Megan Smith
U.S. Chief Technology Officer
In her 2015 MIT Commencement address, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith argued that beyond the school's motto of 'mind and hand' lies a crucial third element: heart. She defined heart as encompassing teamwork, kindness, openness and inclusivity, and service, urging graduates to bring their technical skills to causes they care about and to global challenges. She encouraged them to focus on strengths, team with others, value diverse ideas, and serve where problems are greatest.
Key moments
- 01 Adding 'heart' to MIT's 'mind and hand' motto
- 02 Focusing on strengths and teaming with others to cover weaknesses
- 03 Kindness and openness as practical, not just moral, values
- 04 Diversity and inclusivity producing better outcomes
- 05 Service and applying technical skills to global challenges
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Megan Smith at MIT, 2015
A commencement address about adding heart to mind and hand: teamwork, kindness, openness, inclusion, service, and technology aimed at global challenges.
Speech arc
- 01Mind and hand
Opening move
- 02Add heart
Speech beat
- 03Strengths
Speech beat
- 04Teamwork
Speech beat
- 05Kindness
Speech beat
- 06Openness
Speech beat
- 07Inclusion
Speech beat
- 08Service
Final charge
Frame: Heart joins mind and hand
Smith extends MIT's motto into a human operating system: technical mastery matters most when paired with care, courage, and responsibility.
Motto
Mind and hand become stronger when heart guides where skill is aimed.
Scope
Heart includes teamwork, kindness, openness, inclusion, and service.
Charge
Graduates are asked to bring technical power to causes they care about.
Smith extends MIT's motto into a human operating system: technical mastery matters most when paired with care, courage, and responsibility.
Team: Build from strengths together
The speech treats collaboration as a practical design choice: know your strengths, pair with others, and let teams cover what no individual can.
Strengths
Focus on what you can uniquely contribute instead of hiding every gap.
Coverage
Good teams turn different abilities into shared capacity.
Practice
Technology advances faster when people trust one another enough to combine work.
The speech treats collaboration as a practical design choice: know your strengths, pair with others, and let teams cover what no individual can.
Culture: Kindness and openness are tools
Smith frames generosity, listening, and curiosity as operating principles that improve both the work and the people doing it.
Kindness
Care is not ornamental; it changes how people can think and contribute.
Openness
Useful ideas often arrive from unexpected places and unfamiliar people.
Learning
Humility keeps expert communities from becoming closed systems.
Smith frames generosity, listening, and curiosity as operating principles that improve both the work and the people doing it.
• Key takeaways •
Heart directs skill
Connects to kindness.
Strengths need teams
Connects to diversity.
Kindness improves work
Connects to service.
Inclusion changes outcomes
Connects to teamwork.
Service gives technology purpose
Connects to technology.
Closing charge
The closing charge points MIT talent toward public need, diverse participation, and global challenges where engineering can serve people directly.
Aim technology at shared problems
Inclusion
Diverse teams see more of the problem and design better outcomes.
Global
The hardest problems demand technical skill joined with social imagination.
Service
Impact is measured by whether capability reaches those who need it.
The closing charge points MIT talent toward public need, diverse participation, and global challenges where engineering can serve people directly.
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