Adam Grant, professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton, spoke at Utah State University’s 2017 commencement ceremony. Though most graduation speeches encourage students to tirelessly pursue their dream, even in the face of countless rejections, Grant advised students to re-frame their views on giving up.
According to Grant, quitting can be a necessary component of great achievement. Essentially, Grant supports a values-based approach to achieving one’s goals.
Grant called his address a “meta graduation speech,” and explained that it was meant to express a viewpoint often absent from most graduation addresses. After studying other speeches, Grant found they most commonly encourage students to live with authenticity, generosity and grit.
The professor offers students a warning about taking any of these values too far. Though he does not discourage authenticity, he brings up that being true to one’s self requires becoming clear about one’s values, and may lead to rigidity and stunted personal growth.
“Grit doesn’t mean keep doing the thing that’s failing. It means define your dreams broadly enough that you can find new ways to pursue them when your first and second plans fail,” Grant said.
Grant said that a huge part of Grit is having the courage to accept failures and move forward. He told students, “Don’t give up on your values, but be willing to give up on your plans.”
To close his speech, Grant extolled the importance of one virtue of which he believed there could never be enough: diversity. He explained that appreciating diversity would help keep all of the other values in check, and create a richer and more balanced community.
Grant is the top-rated professor at Wharton, as well as the youngest tenured professor at the school. He has authored three books, including Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, which he co-authored with Sheryl Sandberg.