Matthew McConaughey: 9 Bites of Wisdom

Best graduation speech of 2015 – I love this time of year because of all the amazing leaders providing inspiring commencement speeches. However, the best one I have come across did not come from a business leader or politician. It came from a Hollywood actor. Matthew McConaughey spoke to the 2015 graduates of the University of Houston. Here are my top nine favorite things McConaughey said:

1. “The sooner we become LESS IMPRESSED – with our life, our accomplishments, our career, the prospect in front of us – and MORE INVOLVED with these things, the sooner we get a whole lot better at doing them.”
2. “LIFE’S NOT EASY…don’t try and make it that way. It’s not fair, it never was, it isn’t now, it won’t ever be. Do not fall into the entitlement trap of feeling you are a victim. You are not. Get over it and get on with it. And yes, most things are more rewarding when you break a sweat to get ’em.”
3. “Unbelievable is the stupidest word in the dictionary. It shouldn’t ever come out of our mouths. Give others and yourself more credit. It just happened, you witnessed it, you just did it, believe it. Acknowledge acts of greatness as real, and do NOT be naive about mankind’s capacity for evil nor be in denial of our own shortcomings. NOTHING we do is unbelievable.”
4. “Happiness is different than Joy. Joy is not a response to some result, it is a constant. Joy is “the feeling we have from doing what we are fashioned to do,” no matter the outcome. JOY is always in process, under construction – it’s in the constant approach, alive and well -in the DOING of what we are fashioned to do… and enJOYing doing it.”
5. “Define Success For Yourself. WHATEVER your answer is, DON’T CHOOSE ANYTHING THAT WILL JEOPARDIZE YOUR SOUL. PRIORITIZE WHO YOU ARE, WHO YOU WANT TO BE, AND DON’T SPEND TIME WITH ANYTHING THAT ANTAGONIZES YOUR CHARACTER.”
6. “We do our best when our destinations are beyond the “measurement,” when our reach continually exceeds our grasp, when we have immortal finish lines. When we do this, the race is never over. The journey has no port. The adventure never ends because we are always on our way.”
7. “ALWAYS PLAY LIKE AN UNDERDOG.”
8. “All I want is what I can see, and what I can see, is in front of me.”
9. “I shook hands with myself, my best friend, the one we’re all stuck with anyway. From that morning on, the adventure was awesome. I was present, out of my own way, not anticipating next, embracing only what was in front of my eyes, and giving everything the justice it deserved.”

*Related: Three things Matthew McConaughey has to do everyday

Making meaningful moments come to life – With 25 years in the hospitality industry, Tracey Moss’ experiences have taught her to always look at a product through the lens of the consumer and to focus on the experience. To Tracey, what’s in the box is not as important as how it feels to open it. Tracey Moss believes in creating memorable experiences for people and in making meaningful moments come to life. As the Director of the Owner’s Club at Hilton Worldwide, she dedicates herself to providing inspirational levels of service and hospitality to the world’s leaders of hospitality. Her vehicle for doing so is the Owner’s Club, which she and her team launched in 2011. This unique recognition club caters to more than 4,000 Hilton Worldwide franchisees and their key influencers around the world.

Tracey Moss speaking at the Secret Service Summit – Tracey will be presenting a breakout session at this year’s Secret Service Summit September 29th – 30th, titled Driving Franchise Engagement: A B2B Results Story. Every big business wants to Wow its Customers, but are you also inspiring your brand agents (your business partners and distributors) to feel that same sort of passion about your brand? If not, the time to start is now. Tracey Moss will take you on a journey through the life cycle of a member of Hilton Worldwide Owner’s Access, a unique club designed to fully engage Hilton Worldwide hotel owners around the globe. During this presentation, you will discover the deep difference between building value and loyalty — and what comes next. You will learn how to meaningfully engage with partners and distributors, how to measure both the rational and emotional success of that engagement, and how to secure brand allegiance by leveraging the Loyalty Equation.

**Extra! Extra! Only 11 tables left at America’s #1 Customer Service Conference. Click Here to Read to register or learn more.