Commencement Address by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF
Washington College – Chestertown, Maryland
May 20, 2017
", "publishDate": "2017-05-20", "sections": [ { "heading": "Saying “I Don’t Know”", "content": "- Central recommendation: it is often wise to say “I don’t know” and focus on knowing how to find answers rather than pretending to have them.\n- Education’s role: a liberal arts education teaches how to find answers by developing critical thinking and the capacity for lifelong learning.\n- Personal example: the speaker emphasizes that even at the IMF there are frequent unknowns and new issues requiring continuous learning." }, { "heading": "Your Skills – Learning How to Think", "content": "- Key observation: “The future, your future, is one where technology, automation, and artificial intelligence may eventually supplant humans in a variety of tasks.”\n- Statistic: “Two-thirds of today’s children will have jobs which have not been invented yet.” [2]\n- Comparative advantage: studying the humanities and cultivating broad interests (e.g., Aeschylus, Sappho, Brontë, Dylan, design) fosters polymath skills useful in an evolving economy.\n- Institutional context: the IMF has “189 member nations” united by cooperation to maintain economic stability and prosperity.\n- Lifelong learning imperative:\n - College teaches how to learn, not what to learn.\n - Learning requires “ceaseless curiosity” and active questioning of assumptions.\n- Practical advice:\n - Seek out dissenting views: “Only a fool wants to hear the echo of his own voice.”\n - Apply perspective-taking learned through cross-cultural experience to problem solving." }, { "heading": "Your Values – Public Service", "content": "- Definition: public service extends beyond government work to volunteering, community activism, parent-teacher associations, and applying values in any job.\n- Speaker’s value focus: gender equality has been a life-long commitment and an IMF analytical priority.\n- Career anecdote and trajectory:\n - Early career obstacle: interviewer told the speaker she “could never become a partner” because she was a woman; she left and joined Baker McKenzie in 1981.\n - Work–life adaptation: changed working hours to spend Wednesday afternoons with her son; later became a partner and in 1999 became “the first female chairman of the firm.”\n- IMF programmatic work:\n - Gender-related work undertaken in “22 countries.”\n - Example: in a new program with Egypt the IMF is “exploring ways the government can increase funding for public nurseries and improve commuter safety” to expand women’s employment opportunities.\n- Institutional framing of IMF roles: the Fund acts as “firefighters” (financial assistance) and “doctors” (economic surveillance and guidance)." }, { "heading": "Applying Your Values", "content": "- Call to action: integrate values into professional roles regardless of sector; be creative and persistent in promoting values.\n- Concrete suggestions by profession:\n - Investment banking: “find out how your company’s philanthropy is being managed.”\n - Nursing: “find out how your hospital assists people in the community without health insurance.”\n - Journalism: “use the power of the pen to investigate how your city is rebuilding its public transportation system.”\n- Expect resistance: public service efforts will encounter skeptics; persistence and creativity are required.\n- Small actions matter: the speaker gives the example of diversifying quoted sources in this commencement address to include more women." }, { "heading": "Conclusion – What Comes Next?", "content": "- Main reassurance: graduates do not have to answer “What comes next?” immediately; they have the foundation to find the answer.\n- Sources of guidance: training, values, and support from family and friends will “serve as a lighthouse in the journey of your life.”\n- Closing: thanks and congratulations to the “class of 2017!”\n\nCommencement Address by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, Washington College – Chestertown, Maryland, May 20, 2017. IMF Communications Department. MEDIA RELATIONS Phone: +1 202 623-7100 Email: MEDIA@IMF.org\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Christine Lagarde\n- France and the IMF\n- Speeches\n- PRESS CENTER\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2017/05/20/sp052017-what-comes-next-commencement-address-lagarde" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2017/05/20/sp052017-what-comes-next-commencement-address-lagarde/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2017/05/20/sp052017-what-comes-next-commencement-address-lagarde/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2017/05/20/sp052017-what-comes-next-commencement-address-lagarde/bundle-manifest.json)", "Published: May 20, 2017", "Central recommendation: it is often wise to say “I don’t know” and focus on knowing how to find answers rather than pretending to have them.", "Education’s role: a liberal arts education teaches how to find answers by developing critical thinking and the capacity for lifelong learning.", "Personal example: the speaker emphasizes that even at the IMF there are frequent unknowns and new issues requiring continuous learning.", "Key observation: “The future, your future, is one where technology, automation, and artificial intelligence may eventually supplant humans in a variety of tasks.”", "Statistic: “Two-thirds of today’s children will have jobs which have not been invented yet.” [2]", "Comparative advantage: studying the humanities and cultivating broad interests (e.g., Aeschylus, Sappho, Brontë, Dylan, design) fosters polymath skills useful in an evolving economy.", "Institutional context: the IMF has “189 member nations” united by cooperation to maintain economic stability and prosperity.", "Lifelong learning imperative:", "Practical advice:", "Definition: public service extends beyond government work to volunteering, community activism, parent-teacher associations, and applying values in any job.", "Speaker’s value focus: gender equality has been a life-long commitment and an IMF analytical priority.", "Career anecdote and trajectory:", "IMF programmatic work:", "Institutional framing of IMF roles: the Fund acts as “firefighters” (financial assistance) and “doctors” (economic surveillance and guidance).", "Call to action: integrate values into professional roles regardless of sector; be creative and persistent in promoting values.", "Concrete suggestions by profession:", "Expect resistance: public service efforts will encounter skeptics; persistence and creativity are required.", "Small actions matter: the speaker gives the example of diversifying quoted sources in this commencement address to include more women.", "Main reassurance: graduates do not have to answer “What comes next?” immediately; they have the foundation to find the answer.", "Sources of guidance: training, values, and support from family and friends will “serve as a lighthouse in the journey of your life.”", "Closing: thanks and congratulations to the “class of 2017!”", "[Christine Lagarde](http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/cl.htm)", "[France and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/FRA/index.htm)", "[Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)", "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)", "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)" ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/news/articles/2017/05/20/sp052017-what-comes-next-commencement-address-lagarde/index.md", "json": "/en/news/articles/2017/05/20/sp052017-what-comes-next-commencement-address-lagarde/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/news/articles/2017/05/20/sp052017-what-comes-next-commencement-address-lagarde/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-25T20:51:58.909Z" }