--- title: Melinda Gates: What Graduates Need to Hear at Commencement description: As business leaders give commencement speeches at college graduation ceremonies, they shouldn't just offer hope. They should make a promise. canonical: https://time.com/5287351/melinda-gates-commencement-speech/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-24T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:24.911Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Melinda Gates: What Graduates Need to Hear at Commencement This Year og:description: Leaders shouldn't just offer wisdom og:url: https://time.com/5287351/melinda-gates-commencement-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b341efa61efa5eb/698931554ee262a01c311e67/graduates-commencement-graduation-melinda-gates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: College Commencement og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melinda Gates: What Graduates Need to Hear at Commencement This Year twitter:description: Leaders shouldn't just offer wisdom twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b341efa61efa5eb/698931554ee262a01c311e67/graduates-commencement-graduation-melinda-gates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melinda Gates: What Graduates Need to Hear at Commencement This Year > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: FIRSTS Melinda Gates [Watch (HLS stream): FIRSTS Melinda Gates](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kIl6lijZ.m3u8) (2:11)  _Published 2017-09-06. Melinda Gates is the FIRST woman to give away more than $40 billion._ by [Melinda French Gates](https://time.com/author/melinda-gates/) ## Melinda French Gates May 24, 2018 12:00 PM UTC  A graduate crosses the red carpet during the Boston College commencement at Alumni Stadium in Boston on May 21, 2018 A graduate crosses the red carpet during the Boston College commencement at Alumni Stadium in Boston on May 21, 2018 David L. Ryan—Getty Images by [Melinda French Gates](https://time.com/author/melinda-gates/) ## Melinda French Gates May 24, 2018 12:00 PM UTC This spring is a special one for our family. My daughter, Jenn, graduates from college this June, and my son, Rory, graduates from high school a few days earlier. Even when I’m not playing the role of proud mother, I tend to be a fan of commencement season — because I also tend to be a fan of [commencement speeches](http://time.com/money/5274715/oprah-usc-annenberg-speech/). They’re a unique chance for [America’s thinkers](http://time.com/5266989/ronan-farrow-loyola-marymount-graduation-speech/), doers and builders to offer a more personal reflection on the world as they see it and their hopes for the generation that will inherit it. I used to think that the best commencement addresses are the ones that leave audiences feeling [charged with a sense of possibility](http://time.com/5275610/apple-tim-cook-duke-commencement/) about the lives they’ll lead and the mark they will make on the future. But this year, I’m hoping for something more. You often hear the refrain that commencements are about beginnings — and that, for the graduates, the best still lies ahead. Graduates are encouraged to dream big, bold dreams and to imagine that when they cross the stage and enter the next phase of their lives, they’ll be stepping into a world full of possibility. What I wish we heard more of is what these speakers plan to do to ensure that vision of the future has a place in it for _every_ graduate. As much as we like to tell young people that they will go as far as their talents will take them, it’s no secret that the modern American workplace still works better for some people than for others. The results are plain to see — whether you’re looking at the fact there are [more men named James](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/24/upshot/women-and-men-named-john.html) than [women leading Fortune 500 companies](http://fortune.com/2017/06/07/fortune-500-women-ceos/) or the data that tells us African-American women and Hispanic women together hold fewer than 5% of the [jobs in tech](https://www.ncwit.org/resources/numbers). What has also become clear is that the costs of these inequalities are simply too high to bear. Invisible biases, closed networks and insufficient leave policies put insurmountable barriers in front of millions of Americans’ path to the careers they dream of. Our society is losing out on their talent and their contributions. And businesses are at risk of losing their advantage in the global economy. When I talk to business leaders across the country about their vision for the future, it’s clear that no one understands these stakes better than they do — and it’s heartening to see more and more organizations beginning to test solutions. Gathering data is a good place to start. The more businesses know about their employees — who’s being recruited, hired and promoted — the easier it is for them to set targets for inclusion and diversity. Data helps us understand what’s working, what isn’t and who’s being left behind. [Paid family and medical leave](http://time.com/5203203/fmla-paid-leave-millennials-caregiving/) is a great example of a policy that _is_ working. Companies across a wide range of industries have all found that establishing a robust [paid leave policy](http://media-publications.bcg.com/BCG-Why-Paid-Family-Leave-Is-Good-Business-Feb-2017-Revised.pdf) can help keep more new moms in the jobs they’re good at. Companies have also discovered that providing paid leave to all parents — men and women — can go a long way toward closing gender gaps in pay and management. There’s no doubt that every company’s approach to building a better workplace will be a little different, but one thing all of us can do is lead by the power of our example. That might mean insisting that your hiring pools reflect the [diversity you want to see in your workforce](http://time.com/3657636/intel-300-million-diversity-pledge/), as leaders from TaskRabbit and Time’s Up recently suggested at South by Southwest. It could mean committing to mentor women, as dozens of CEOs have already done as part of the #MentorHer campaign. It could even be as simple as taking paid family leave when you need it, so your employees understand that it’s okay for them to do so, too. All of these steps help get us closer to a workplace that will really work for all of the incredible young people about to join it. Any commencement speaker can encourage young people to live up to their potential. But these graduates deserve more than encouragement; they deserve action. This spring, I’ll be listening with special attention to the leaders whose speeches reflect that. ## Transcript People will look at you and they'll try and define you. Whether you're a woman, whether you're young. They'll try and cabin off what you are able to do. But people can only do that if you let them. And so, I always viewed by job as defining myself. If we are in a meeting, we're there for a reason. Not to just sit there and absorb. If you are only there not speaking, you kind of create the impression that you're not prepared to be there. You need to participate and you need to know what you're talking about. You can ask a man to do a job that he's never been qualified to do, and he'll raise his hand and say, absolutely, I will do that job. Women always say, I'm not sure if I'm ready it. I need more experience. I don't necessarily know that there's anything wrong with being more cautious and careful. I mean, why have we come to decide that being brash and overly aggressive should be the way we are. But we should also know that we're not going to feel any wiser or any more ready. Then ten years, then we did ten years ago. So we might as well just leap. There is a lot of perception of, my gosh it's really hard because of the gender, what are you gonna do about that, just not do it? If you wanna do something, then just do it and then hppe that people catch up to you. For girls that are going to play in Little League. Anything can happen. You can be up by 10 runs and you can lose the game, so, play focused, make sure you play as a team and hopefully, you hit a home run because no girl has ever hit a home run and I will be cheering for you. You'll never make everyone happy. So you just have to be exactly who it is that you are, and at least know that you're being true to yourself. It's about attitude, aptitude, and opportunity. Who knew I would be here. But it all started with folks that thought I had a good attitude. That put me in places that challenged me and then provided me opportunities because I met and exceeded the standard. You often don't realize people want you to succeed and they often have very good solutions both practical and in terms of thinking about opportunities for you. And the other thing is, I think it's not too bad To have periods of great intensity doing one thing or the other. Meryl Streep once said, every successful woman's life has its ebbs and flows. Know your power, know the power of your intellect, of your values, and your commitment, the courage you have. And don't let anybody trivialize How you have spent your years. All of them have contributing to making a very unique and special person. Just take joy. Don't let anyone discourage you from that thing that you love the most. It's more about making a life Than making a living, that's what matters. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5287351/melinda-gates-commencement-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5287351/melinda-gates-commencement-speech/"},"headline":"Melinda Gates: What Graduates Need to Hear at Commencement This Year","datePublished":"2018-05-24T12:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:24.911Z","description":"Leaders shouldn't just offer wisdom. 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