3 Words of Advice for Graduates
Keynote remarks for The Fund for American Studies (TFAS)
Graduation Ceremony on July 29, 2021
Thank you to The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) leadership team for inviting me to join you here today. It is a real honor, as a TFAS alum, to be with you as you celebrate graduating from the program.
What you have accomplished by graduating from the TFAS program is no small thing. By spending a hot summer in Washington, D.C. to expand your education and grow your professional network, you have already set yourself apart from your peers. Being here shows that you are willing to go the extra mile to learn and to grow. This is something you will need to do your whole life.
During the pandemic, there was a public debate about whether students needed to do their homework. But in today’s competitive world, you not only have to do your homework to succeed. You need to put in more time, do the extra reading, and get more on-the-job experience. You are already a step ahead by being part of the TFAS community.
What will your life be like?
When I was a student, like you, I used to ask myself, what will my life be like?
When I was sitting where you are, I truly had no idea about all the places I would go and the work that I would do.
I could not have imagined that I would work in more than 20 countries, that I would advise the military on how to protect civilians in war-torn countries like Syria and the Ukraine. I wasn’t even studying these countries when I was earning a degree in International Relations in the 1990s.
I could not have imagined that I would respond to natural disasters like the tsunami in Thailand, the earthquake in Haiti, or help manage pandemics like the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.
And who could have imagined that we would have a global pandemic like COVID-19?
After 20 years of serving as a humanitarian relief worker, I decided to write a book called Bring Rain with stories and lessons that shaped my life. The book is based on one simple premise:
That the world needs you. All around us, both locally and globally, people are in need. There are problems for which we need solutions.
Your work, as you go from out from Washington back to your home universities, can contribute significantly to the problems we face in the world today.
Problems like climate change, investing in resilient infrastructure, managing migration, global health crises, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and disinformation are just a few of the challenges the world is facing right now.
As we look to the future, new challenges will emerge. In this ever-changing and fast-paced environment, I want to share
3 words of advice that will withstand the test of time.
Here’s my first word of advice:
1. Start making a difference, right where you are today.
When I was a student, I had the assumption that once I got the right job and made the right amount of money, then I could make an impact on the world.
But as I looked back over my 20-year career and thought about where I made the biggest impact, it was not when I was running multi-million-dollar projects, although I have been fortunate to do so.
It was often through helping others when I was merely a volunteer, serving my own community.
It was from moments back when I was in high school, when a player on my soccer team accidentally broke my leg. It was my senior year, and I was going to sit on the bench instead of being a star player.
After sitting out a few games, I decided to do something else with my time. I went to the local United Way office and became a literacy volunteer, teaching adults in my community how to read.
Chuck
There, I met a man named Chuck, a construction worker, who dropped out of school to help his family make ends meet. He was there because his wife was pregnant, and he wanted to learn how to read to his baby girl before she was born.
I taught Chuck how to read, and he also taught me something important. He showed me how people cope in society when they cannot read.
Years later, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and I was sent down to help people displaced by the storm, I discovered that many people displaced in shelters were unable to read the forms for federal assistance.
They were being left out of the opportunities for economic recovery because they did not have certain financial assets or insurance. By identifying this gap, I was able to ensure that more help reached more people in ways they could understand.
Gladys
I also realized that I could make a difference in small ways when I worked as a staffer in the U.S. Senate. It was my first job out of college, and I wrote letters and speeches for then Senator Olympia Snowe from my home state of Maine.
One day, I saw that a cleaning services woman named Gladys was discouraged in her work. I saw her every day, and I knew she was a hard worker. I asked the Senator if I could write a letter of recommendation to the head of cleaning services, recognizing her hard work. The Senator agreed and signed the letter.
Days later, Gladys came to the office asking who had written the letter on her behalf. She very happy when she found me. Gladys told me that she received a raise because of the letter. I tried to downplay the effort.
Then she said, no, you don’t understand. No one from my department has ever received a thank you letter from a Member of Congress before. Then, she walked out of the office with her head held high.
The moral of these stories is that you do not have to wait for the right job or the right salary to have an impact.
Get involved by volunteering in your community and watch out for the needs of others, right where you are today.
By looking around you and doing something about the small problems you see each day, you will be preparing yourself to do even greater things in the days to come.
In my book, I talk about the importance of getting out of your comfort zone. If you want to work overseas, my 2nd piece of advice is especially important for you.
My 2nd word of advice is:
2. Be willing to take risks, but make sure they’re calculated ones.
When you venture out into the world, you have to take risks in order to succeed. But, when you do, make sure those risks are calculated ones.
Consider threats to your personal safety and those around you. When you travel, be well informed about the situation where you are going, and make sure to stay in contact with others. Don’t become isolated from your friends or your team.
I learned this lesson the hard way. One year after graduating from TFAS, I took my junior year abroad in Senegal, West Africa. I wanted to study there so I could learn French and do an internship with the United Nations.
When I got there, the United Nations office introduced me to a human rights group that worked with refugees living across the vast Sahara Desert. They were conducting a census of the population to prepare for the refugees’ return.
On my first trip with the group up north, near the border, I got separated from my team. Despite making well-thought-out plans to travel together, things didn’t go according to plan.
I was supposed to meet the team in a transit area one hour north of the capitol city of Dakar. Little did I know it at the time, then First Lady Hillary Clinton was visiting a women’s economic empowerment project in the same town. This caused the Secret Service to shut down the road between the capitol and routes north.
There I was, sitting at a busy informal bus station. My colleagues were nowhere in sight. I had a choice to make, to either abandon the trip or go up north on my own, hoping my contacts would meet me there.
In the absence of smart phone and a satellite GPS, I did what I thought anyone would do at the time. I continued according to plan and went north.
Days later, I found myself alone in a refugee camp, face to face with a warlord who threatened to make me his wife.
The situation was more than I bargained for. Not knowing where my contacts were, I had to find a way to get myself out of there.
Thankfully, I knew some of the local language. I had heard folklore about mysterious women that crossed the desert who were possessed by spirits.
Men feared such women, and so, in this situation I pretended to be completely mentally insane.
I started pulling my hair out and cursing the ground. It was just enough to hold this militant leader off from attacking me.
Even when I tried to leave the camp, the leader offered my driver several goats in exchange for my life.
I eventually made it out of there, unharmed.
The story I shared with you today may seem funny now, but it wasn’t back then. It taught me a valuable lesson, about not taking my safety for granted, that helped me in every assignment I had afterward.
International Students
For those of you who are international students, choosing to come and study in the United States may have been a new experience for you.
Even living in a place like Washington, D.C. has its risks. Leaving home to face the unknown, not knowing where you will live or who you will meet, can be intimidating and it takes courage.
But being willing to step out of your comfort zone can open new opportunities. Be open to a new job or position that stretches you and takes you in a new direction.
Some of you probably know exactly where you want to go, and what you want to do. In my situation, I wanted to be a relief worker. But I didn’t get my dream job with the United Nations right out of school.
Fortunately, I was offered a position in the U.S. Senate instead. Once I got to Washington, I made contacts with international organizations that helped me network my way into a professional position overseas.
Herein lies my 3rd word of advice:
3. If you can’t go straight to your destination, find an alternate route.
There is more than one way to reach your career goals. Think about your job search in the same way that you use Google maps, the Global Positioning System (GPS) that gets you to your destination.
When you’re in an unfamiliar place, and you set your Google maps to an address you’ve never to been to before, what does the app do?
Google maps gives you multiple routes to take, and lets you choose the path. It gives you options. You can go downtown, straight through traffic. Or, you can go around town, taking a circuitous path.
The truth is, just like Google maps knows there is more than one way to get to where you want to go, there is more than one path to your career success.
Do you want to be a member of Congress? You can work on Capitol Hill and see how the legislative process works, making helpful connections to running a campaign. Or you can be a leader in your home community, run for local office such as a mayor or State Representative, and also make great contributions to public policy.
My career goal was to be a humanitarian. I took numerous paths to get to where I am today. I worked with international organizations, and I eventually managed United Nations projects. After a decade of working, I started my own company advising governments and the military on complex crises. This allowed me to do more than I could have ever imagined, which you’re welcome to read more about in my book.
Lastly, as you leave the TFAS program…
Be open to opportunities for growth and change.
The nature of life is that things grow and change. The TFAS program is a great example of this. The program has grown from several specialized institutes into an international campus that develops leaders in multiple disciplines all over the world.
Thank you to all the staff, faculty, and members of the TFAS board who have made this growth possible, giving more opportunity to more people.
As you go about your career, I hope you will eventually make the shift from creating opportunities for yourself – to giving opportunity to others.
The best life is one that is lived in service to others. Look around you, see where there is a need, and be willing to serve.
As you go forward, remember the words of advice that I’ve given you today.
Be willing to address problems right where you are, take calculated risks, and consider all the ways to reach your destination. Stay open to new opportunities – and you will find success in all that you do.
Thank you-
To learn more about the TFAS program, go to www.tfas.org
To order a copy of BRING RAIN on Amazon, click here