Admiral McRaven states, that “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world,” emanating power through every word (Tubman, 2000). He then uses the relevance of the University of Texas’s slogan of “What starts here changes the world” hoped through his speech to channel a passion in the UT graduates to be world changers and equip them with the knowledge to start that journey. Admiral McRaven was the ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and served 37 years in the U.S Navy leading in multiple areas of Special Operations. He even oversaw and led the SEAL raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. Giving an effective…show more content… McRaven sat in his audience’s place years ago waiting and waiting just to walk across the stage and receive their diploma that they worked so hard for. On what was supposed to be the most exciting day of their lives, the audience sat slumped in their seats, bored from listening to speech after speech. McRaven knew that he needed to connect to them on a deeper level and make them feel comfortable and that he was a ‘cool’ dude that they could respect. He did this by opening up his personal life to them and his graduation day experience. He states, “It's been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of things about that day. I remember I had throbbing headache from a party the night before,” instantly trying to relate to the audience (McRaven, 2015). McRaven goes on to tell them that about his wife and his commencement into the Navy Adm. McRaven also knew that his audience as soon as he started speaking thought to themselves ‘another speech’. So in order to insure his audience that they should pay attention and that this would not be another long and drawn out speech he states, “But of all the things I remember, I don't have a clue who the commencement speaker was that evening, and I certainly don't remember anything they said. So, acknowledging that fact, if I can't make this commencement speech memorable, I will at least try to make it short,” and at the word, “short” he instantly grabbed the audience’s attention (McRaven, 2015). Drawing…show more content… McRaven shared with the UT class of 2014 the knowledge and tools for becoming world changers and impacting those around them in their new life paths. McRaven chose a meaningful topic for his audience that consisted of graduates wondering how they can use their degree and new career to shape the world around them. And he chose a clever and engaging way to convey his message that was both attention grabbing and meaningful. Adm. McRaven began and ended with a slogan that is personable to the graduates of UT-- what starts here changes the world. He then split his speech into ten men points of advice that all begin with, “If you want to change the world,” utilizing repetition to inspire. His ten life lessons as he calls them are all rooted in his time in Navy SEAL training and he uses those experiences to keep his audience’s attention and make his speech credible. McRaven describes his time in SEAL training as a time of hardships, challenges, and constant stress, and telling them how enduring it helped him become a world changer. He calls the graduates to find the courage to change the world and that they can change the world with just ten people. Throughout his speech he delivers the message that life is not fair and that you will face great adversity. One learns from McRaven to maintain courage in tough times, kill with kindness, help those around you, and never give
