Angela Ahrendts
Field: business
Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts returns to her alma mater to share life lessons drawn from her career in fashion, framing her speech as a personal gift to graduates. She urges them to identify their core purpose and values, pursue their dreams while managing fear, and trust their hearts and intuition. Drawing on her own journey from small-town Indiana to leading Donna Karan and Burberry, she stresses that character and emotional intelligence matter as much as education and technology.
Key moments
- 01 Defining core purpose and core values as the foundation of success
- 02 Describing the dream phase and managing fear and insecurity
- 03 Urging graduates to listen to their hearts amid the digital age
- 04 Recounting her path from New Palestine, Indiana to leading Burberry
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Angela Ahrendts at Ball State, 2008
A commencement address about core purpose, values, fear, intuition, emotional intelligence, and building a career from the heart.
Speech arc
- 01Alumna returns
Opening move
- 02Career gift
Speech beat
- 03Core purpose
Speech beat
- 04Core values
Speech beat
- 05Dream phase
Speech beat
- 06Managing fear
Speech beat
- 07Heart and intuition
Speech beat
- 08Character leads
Final charge
Return: The speech is framed as a personal gift
Ahrendts returns to her alma mater from the world of global fashion leadership, making the address both a homecoming and a handoff of hard-won judgment.
Alumna
The authority comes from shared Ball State roots as much as executive achievement.
Gift
Advice is offered as a practical inheritance for graduates entering uncertain work.
Arc
Small-town Indiana, Donna Karan, and Burberry become proof that a career can widen without losing its center.
Ahrendts returns to her alma mater from the world of global fashion leadership, making the address both a homecoming and a handoff of hard-won judgment.
Foundation: Purpose and values precede success
The address asks graduates to define a core purpose and live by core values before chasing titles, markets, or external validation.
Purpose
A stable inner reason for work helps decisions survive pressure and speed.
Values
Character is treated as operating infrastructure, not decorative virtue.
Measure
Success is judged by alignment between ambition, conduct, and contribution.
The address asks graduates to define a core purpose and live by core values before chasing titles, markets, or external validation.
Fear: Dreams require disciplined courage
Ahrendts names fear and insecurity as predictable parts of the dream phase, then redirects graduates toward movement, preparation, and self-belief.
Dream
A compelling goal creates energy before the path is fully visible.
Fear
Insecurity is not disqualifying; it is material to manage while moving forward.
Belief
Confidence grows from choosing the next step despite incomplete certainty.
Ahrendts names fear and insecurity as predictable parts of the dream phase, then redirects graduates toward movement, preparation, and self-belief.
• Key takeaways •
Purpose anchors ambition
Connects to core values.
Values make pressure legible
Connects to dreams.
Fear can be managed
Connects to emotional intelligence.
Intuition deserves attention
Connects to self-belief.
Character outlasts status
Connects to leadership.
Closing charge
The closing charge balances technology and education with emotional intelligence, intuition, and a character-led understanding of leadership.
Listen to the heart in a digital age
Heart
Intuition is presented as a serious decision-making resource.
EQ
Human connection matters as much as technical skill in the work ahead.
Leadership
The durable leader pairs achievement with generosity, clarity, and inner ballast.
The closing charge balances technology and education with emotional intelligence, intuition, and a character-led understanding of leadership.
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Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording
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