heart
set on? For all of you who are gonna be teachers,
what are you gonna do if the students in your class next year just
don't respond to your lessons. For all of you going into business
how will you react when your boss gives you a goal
that feels way too high. See these are the moments that define us.
Not the day you get the promotion. Not the day you win “Teacher of the year”.
But the times that force you to claw and scratch and fight
just to get through the day. The moments when you get knocked down
and you're wondering whether it's even worth it to get back up.
See those are the times when you got to ask yourself
“Who am I gonna be?” And I want to be clear this isn't just some
vague platitude about building character.
In recent years we've actually been seeing a growing body
of research that shows that skills like resilience and conscientiousness
can be just as important to your success as your test scores
or even your IQ. For instance West Point cadets
who scored high on things like grit and determination were more likely to complete basic training
than those who ranked high on things like class rank.
S.A.T. scores and physical fitness. So what we're seeing is that
if you're willing to dig deep if you're willing to pick yourself up when
you fall If you're willing to work and work
until your weaknesses become your strengths. Then you'll develop a set of skills
that you can mold and apply to any situation you encounter.
Any job you might have. Any crisis you might confront.
But you got to make that choice. And let me just share just a little secret
before I end. As someone who has hired and managed
hundreds of young people over the course of my career
whether it was during my time as a lawyer as an administrator at a university
a nonprofit manager even now as first lady I have never once asked someone I was interviewing
to explain a test score or a grade in a class. Never.
I have never once made a hire. Just because someone went to an Ivy League
school instead of a state school, never.
What I have looked for Is what kind of person you are.
Are you a hard worker? Are you reliable?
Are you open to other viewpoints? Have you stepped outside of your own self-interest
to serve others? Have you found a way to serve our country
whether in uniform or in your community?
Again and again I have seen that those are the qualities that I want on my team.
Because those are the qualities that move our businesses and schools
and our entire country forward. And just understand this.
Those are the qualities that you all already embody.
They're the values you learned from your parents, from the communities you grew up in.
And today more than ever before, That's what the world needs.