Nothing Is Wasted
My commencement address for Indiana Tech
On May 11, 2024, I had the privilege of delivering the commencement address for Indiana Tech, held at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. President Karl Einolf graciously invited me to speak and also bestowed on me an honorary doctorate right before my remarks. What a gift! It was such an honor to participate in this ceremony with such a diverse set of graduates.
I’ve had folks ask for the remarks, so here they are!
The full address can be found here, or you can click on any of the photos to view the speech, and the transcription is included below.
If you’d like to see the honorary doctorate and hooding ceremony, you can find that here.
I hope you enjoy, and remember: Nothing is wasted.
Transcription
President Einolf, first mom Maria Einolf, trustees of Indiana Tech, esteemed faculty, proud parents, grandparents, spouses, siblings, friends … the person who wandered in thinking this was a basketball game…
…And most importantly, the graduating class of 2024. Hello Warriors! Thank you for having me.
Today, we are gathered together at the edge of your future. Your days at Tech are almost over.
I am here to share a truth that is both exhilarating and daunting: You are graduating today, but your education is not over….
As President Einholf said, I study how technological advancements — like generative AI — will affect the future of jobs and careers. It’s been a very busy year at the office.
Studies are already showing that generative AI will touch nearly every job in the workforce. It will also create opportunities that we can’t even imagine.
Research also shows that people today are averaging twelve jobs by the time they retire. Twelve.
For this generation, you Warriors just starting out, a career might mean 20 or 30 job changes over a lifetime.
The world you are entering is one of constant change.
The skills you start out with will not be the ones you retire with, and the path you eventually walk may not even exist yet. That’s what I mean when I say, you are graduating, but your days of learning are far from over.
I get that this may seem like planning is impossible. I don’t want you to feel that way, so let me give you a few concrete things to guide you along these paths that don’t exist yet.
I want to tell you two stories from my own path.
The first is about discerning the kernel of your excitement.
The story starts when I was getting ready to graduate myself. I wanted, more than anything, to be a college professor. Not because I loved the research — although I did — but because of the people.
Professors and I would talk for hours, and I left those conversations feeling seen, encouraged, and valued. Maybe you can think of a professor who made you feel this way, too.
I wanted my life to include helping others feel similarly lifted up.
But a full decade into my life as an academic, I felt isolated. Most of my time went into prepping lectures and writing a book — far from the conversations that had made me want to join the world of education.
It was a scary thought: Maybe I didn’t really want to be an English professor. Talk about sunk costs: That was ten years I had devoted to this path!
But I knew something wasn’t right for me.
I tell you this story to show how important it is to discern where the kernel of your excitement truly lies.
We all have self-conceptions about who we are and what we want. I thought my excitement lay in academia. But it really was in those connections I described: the exchange of energy and encouragement.
Untether yourself from what you think you want. That’s when you can surface what really lights you up.
Ask yourself:
What activities make me lose track of time?
Which people and conversations do I look forward to?
What do I show up for without hesitation?
Let the answers to these questions guide you to find the true kernel of your excitement.
Here’s my second story:
Exiting academia wasn’t a small decision. Once you leave the path, you don’t just get to come back. One of my grad school advisors yelled at me, “Are you kidding me? People would kill for your job.”
It was a huge risk to take, but months later, I landed a job with an education technology company that helped service members transition from the military into civilian careers.
That job gave me the experience I had been seeking: to create opportunities to make learners — our service members — feel seen and valuable.
From there, I pivoted to a think tank, where I got demos from every startup and entrepreneur in edtech. I had a front row seat to the bleeding edge of innovation in higher ed.
With these new skills and perspectives, I was hired to build an innovation lab and later an Institute for the Future of Work. Had I ever done these things before? Did I know how? No, but I leveraged all I had learned to figure it out.
Not one of those changes was planned. Each endeavor required very steep learning curves.
But I kept going because every time I tackled an unknown or followed my curiosity, it made me feel more like myself. That’s how I knew each leap of faith was the right choice.
I won’t kid you: it is harder today to plan the ‘what’ of your career than at any other time in history. But what you can plan is the ‘how.’
The ‘how’ is the way you tackle the changes that lie ahead. How you do things, the mindsets and principles you choose—those are your values. They are things like creativity, integrity, service. You get to pick the principles you live by. When you navigate by them, no matter how big the change, or unknown the challenge, how you face it will feel familiar.
Those principles are your plan; they’re your roadmap.
I’ll tell you a few principles that have served me well and I believe will do the same for you.
Number One: Be curious.
Reskilling and upskilling are now requirements for professional growth. Thriving in the future that is waiting for you will depend less on what you know and more on what you learn.
Be curious.
Number Two: Be brave.
Looking back on my own career, each opportunity that changed my life was only possible because of the risks I took and explorations I embraced.
It looks easy in hindsight, but it can be scary. Exploring requires embracing the unknown. It requires courage. It requires asking for and accepting help. Take risks. Go into new territory.
Be brave.
Number Three: Be openhearted.
Work to constrain the power of the word ‘should.’ What do you genuinely crave? Maybe it’s being creative, or solving interesting problems, or building relationships. Maybe it’s respect, love, prestige, money. Your heart has the data that tells you what drives you; what makes you feel most like you. Be attentive to the signals from your heart; they will help you find your most authentic path.
Be openhearted.
Your path will not look linear. That’s okay. Because what I want you to take away from my career is that NOTHING IS WASTED.
I’ve learned that pivoting to new paths (not once but several times) isn't a signal of failure or a sign of sunk costs. It’s not a waste of time and resources. It’s a sign of growth. It shows you’re learning.
Some journeys are stepping stones, leading us to where we truly need to be. So, even when the destination is not yet clear, even when it feels like you don’t know what you’re doing, remember: NOTHING IS WASTED.
How you make every decision, how you take every risk, and how you embrace every leap of faith will demonstrate your adaptability, your creativity, and your resilience. Each new path you take will help clarify what it is that drives you and how to live and work in a way that makes your heart feel full.
The skills you've developed here at Tech are just the beginning. The real education starts now.
Warriors:
Be curious.
Be brave.
Be openhearted.
As uncertain as the future is, I am certain that you will make us proud.
Congratulations, Class of 2024.
Special thanks to Ed Hajim for inspiring parts of this speech and to Emily Ludolph for helping me craft the right words.
Dr. Michelle R. Weise is the author of Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet and leads Rise and Design, a strategic consulting and advisory service for businesses and higher education institutions.
So good and so cool! Loved reading this and watching!
Wonderful message. Thanks for sharing!