Follow Your Heart, Dare to Be Different
Vincent Chang
Vice-Chancellor & President, Brac University
The Thirteenth Convocation
Army Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh
November 23, 2019
Mr. President, Secretary-General, Education Minister, Foreign Minister, Board of Trustees Chairperson, Guests, Colleagues, and Students.
As-salamu-alaikum. Good afternoon.
This is a time of great opportunities.
This is a time of great volatilities.
This is indeed a time of opportunities. By the time our today’s graduates turn 30, Bangladesh is expected to be twice as rich as it is today. Today, we are in one of the best-performing economies in the world.
However, this is also a time of volatilities. Before our today’s graduates turn 60, the current wave of technology revolution will transform the economy into one that’s likely beyond our recognition.
Simply put, many jobs will disappear. Although new jobs will be created, unfortunately we do not know what they are. And you will likely change your jobs many more times than your parents’ generation.
“So, what should we do?” I have been often asked. Let me tell some stories.
First one. After receiving his degree in movies, he was jobless for five years. But he did not give up movies. He knew movie-making was his true love. So, he pushed on. Eventually, he went on to win a total of 12 Oscars, including Best Director for the movie “Life of Pi,” a story about a young man and a Bengal tiger. This director is Ang Lee. A Taiwanese.
Second one. She was unemployed and divorced and at the lowest point of her life. Then she realized she’d better focus on something that really mattered to her. That’s writing. So, she sat at a café facing a castle and a graveyard, starting writing the stories of Harry Potter. She is JK Rowling. A British.
Third one. He was rejected by every job he applied to. Today almost everyone knows about the e-commerce giant Alibaba. He is Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma. A mainland Chinese.
There is one more. He was laid off by an investment bank in Wall Street. He then started his own company. His name is now ubiquitous in Wall Street and in the business schools around the world. He is Michael Bloomberg. An American. Yes, the Bloomberg Terminals used in banks and business schools bear his name. And he may become a serious contender for the next United States president.
Four different people, with distinguishingly different backgrounds and interests, have something in common.
First. They all embrace adversities and failures in their life. They regard adversities as fuel to go on. They regard failures as teachers to learn from.
Second. They all eventually do what they love, and love what they do. In other words, they all follow their heart eventually.
My dear students, your heart knows what makes you tick. Your heart knows what makes you jump out of your bed every morning to look forward to. My dear students, life is change, but your heart is constancy. You shall use your heart as your North Star to help you navigate the treacherous seas of life.
Third. They have all made a difference, by enriching the world in movies, literature, e-commerce and financial services. I believe they have changed the world for better.
There is another person. We don’t need to look far. We have a local, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. In my opinion, what he has done is of highest humanity. He too has made the world a better place.
So, what have we learned from them?
Follow your heart, dare to be different, embrace failures, and walk your own path.
And if possible, set your life’s goal higher, bigger than life. Because someday, my dear students, you may just be able to change the world for better.
Thank you. Dhonno-bad.