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Sheryl Sandberg’s Harvard Business School Class 2012 Commencement Speech: Communicate Better
“As you lead in this new world, you will not be able to rely on who you are or the degree you hold. You’ll have to rely on what you know. Your strength will not come from your place on some org chart, but from building trust and earning respect. You’re going to need talent, skill, and imagination and vision. But more than anything else, you’re going to need the ability to communicate authentically, to speak so that you inspire the people around you and to listen so that you continue to learn each and every day on the job.”
Neatly edited transcript at HuffPo.
As Facebook’s Chief Operations Officer, Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most prominent female business leaders today. She’s also a great speaker and a genuinely sweet person. At her alma matter, she addresses the challenges graduates will face in today’s competitive workforce.
Her commencement speech also briefly touches upon challenges faced specifically by women in the corporate jungle gym, an echo of her TED talk, “Why we have too few women leaders.”
A different kind of commencement speech than the one Neil Gaiman gave the UArt’s Class of 2012.

“Sheryl Sandberg would be disappointed in me if I didn’t ask you about money.”
Anecdotes about the impact of Lean In in the media industry via BuzzFeed:
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I made note of Sandberg’s commentary on women leaders long before I knew she was expanding her ideas into a book.
My reaction was positive, and although I still haven’t gotten a chance to read Lean In, I imagine that my take-away will be on the more sympathetic side of the vast blogosphere vitriol and confusion.