Who Drives Employee Engagement in an Organisation

Who Drives Employee Engagement in an Organisation At Pure, our aim is to support local organisations to source, develop and retain top talent which in turn contributes to organisational growth. Sharing employee engagement ideas further supports this. The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) describes the achievement of employee engagement as organisations developing and nurturing engagement through a two-way relationship between the employer and employee. So, who is the biggest driver of employee engagement in this relationship? 1. Leaders Visible and empowering leadership creates an effective culture for employee engagement. Engaging leaders foster strong internal communications, share plans in an open and transparent manner, inspire employees to come together in a collective vision and instill an individual sense of ownership about the role each employee plays. They also empower staff to share their views and influence innovation by passing ideas upwards. Teams working with this type of leadership are likely to be more engaged as they have a clear understanding of what is expected and feel fully informed about the business direction and company goals. 2. Managers Gallup reported that as much as 70% of the variance in the employee engagement of teams can be traced back to the influence of the manager. While strong leaders clearly communicate a vision and inspire people to work together to reach an end goal, great managers take the end goal and provide the coaching, support, and guidance needed for the whole team to work together in achieving it. Engaging managers are approachable and give their teams the support, scope, and coaching needed to do the best job possible. They also put considerable effort into making sure that successes and achievements are acknowledged. 3. Teams Employees are more likely to feel engaged if they are working within a culture of camaraderie, where teams share a common goal and are committed to supporting each other to achieve it. Some of the most inspiring examples we see of engaging workplaces are where it’s obvious that everyone really looks out for one another. Fostering a culture of teamwork can be achieved by creating workplace environments where people have time to build relationships and collaborate with colleagues and where there is a conscious effort to bring people together through activities such as company social events or team fundraising. 4. Individual employees Engaged employees spread optimism and enthusiasm while disengaged employees can bring others down and cause entire teams to become less productive. Employers committed to monitoring engagement levels will be in the best position to prevent any negativity spreading in the first place. They will know if they need to investigate any reasons for dissatisfaction and make positive changes where needed. In a people-focussed culture, leaders and managers will also be willing to engage directly with disengaged employees to find out the root problem and provide any necessary support to bring them back to a state of engagement if possible. 5. New recruits Studies have shown that when employees are well-suited to their position, there is a positive impact on employee engagement levels. Finding high caliber employees who are the right cultural fit for an organisation creates a solid foundation for their own employee engagement levels during their time in the business. New talent coming into an organisation can also bring fresh perspectives and new ideas which can be a boost to the entire team. 6. HR personnel As well as recruiting the right people for the business, as already mentioned, those in HR roles can help ensure employees have the right skills, tools, and environment to do their jobs to their best. Being able to provide a robust and meaningful development plan with clear progression opportunities is a key enabler of employee engagement. People who are fully trained in all aspects of their role are more confident and motivated to go the extra mile. So, while everyone within a business does play a part in employee engagement, the real driving force keeps coming back to leadership. The culture of an organisation flows from the leaders and influences the everyday behavior of people. Leaders create and communicate the values of a business and build management teams who can guide and support teams to unite in a common goal. Engaged employees are likely to be those who have been empowered by leaders and senior managers to do their jobs well, working in organisations where leaders have inspired HR teams to develop positive workplace environments and rewarding career plans.

Walmart Resume Paper - Why is Walmart Preparing the Job Application?

Walmart Resume Paper - Why is Walmart Preparing the Job Application?Walmart resume paper is widely accepted for document output. The small, of course, but there are advantages to the company making it available.Walmart resume paper is large enough to properly attach to a stock job application. It is also important to know that this particular brand of paper does not come cheap. The cost of a sheet may be more than five dollars and it is recommended that a homeowner to utilize this material in small amounts until he or she makes the transition to mailing out hundreds of resumes.Resos comes in a variety of different colors and this is another good reason to utilize it. If the worker is confident they can produce a proper and well produced resume, it will show in the finished product. Not all jobs will be in white. Some employers may want to see something more contrasting to that classic color.There are times when resume paper is needed for other jobs as well. For example, a teenager th at has just gotten their license may need to request resume paper from a friend who works at a different store. The same principle applies to housewives who may be taking a day job.Walmart resume paper should be used when a certain job opening is available. If the employee finds a similar position at a different location, they might be able to use resume paper and make contact with the person in charge. The resume should be shown on both sides, if possible. The employees should try to use a single size resume paper.Another good reason to print on a job resume is to keep it from fading. The paper may need to be replaced on a regular basis. Many papers contain a dye which can fade out a traditional resume and cover letter. Using the same company will help ensure the paper is never compromised. Walmart resume paper is available for people of all ages. It is usually an affordable option, as well. When considering this type of resume paper, the company should make sure that the paper is on hand and that the job posting is easy to access.The flexibility of the company is a huge advantage for individuals looking for job openings. The submission of a job online should be encouraged. In addition, people should be provided information about online forms and FAQs to assist them in submitting their job application. The best way to avoid disappointment is to follow these steps and find the perfect job that will bring the family financial security.

How to pick a wife if you want to have kids

How to pick a wife if you want to have kids Nathan Sawaya Recently I wrote a post about how to pick a husband if you want to have kids. A lot of people asked that I write the male corollary to that post. So, here it is. This post is about identity. How to see yourself. How to figure out if you can remake yourself. How to make a life that is true to yourself. And, put more bluntly, how to get the best deal in a wife given who you are. For men, there are three choices: breadwinner, and stay-at-home dad, and    shared responsibilities.   Choice 1: Be the Breadwinner The first thing is that you need a realistic sense of who you can be. The breadwinner and the stay-at-home dad are the extreme ends of the spectrum. Most families end up with some blended scenario where there are two incomes and both parents pitch in with the household duties. The easiest thing for most men to imagine is that they are the breadwinner. Then they dont have to do a lot of compromising with their wife. The wife takes care of things at home, and they take care of things at work. Its a very clear division of labor. This setup has been proven to create the most stable marriages. It makes sense because there is someone whose full-time job it is to take care of the marriage. So the marriage and the family stays together. This setup also creates the highest earners. Most men at the top of corporate life have a stay-at-home wife supporting them at home. The first factor to consider in this scenario is that you have to be a stable earner. The more money you earn, the more women you have to choose from. You cannot attract women who cannot live on your salary. So really, you can be a breadwinner at any salary if you can find a woman willing to stay home on your salary. Something to consider is that salaries top out at age 40. They only keep rising for people who are climbing the very top of the corporate ladder or people who own their own company. So if you are a regular employee or middle manager, you should figure that you will not keep increasing your salary after age 40. On top of that, nearly all the people who are senior in corporate America have a Myers Briggs score of ENTJ or something very close to thatESTJ, for example. There are exceptions, of course. But youre playing an odds game here. If you are getting married in your mid 30s, you are pretty much at the pay level you will be at for the rest of your life. So pick a woman who can live on that. If you are in your 20s, you should take the Myers Briggs test and you will find out if you have a personality type that will feel fulfilled longterm by working long hours and competing at a high level while leaving the brunt of family life responsibilities  to your wife. Choice 2: Marry a Breadwinner Stay-at-home dads dont do the homemaker job like moms do. They usually have huge side projects going on that feel like a part-time job to them even if they are not directly earning money. (Remodeling the house in a series of small projects, for example.) So the men are often pretty happy with the arrangement. Until they are not. Theres a huge social stigma to men staying home with kids.  But also, theres a sexual stigma. Women want to marry someone who earns more than they do, even women with extremely high salaries. Youd think that as long as one of the spouses is taking care of the family full-time, then it wouldnt matter which one was in the breadwinner role. But in fact, if a mans hours at work increase to garner a higher salary, there is no negative impact on the marriage. But as a woman increases her hours to earn a higher salary, the chances of her getting a divorce go way up. (Heres the citation for that data a bunch of academic publications.) That said, if you want to stay home with kids, your best bet is to find a woman who has already shown that she is comfortable working very long hours with little personal life. Because if she cant do that before she has kids, shes not going to want to do it after she has kids. Also, we can talk about the wide range of women who can be successful, yes, but at the top of the corporate ladder, the women are just like the men: all ENTJs. And less than 1% of all women are ENTJs, so you have your work cut out for you if you want to find one. For those ENTJ women who want to climb the corporate ladder, your willingness to stay home is gold. For women, having decision-making responsibilities at home decreases their chances of advancing at work. So having a competent, take charge, stay-at-home partner would be essential for this type of spouses career success. (The breadwinner must earn a lot to support a husband and kids. But if you are thinking you could live off a lot less if you could just get a breadwinner who doesnt want kids, try an INTJ. Women who are INTJs are most likely to not want kids. ) Choice 3: Shared Parenting In each of the above examples, one spouse gives up the majority of time they could spend with their kids in order to have a huge, excitingand high payingjob. In this scenario there is no trade off like that. And there is no high-paying job. Increasing numbers of men want to spend more time with their families. This shift among Generation X dads has been building for years  and exploded during the last recession when it became clear that women were out-earning men and the the recession was hitting men disproportionately. The rise in stay-at-home dads looked like it was a result of men being unemployed  but it turns out that men really want to spend more time with their kids by choice. The problem is that we have no proven  road map  for how this might work. Because first of all, in households where men think men and women split the housework, women think they do the majority of it and in reality, the women are right. On top of that, in the homes where there is shared care, many women outearn their husbands, and women do not usually like this. They tell their husband that they dont care. Then they tell pollsters they cant stand it. The immediate impact of establishing shared household duties is  less sex, according to American Sociological Review. But thats just one of the potentially explosive issues related to shared care. Landmine: Instability. Now both spouses are minimally engaged at work, so neither is a stable breadwinner and both are vulnerable at work in their 40s when they are competing with 29-year-0lds for the same job and the 29-year-old is full of potential and can work 24/7 because they have no kids. Landmine: Change of heart. Partners who are agreeing to do both types of family labor instead of specializing at work are the people most likely to have a change of heart. This is true because its a poorly-defined sense of identity, as no one is equally suited to work and stay home with kids they are fundamentally opposite skills when compared to almost every job. Landmine: Your wife falls in love with the kids. We all know that when a woman says she will go back to work after maternity leave, it doesnt happen until it happens. Because so many women are completely different after they have kids.  Who knows what your wife will really want to do if she was never all that committed to work to begin with? Women who are most likely to be tortured that they are not climbing the ladder: ENFJ. Women who are most likely to change their mind and not want to go back to work after the baby: ISFJ. Women most likely to be disappointed that there is so little combined earning power in this arrangement: ESFP. Women who are most likely to be dissatisfied in life no matter what choices they make: INFP. (You can learn how to figure out the personality type of the women you meet if you  sign up for my Myers Briggs webinar.) What to do? This approach to picking a mate may seem crass, but what youre really trying to do is mitigate family trauma down the line. If you look at a situation realistically, and consider the odds based on objective evidenceresearchyou can see if it will be likely possible for each person to get what they want, or that they should move on to someone else, rather than have children together. Its true that you do need to commit to your financial goals and figure out what you can contribute before you pick a spouse. Otherwise youre just shooting in the dark and you may as well just go  date a girl who reads.

Give The Gifts You Have - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Give The Gifts You Have - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If you’re reading this in real time, you’re spending Christmas Day with me.   No, not just my blog post. Me. Perhaps like you, my work shows up more often and in more places than I ever could. Of course, this is largely due to the web, which encourages people to read and share what matters to them and their audiences. You’ve got to be thinking YOUR work has the potential to be YOU, when you aren’t there with your audience. Produce your work the way you give gifts â€" with good intention and focused on delighting the people receiving them. No matter when you’re giving it, your work is the gift you give to your clients, boss, co-workers, investors, referral sources and more. Your work undoubtedly involves some measure of patience, diligence, hopefully some ingenuity, and the panoply of qualities that define your personal brand.   Whatever your words, numbers, drawings or details, infuse it with whom you are proud of being. If you’ve spent any of the last few days wrapping the gifts you planned on giving, then you know that presentation often improves on the substance of your offering.   Oprah says love is in the details, and even if love is too strong a word for your intention: at least show us you like us. What can you do to wrap your gifts? Beyond the basics like spell check, complete sentences and numbers computed correctly â€" how about developing a style guide for yourself? Standardize the format of your documents â€" use the same margins, same pagination, and even the way you present lists (bullets? boxes?). When your work shows up right and looking right, we might not send you a thank you note but you sure do make a great impression for your brand. It makes it easy to pass along your work, and to recommend you because we remember you for all the right reasons. Let your work be the gift that keeps on giving â€" giving you the basis for a building a great reputation and spreading joy to the working world! Author: Nance Rosen  is the author of  Speak Up! Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at  NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name:  nancerosen

How to Say Customer Service on Your Resume

How to Say Customer Service on Your ResumeMany people are looking for the secret to getting that next job; the single best tip that anyone can give them on how to write a resume is to always put customer service at the top of your list. This tip is simple but very important. If you can not write a resume that will get you a job, then you can not expect to be a good employee.Think about the most important aspect of being employed, how would you like your boss to react when you have a problem? I know, it's a horrible feeling when you realize you have made a mistake and need to take time off, but the easiest way to go about handling it is to leave the situation and go back to work. Many companies would rather give their employees the chance to go back and face the same issues they faced before and solve them, because it allows them to manage their employees better. What you need to do is change the way you handle your issues if you want to get that job.The first thing you should do befo re you even sit down to write a professional resume is to write down the problems you encountered and solve them. Your resume can help your employer or recruiter decide whether or not you will fit in well with their company. A well written resume does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be easy to read and relate to everyone.So, you write a resume. Now you will have to make it follow some guidelines on how to write a customer service resume. It will have to be short, easy to read and free from any spelling or grammatical errors.First, you will want to create a customer service resume that is short, yet full of relevant information. The most important things that you will want to include in your resume are the name of the company, contact information, whether you know the person personally, and why you feel you would be a good employee. You want your resume to be professional resumes are created using the rules of great resumes.The second rule, you will want to follow on how to write a customer service resume is to do not make a long speech about yourself or what you can do for the company. Do not include your strengths or skills that you are good at, just include the information about you that you can contribute to the company. Do not try to impress your future employer with what you know about yourself, just focus on the types of services you can provide.Another way to make your customer service resume an effective one is to outline all the products and services you would be able to provide to the company. Use bullet points and bullet point management, so that the information will easily come together to form a cohesive resume. Your employer is going to read the resume and will be more likely to get into contact with you if you follow the guidelines of how to write a customer service resume.Finally, make sure that your resume is not only for you, but also for the company. Many people look for, how to write a customer service resume that will be appeal ing to the company. They realize that to get a job at the company they have to meet certain criteria, and a professional resume helps them achieve this goal.

6 Key Attributes to Your LinkedIn Profile Header [Updated] - Career Pivot

6 Key Attributes to Your LinkedIn Profile Header [Updated] - Career Pivot LinkedIn Profile Header The first thing you see on your LinkedIn profile is the LinkedIn Profile Header section. There are 6 areas that I want to address in this article. Note: This is an update of a 2013 post called 5 Key Attributes to Your LinkedIn Profile Summary Photograph Having a high-quality image of yourself is critical. The picture should portray the story you will be building using your LinkedIn Profile. In my honest opinion, the most important aspect of your LinkedIn photograph is the background. If you do not have a photograph, the odds of someone clicking on your profile when displayed in a search drops dramatically. To read more on LinkedIn pictures check out my post,3 Key Elements of Your LinkedIn Photograph. If you would like to test your LinkedIn photograph, check out Photofeeler.com. Your Linked Profile Header should ALWAYS have a photograph Headline The LinkedIn Profile header headline field is 120 characters in length. Use all of it! It should be keyword rich and should demonstrate your personal brand. By default, LinkedIn will fill this withYour Current Job Title at Current Company.If you have multiple current positions,by the way, I have 3 current jobs, it will pick the first position. Do not let LinkedIn fill this in for you. I point this out because this allows me to have 3 current job titles that could be found in searches. Please check out the post,Why Are You Not Being Found? Try Thinking Like a Recruiterfor why this is so important. Location Since most searches on LinkedIn are done geographically, setting your location is key. If you live in one city but are looking for work in another, you will want to set the location to the city where you are looking. I had a client living in Georgia but looking for a position in Dallas. I had them set the location to Dallas and they immediately were being found by recruiters in Dallas. If you are looking for a job in a different location, then I highly recommend you get a Google Voicenumber with an area code where you would like to work. Vanity or Custom URL You should always generate a vanity or custom URL for your Public LinkedIn Profile. Your LinkedIn public profile is what LinkedIn exposes to Google and the other search engines. This can be found in your Public Profile and URL settings. Your vanity or custom URL is what is used whenever someone is viewing your profile. LinkedIn changed to using the vanity URL when displaying a profile in 2016 or 2017. Contact and Personal Information LinkedIn has made it fairly easy to enter all of your social media properties, websites, and contact information in one place. Take notice that the websites are clearly named. In order to do this, you must use the “other” option when filling in the contact info form. This allows you to customize the name of the website. See the contact info form below. LinkedIn Background Image Everyone now has the capability of setting their backgroundimage. This is thelarge (1,584 x 396px recommended) image that sets the tone for the profile. Personal Photograph You could use a personal photograph. See the picture of the railroad bridge in Austin Texas that someone is using. This is a great example of using an iconic landmark to make a point. Stock Photograph You could use a stock photograph from websites like 123rf.com. Below is an example of the image used by a bi-lingual educator. I suggested that she add some foreign language text to the image to deliver a more targeted message. I suggested she use Canva.comto accomplish this. Custom Image Lastly, you could construct a custom image similar to what I am currently using. This was constructed by one of the members of the Career Pivot communityusing Canva.com. I want you to take notice that the email address and phone number are part of the image and cannot be screen-scraped by spammers. Canva is one of my favorite tools that has a freemium option. I only pay if I use one of their stock images which are $1 per image. I acquire all of my images from123rf.comand I have no financial relationship with either 123rf or Canva, I just love their products. LinkedIn Profile Header Should Deliver a Consistent Message I want you to think about the message the entire LinkedIn profile header delivers to the reader. The headline, your photograph, and the background should deliver a common and coordinated theme. For those of us who are … artistically challenged, we need to get help. I have always found that one of my friends has been able to help me. My current headshot was taken by Sherwin Field from Field Photographyand is someone who has pivoted from working in the corporate world to being a freelance photographer in the 2nd half of life. Do you have all 6 components of your LinkedIn Profile header working together? Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

10 tips to beat writers block with your resume - Hire Imaging

10 tips to beat writer’s block with your resume - Hire Imaging If you are writing your own resume, it can be a frustrating task, to say the least. Even if you are confident in your writing abilities and how you want to sell yourself in print, sometimes writer’s block looms like an unwelcomed cloud on an otherwise bright day. Here are 10 tips to get those writing juices flowing! You are not alone Writer’s block happens to even seasoned writers. There are simply times when the words just don’t seem to come together. Times when a writer feels stuck and can’t think of anything to write. Times when the writer knows what is intended, but can’t articulate in words that intention in a succinct, clear and compelling manner. And of course when writing your resume, you want to sellâ€"not tell. You want to do so in as few words as possible. You want to strategically format and wordsmith so less says more. And you want to convey a clear focus to a targeted audience. Andâ€"sometimes this is the most daunting of allâ€"you have to sell YOU! So, it’s natural to feel blocked. Over 20-plus years as a career coach and writer, I’ve had it happen … well, more times than I count. I have found some useful ways of dealing with the challenge. I hope you find them helpful! Follow a routine â€" Follow a routine to get in the writing mood. Try activities like wearing comfortable clothing, having fresh flowers on your desk, or listening to a particular type of music. Take a break. Get a snack or drink, talk to someone, pet the dog, or just relax for five minutes before starting to write again. Physically move around, stretch, or walk. Experiment. Try to write in different places, at different times, and with different writing instruments (yes, I know most of us are at the keyboards these days). Switch projects. If you’re burned out and can’t finish one piece of work, switch to another. Often putting the work in progress to the back of your mind helps. The subconscious mulls it over while you are consciously working on something else. Free-write. Choose one sentence in the résumé and write a paragraph about it. Then choose one sentence from that paragraph and do it again. You can also freewrite about something non-related to the résumé. Simply write whatever comes to your head. If you can’t think of anything, write that you can’t think of anything. A good recommendation is if all else fails, describe what is around you. Cluster â€" Choose key words and ideas; then write associated ideas and words in clusters around them. This process often forms new ideas. Be flexible. Be willing to throw out sections of text or design aspects that are causing problems or just don’t work. Give up perfectionism â€" It is paralyzing . . . and totally self-inflicted. If you want to write â€" just write. Much of what you write, you’ll edit out anyway, so just write! And as hard as it may be, relax. Breathe deeply. The more you worry, the harder it gets to think clearly. Write your way out of the block â€" Write the parts you know how to write first. You may gain an insight that will help you work out your problem area. At the same time, you’ll avoid compounding your problems and extending the “block” with frustration. Re-read Read a print draft of the résumé and jot down ideas while reading. One of the most frustrating things about writer’s block is that it’s not like a bacterial infection that you can just cure. You can get writer’s block again and again. Fortunately, when you do, there are strategies to make you well again! Now go write that fabulous resume! Photo: AlyssaLMiller

All-Time Best Graduation Speeches By Women

All-Time Best Graduation Speeches By Women After the tassles are turned and the graduation caps fall back to the ground, students receive their diplomas and are thrust out into the real world. For some, the future may look frightening and uncertain. These graduation speeches from fantastic women, though, show that the future is simply what you make of it. J.K. Rowling “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well have not lived at all â€" in which case, you fail by default.” In her speech for Harvard University in 2008, J.K. Rowling spoke about the twin benefits of failure and imagination. Starting out by admitting how nervous she is about speaking at such an important event, Rowling spoke about some of the most meaningful events in her life, including her fall to rock bottom, which inspired her to do what she loved. What was wonderful about her speech was her plea to graduates to take risks and go after adventure, for as she says, if you dont you havent lived at all. Ellen DeGeneres “Really, when I look back on it, I wouldnt change a thing. I mean, it was so important for me to lose everything because I found out what the most important thing is, to be true to yourself.” Ellen DeGeneres speech for Tulane University in 2009 is predictably chock full of jokes and gags, but in the middle she shares a very personal story of how she lost one of her best friends in a car accident. In trying to come to terms with what had happened, Ellen began writing down her feelings, which evolved into her stand-up shows and her current career. She argues that the definition of success is constantly changing, and so the best thing you can do is be true to yourself. Michelle Obama “So you can either choose to use those opportunities to continue fighting the fights that weve been locked in for decades, or you can choose to reject those old divisions and embrace folks with a different point of view.” Michelle Obamas speech to the graduates of Eastern Kentucky University in 2013 covered three equally important topics. First, she spoke about the importance of family values, and how much love plays a role in those values. Second, she addressed the question of what comes next and the importance of helping others. Third, Obama talks about just how vital inclusivity is in enriching everybodys lives. Her speech addressed everybody involved in the students lives, from their parents to their friends, and the importance of being there for others. Mindy Kaling “Except heres the difference: You are the nerds who are going to make some serious bank, which is why Im here today â€" to marry the best looking amongst you.” In her speech to the Harvard Law graduates of 2014, Mindy Kaling good naturedly mocks everybody around her: the graduates, the professors and mostly herself. She says she has no idea why she was asked to speak at this event. However, she impresses on the graduates how important their role in the world is, and how the prestige of having graduated from Harvard will stay with them forever. As she says, “If you kill someone, you are the Harvard Law Murderer.”   Amy Poehler “No one is here today because they did it on their own.” At Harvard Class Day 2011, Amy Poehler stressed the importance of sharing your life with other people. She describes the rules of improv she learned when she was starting out: “Listen, say yes, live in the moment, make sure you play with people who have your back, make big choices early and often.” She extols the virtues of taking chances, and taking solace in your loved ones when youre frightened or anxious. Kerry Washington “The choice is yours. When you leave here today and commence the next stage of your life, you can follow someone elses script â€" try to make choices that will make other people happy. Or, you can look at all you have accomplished today and use it as fuel to venture forth and write your own story.” Kerry Washington, in her speech to the graduates of George Washington University in 2013, took the chance to highlight the achievements of her audience. The George Washington alumna talked about how graduates should push themselves out of their comfort zones in order to become their own person, rather than the ideal graduate. She also joked how preceding years had leading political figures, such as Michelle Obama, and the class of 2013 got “that lady whos having an affair with the president on that TV show.”   Julie Andrews “Dont engage in random acts of kindness, engage in planned acts of kindness.” In her speech to the graduates of University Colorado Boulder in 2013, Julie Andrews stressed how important kindness would be in their future lives. She argues that they need to be “beacons of light” in a world that needs them, someone to fight for the future of the world. She also asks that they make time for the arts in their lives, as they are “food for the soul.” Toni Morrison “You dont have to accept media, or even scholarly labels for yourself every true heroine breaks free from his or her class â€" upper, middle and lower â€" in order to serve a wider world.” Toni Morrison urged the graduates of Rutgers University in 2011 to look beyond themselves in their lives outside university. In a stirring speech, she outlines many of the ridiculous ideals of todays world, including the high price of education and privatized health care, and challenged them to create a better world for themselves and others. Sheryl Sandberg “We will never close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap. But if all young women start to lean in, we can close the ambition gap right here, right now, if every single one of you leans in.”   In 2011, Sheryl Sandberg addressed the graduates of Barnard College by tackling the issues of inequality in the workplace. She noted that while university graduates became 50/50 male/female around 30 years ago, it still hasnt been reflected in the workplace. Using ideas from her yet-to-be released book, “Lean In,” she encourages women to be ambitious and close the gap in the workplace. Maria Shriver “Pausing allows you to take a beat â€" a breath in your life.” Maria Shriver spoke to graduates from the USC Annenberg School of Communication in 2012, and acknowledged the “what next” question many would be asking themselves. She noted that all their lives, people would be asking what next, whether its in their professional or personal lives. To address the problem, Shriver recommended they take the time to pause and reflect on their lives, to halt the incessant flow of information and take time out for themselves. These women have shown that you really can do anything you set your mind to. A little ambition, imagination and hard work will take you a long way. Image Source: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8085/8536426163_761bf95a82_o_d.jpg