so find me please disdain and, the elusive strength newly the women's revolution and re- defined your own vision of success so that all of us, women and men, can live our lives with more grace, more joy, more empathy, more gratitude and, yes, more love. of 2013,

congratulations. upwards, onwards, and in words. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> next, the graduation ceremony at johns hopkins carey business school. this is about 15 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. by saying,t congratulations to the graduating class. you must feel very proud and you should be very proud. let me also say congratulations to the parents as -- to the parent. in college,of twins

i can only imagine what it is like for the parents are today. i also want to say congratulations to the facultative postop it takes a lot of work -- to the faculty. it takes a lot of work. [applause] i want to speak with you a little bit about leadership and values-based leadership. outstandingof this business school, it will be too long before you are faced with the opportunity solution. leadership in and in the air it -- in an errant -- in any enterprise is a very demanding but fulfilling role. i believe there are three fundamental strengths that leaders bring to their endeavors. there are many different strengths, but three in particular that stand out to me.

first, a genuine passionate of theent to the mission an enterprise. says a path-- it for everyone. second, knowledge and expertise, much of with you have created here. and third, a very serious focus on ethics and integrity. but beyond these fundamentals, leaders, in their decision- making, take priorities in deeply held personal values. and i believe that it is these values-based priorities that differentiate one leadership style from another. these are very personal in nature. let me start with fundamentals. first, passionate commitment. i believe that a real passion

is essential to lead others effectively. it is often said that you need to love what you do and we all aspire to that. but for leadership, it is essential. it is essential that you do love what you do. you have to let your enthusiasm show. in order to have others follow, to join in with their leadership and actually lead as well, that enthusiasm has to be very evident. for me, that enthusiasm centers around technology to help make the world a matter -- world a better place. the for each person, for each later, it is different and it depends on your own experiences and the things that make you tick. personallyrs identify with that mission of their enterprise. and that passion enables leaders to excite their teams and demand excellence in the performance of their organization.

leaders must set and maintain course. that requires real knowledge and expertise. it requires a great investment of time. you need to invest the time to understand how your enterprise actually gets things done. it sounds obvious, but i have met many who simply aspire to leadership without recognizing that investment. it shows those who are doing that work that it matters and that you care. you have to bring real solving problem abilities in order to apply the expertise.

you have got a great start. the business school is known for its ability to produce graduates with problem solving abilities. third, ethics and integrity. something that is rarely obvious fairly obvious. the long-term success of any leader in any enterprise demands a culture of integrity in both relationships that are created by the leaders and also demonstration of performance of the enterprise. leaders in any organization must epitomize the fleet integrity -- complete integrity. think hard about the places that you choose to associate yourself with, both enterprise in which

you will work and the other enterprise of which you work overtime. do not associate yourselves with enterprises that lack that core fiber of ethical conduct. it is not worth it. you can do much better. it is these three fundamentals that are universal. there are others as well. what is it that really sets leaderships apart from another. leaders rely on decision-making on the very important personal input of their value system, things that matter to them. many leaders goes to far as to act -- have died post. let me sure of -- share some key guidance. to encourage you to think about this notion of values based decision-making and to pose the question for yourself. what are my values customer i believe in the importance of trust in relationships.

i want to make sure the decisions i make can contribute to increasing that trust at both the personal and interpersonal -- and at tgt the enterprise level. you must communicate very openly and honestly. trust is integral in meeting commitments i getting done what you commit yourself and your organization to get done. those who depend on you must have confidence in your reliability. this applies to just about any relationship that you have whether it is business or in your personal life. amid business person, leaders must build trust with multiple stake holders. trust across globally diverse teams and trust with public officials and trust with your customers and trust with your

shareholders. we all know that we must meet our commitments to continue to build that trust. trust is important in any team environment. this is most likely the leadership opportunity you will have early on. working in a team or leading a team. i have seen a lot of differences between teams that collaborate on the basis of trust and those that struggle to do that. does that work on the basis of trust are able to act with higher speeds and are able to make better decisions or perhaps their most able to work during tough colleges that always come from working on -- tough ihallenges that always come.

work to decide what actually contributes to encouraging trust within the organization. innovation takes many forms. they can take the form of business process and improvement in the form of customer service. there are many dimensions to innovation. the interesting thing about innovation is that it brings change. change that builds bigger and excitement in an organization. companies, any enterprise, needs innovators and diverse thinkers. that way they can exploit the opportunities that go along with change. that is not to say innovation is always welcome in every enterprise that you will encounter. simply because innovation means change in inherently attacks the status quo. any time the status quo is attacked, you might expect a response.

i have seen some organizations that drive would innovators out of their systems because they are not capable of dealing with the change that results. fortunately those organizations usually do not last very long. if you find yourself in one of them, recognize it and get out. innovation is an important process that leads to the creation of the future of any enterprise. my bias in decision making -- except the discomfort that comes with change. -- accept the discomfort that comes with change. it is one of the hardest in any decision-making. that is the commitment that your decisions will drive true value creation. this is directly relevant to the

concept of shareholders and what they expect out of a for-profit enterprise. it also applies to nonprofit enterprises and it relates to the values that all enterprises will expect. on the business front, the concept is clear that you want to use the resources of enterprise to get out more than you put in. that is how you create value. and concept, the return on investment that captures this notion pretty well. you think about what businesses do and if they are returning less than their capital. if they're returning less than the profit capital, they typically do not make it very long. as i return more rise and grow those that return more rise in and grow, they continue to

create the future. each of us are given a unique amount of human capital and each if you think about that context, it is helpful to guide your own decision-making about the steps that you make going forward and basis ofhe frame the the actions that you choose. on a small basis, i find it very helpful. it makes a significant

contribution to the quality and the confidence i have in the decisions that i and our organization makes everyday. so let me sum up. successful leaders rely on a passionate commitment to the enterprise, real confidence, knowledge and expertise in what , and annization does uncompromising focus on ethics and integrity.

relying on values-based guideposts, a challenge of making those important decisions, these priorities lay a foundation for continuing long-term success of an enterprise. they help create a vision and help to build an inclusive community and they foster open communications and trust and excitement in the organization. leaders are the builders and the stewards. they have to be based on values. thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you today. i hope they are helpful as you shape your own leadership approach. congratulations on your graduation from this outstanding university. thank you. [applause] >> former president bill clinton was the commencement speaker of the graduation ceremony at howard university in washington, d.c. the former president's speech is about 30 minutes. [applaus