It’s graduation season, the time of year when profound advice cascades from intellectuals and B-list celebrities.
If the speechwriter has done his/her job, you’ll find in these speeches messages worth sharing. When it’s time for your next employee meeting or leadership development talk, use these quotes from commencement speakers to inspire your writing.
“It’s easier to tear something down than to build something up. It’s easier to poke holes in an idea than it is to think of ways to fill them. And it’s easier to focus on the 100 reasons you shouldn’t do something rather than the one reason you should.”
Wendy Kopp
“Raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and release their energies so they will try to get there.”
David Gergen
“What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded … sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.”
George Sanders
“You can be like a thermometer, just reflecting the world around you. Or you can be a thermostat, one of the people that set the temperature.”
Cory Booker
“A failure often does not have to be a failure at all. However, you have to be ready for it. Will you admit when things go wrong? Will you take steps to set them right? Because the difference between triumph and defeat, you’ll find, isn’t about willingness to take risks. It’s about mastery of rescue.”
Atul Gawande
“The most enduring skill you can bring to the workplace is the ability to learn how to learn.”
Thomas Friedman
“If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.”
The term quiet quitting has emerged recently as a post-pandemic trend for employees who are burned out and actively choosing to the bare minimum. It’s just a fancy way of saying that employee engagement is taking a nose dive.
Companies that routinely rank high in employee engagement are committed to fostering a great workplace where culture is seen as a business imperative in both good and challenging times. It’s more important than ever that employees feel connected, appreciated, and recognized for their efforts. That’s where a sound employee recognition strategy can make a difference in overall performance and workplace culture.
Employee recognition programs should be a vital component of every company’s employee engagement strategy. It’s a smart retention approach that’s also good for the bottom line.
Studies show that businesses with formal recognition programs have approximately 30% less voluntary turnover than those without them. And they’re 12 times more likely to have strong business results.
But often recognition programs encounter two problems.
A new recognition program may start with hoopla, but as time goes by, suffers from diminishing visibility. Without consistent internal marketing to employees and continuous leadership sponsorship, the recognition program loses participation and effectiveness.
Recognition should be clearly aligned with a company’s purpose and values so that there’s a common language for what success looks like. When behaviors and achievement are linked, it sends a clear message of consistent, visible recognition across the business
It’s a virtuous cycle. When people are recognized for their contributions, they perform better, trust grows and so does workplace culture.
