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№ 2020.001 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Commencement address
William H. McRaven
Retired U.S. Navy admiral
Delivered during MIT's online 2020 Commencement amid the pandemic, McRaven argues that fictional superheroes will not save the world and that the graduates themselves must address challenges like pandemics, war, climate change, poverty, and intolerance. Drawing on his Navy SEAL career and examples from history and science, he outlines the qualities he believes real heroes need. He closes by urging graduates to be the last class to miss a commencement and to go forth as the heroes the world needs.
Key moments
- 01 Rejecting fictional superheroes and charging graduates to save the world themselves
- 02 Calling for courage, including the moral courage to speak truth to power
- 03 Emphasizing humility, perseverance, and willingness to sacrifice
- 04 Stressing integrity and compassion as essential to heroism
Visual speech map
William H. McRaven at MIT, 2020
An online commencement address about real heroism in a pandemic year: courage, humility, perseverance, integrity, sacrifice, compassion, and responsibility.
- 01 Online ceremony
- 02 No superheroes
- 03 Real heroes
- 04 Courage
- 05 Humility
- 06 Perseverance
- 07 Integrity
- 08 Compassion
Moment
A remote class receives a direct charge
In MIT's pandemic commencement, McRaven turns disappointment into responsibility by telling graduates the world does not need fictional rescuers; it needs them.
The 2020 ceremony moves online during a global crisis.
Superhero stories give way to civic obligation.
MIT graduates are addressed as people equipped to act.
Courage
Heroes speak truth when pressure rises
The address defines courage as both physical resolve and moral clarity, especially the willingness to speak truth to power.
Courage includes saying what institutions need to hear.
Hard moments test whether principles survive consequence.
Public service begins before conditions are comfortable.
Discipline
Humility and perseverance keep work honest
McRaven's military frame becomes a broader ethic: serve without vanity, keep going after failure, and accept sacrifice as part of consequential work.
Achievement is strongest when ego stays small.
Perseverance turns fear and fatigue into continued motion.
Real impact often costs comfort, time, and certainty.
Integrity
The final standard is compassion
The speech closes by tying integrity to care: graduates must solve hard problems while seeing the people affected by every decision.
Trust grows from doing the right thing when it is difficult.
Compassion keeps heroism from becoming performance.
Be the last class to miss commencement, and the first to rebuild.
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
Verified from official archive