There is a video that has gone viral that I actually find quite compelling - the video shows the actor, Ashton Kutcher accepting an award at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. The full text of his acceptance speech follows:
What’s up? Oh wow. Okay, okay, let’s be brutally honest – this is the old guy award, this is like the grandpa award and after this I gotta go to the geriatric home. Um, First of all, um, I don’t have a career without you guys. I don’t getta do any of the things I getta do without you. Um you know, I thought that uh, it might be interesting.. You know In Hollywood and in the industry and the stuff we do, there’s a lot of like insider secrets to keeping your career going, and a lot of insider secrets to making things tick. And I feel like a fraud.
My name is actually not even Ashton. Ashton is my middle name. My first name’s Chris. It always has been. It got changed when I was like 19 and I became an actor, but there are some really amazing things that I learned when I was Chris, and I wanted to share those things with you guys because I think it’s helped me be here today. So, it’s really 3 things. The first thing is about opportunity. The second thing is about being sexy. And the third thing is about living life.
So first opportunity. I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work. When I was 13 I had my first job with my Dad carrying shingles up to the roof, and then I got a job washing dishes at a restaurant, and then I got a job in a grocery store deli, and then I got a job in a factory sweeping Cheerio dust off the ground. And I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job, and every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.
Number two. Being sexy. The sexiest thing in the entire world, is being really smart. And being thoughtful. And being generous. Everything else is crap, I promise you. It’s just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less, so don’t buy it. Be smart, be thoughtful, and be generous.
The third thing is something that I just re-learned when I was making this movie about Steve Jobs. And Steve Jobs said when you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way that it is, and that your life is to live your life inside the world and try not to get in too much trouble, and maybe get an education and get a job and make some money and have a family, but life can be a lot broader than that when you realize one simple thing, and that is that everything around us that we call life was made up by people who are no smarter than you, and you can build your own things, you can build your own life that other people can live in. So build a life. Don’t live one, build one. Find your opportunities, and always be sexy. I love you guys.
Kutcher provides three really compelling pieces of advice here. First, work hard and take advantage of every opportunity that life gives you. Second, be thoughtful, smart, and generous. And third, build the life that you want to live - in other words, never stop believing and don't give up. Kutcher says it in a way that is believable, genuine, and heartfelt. More importantly, he says it in a way that his audience, in this particular case, everyone who was watching the Teen Choice Awards (and I am guessing that means mostly teenagers) can understand and relate.
Part of being a good leader is learning to communicate your message in a compelling way. In this regard, I think Kutcher knocked it out of the park. I also think it is important to stick to the point - Kutcher focused on three messages, all of which are more or less interrelated. About two years ago, my organization sent me for training on how to work with and talk to the media. The most important thing, or so I was told, was to stick to three points or less. Again, Kutcher kept it short and simple, focusing on three points - find your opportunities, be sexy, and build a life. Good advice and a great example of how to communicate an important message.
No comments:
Post a Comment