On the morning of May 14th, today, Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered a commencement speech at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.It is the only higher education institution in the world where all programs and services are exclusively designed for deaf and hard of hearing students. All courses are taught in American Sign Language and English.
▲ Cook and Gallaudet college students
▲ Cook and “Listening Girl” actress Marlee Matlin at Gallaudet University’s graduation ceremony
In this speech, Cook gave graduates a piece of advice:Whatever you do, start with your values. He goes a step further to explain what this means by saying that when you make decisions—whether those decisions involve life-long events or daily chores—you base your decisions on who I am and what do I believe in. Deep understanding.
In addition, he emphasized thatValues also help you persevere in facing difficult career and personal life choices.
It is worth noting that there are two Chinese students who graduated from Gallaudet University in Apple’s Chinese retail store system.
▲ Song Dan communicates with colleagues in sign language in an Apple retail store
Song Dan, from Hefei, Anhui Province, graduated from Gallaudet University in 2018 with a degree in accounting. After graduation, she joined the Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, and after returning to China in 2019, she became a Specialist at Apple Suzhou. In addition to using iPad to communicate with customers, Song Dan also uses Chinese and English sign language to communicate with customers. She also likes to teach her colleagues to learn sign language. Through continuous efforts, Song Dan has developed in the retail store and became the operation specialist of the retail store in 2020.
She is currently experiencing accounting in the Finance department by participating in Apple’s Career Experience Program.
▲ Wang Wei introduces iMac to customers at the Apple Store in Joy City, Xidan
Wei Wang, from Beijing, received her undergraduate degree in Electronic Multimedia Literature from Gallaudet University. She used Apple’s accessibility features to complete a master’s program at American University, where she earned her master’s degree. In 2007, Wang Wei decided to join Apple Clarendon in Washington as a Mac Specialist. After returning to China, she will join Apple’s Xidan Joy City retail store in 2021, working as an operation specialist, designing multimedia classroom teaching plans for students through Mac and her professional skills.
The following are excerpts from this Cook speech:
The problems you are trying to solve today are not dissimilar to those that move the world—and they are all the more important at this historic moment.
For many people, the pandemic has not only upended our way of life, but also our perception of life itself.
More and more people are starting to ask themselves these big questions:
What exactly do I want to do in this life?
What kind of person do I want to be?
I think the core of all this is actually one of the most fundamental problems facing human beings:
How can we achieve a meaningful and fulfilling life?
And the point is… no one can answer this question for you.
Neither can I.
Even the iPhone doesn’t have this feature.
AI is great, but not that great yet.
Having said that, I would like to share an important piece of advice with you all. That’s the only piece of advice I’m going to share today because it’s so important.
The advice is this: Whatever you do, start with your values.
Starting with values means that when you make decisions—whether they involve life-long events or everyday things—you base them on a deep understanding of who I am and what I believe.
Values also help me to persevere in the difficult choices between my career and my personal life.
When someone questions our commitment to sustainability from a financial perspective, I make it clear, based on my values, that fighting climate change is and will be one of our most important goals.
In my own life, out of the call of values, I open up to the world about my gay identity, and in doing so bring a ray of hope to those who are still hiding their true selves from the world.
In short, my values are the driving force of all my actions and the core of all my decisions.
Of course, the most meaningful lives are sometimes unexpected.
In my experience, even if we try our best to shape the future, the future is still unpredictable.
However, that’s okay too.
Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote: “If life is predictable, it is no longer life, and it has no taste.”
So, as you imagine the future and the winding road ahead of you, don’t forget that the question you should be asking yourself is not “what will happen in the future” but “what will I be like when it happens” “.
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