Graduation Day Speech delivered at PDA College of Engineering, Kalaburgi (Gulburga), Karnataka, India on 9-Jul-16.

1. GlobalEdge SoftwareLimited, Bangalore, India
www.globaledgesoft.com
The Power of YOU!
Speech delivered by Naganagouda S Jakkanagoudar, Associate Vice President &
Head – HR, GlobalEdge Software Limited at the 5th graduation ceremony of PDA
College of Engineering, Gulbarga, Karnataka

2. 1 | P a g e
It is a great honour to be invited as the chief guest at your 5th
graduation ceremony
after PDA College of Engineering has become an autonomous institution. Yours is a great
institution and GlobalEdge Software is proud to be associated with you. In fact, we have
many young Globalites who once studied here; they do not simply bring us engineering
ability, they bring to us your Culture, Values, Dreams & ambitions nurtured since 1958!.
Thank you so much for giving us your budding engineers, we promise to grow them
stronger, higher and faster. It has been an unwavering mission of PDA College of
Engineering to educate the future leaders to develop new ideas to make businesses truly
transformational & glo-cal in nature. It’s a big world with big issues looking for smart
solutions, I hope you are up for the challenge.
Let me begin by warmly congratulating all of you for your accomplishments. It’s
your day – A day you have rightfully earned through determination, commitment and
hard work. For all of you here today, it is rightly a time to rejoice in your accomplishment.
As you rejoice, do take a moment to thank your parents and pray for them. They gave you
life. Your parents believed in you. So, you are here. But you know what, it was the teacher
who shaped your life over the last two decades of growing up, of learning and pushing
your limits. Today, please also take a moment to appreciate, acknowledge a teacher who
made a difference to your life.
In your parting moment from this great institution, I find myself odd at how best I
can relate to you for the three reasons. First as a Student, not even by a long shot I would
have ever made it to your college, secondly my education & aspiration did not take me to
become an engineer and Thirdly, I did not attend my graduaiton event. So, what I share
with you today is not an advice, but my experience, thoughts of life at work. Most of what
I offer is common sense, but that sometimes is so uncommon in today’s world. It is a
receipe of experiences, wisdom, lessons learnt and lessons impacted as I have journeyed
through this substance called LIFE for the last 20 years.
There are many types of people in this world, people from all walks of life come
together to shape up their life, career and society. In the process some feel that god did
not give what they WANTED, but today I will tell you, god has given everthying that you
NEED to make your life beautiful. You're not going to get very far in life based on what
you already know. You're going to progress in life by what you're going to learn after you
leave college, so your past success does not gurantee of your future success. The process
of transformation does not start with someone else changing you; transformation is an
inner self reworking of what you are now to what you will be tomorrow. Your first task is
to discover yourself and then commit yourself to your GOAL for the rest of your life. You
must be the change you wish to see in the world. Many people come with big dreams,
but only some achieve their dreams. The only way to realize your dreams to wake up and
take RIGHT steps to make your dream a reality.

3. 2 | P a g e
India as a country, we are at a stage where the world is looking at us to solve their
challenges, regardless of where you land yourselves, be it private sector, public sector,
government job, legal, entertainment, entrepreneurship, artists – know one hard truth.
You have to race against the time, you have to be active citizens shaping the way the
world is ought to be. I wish to share with you some aspects of transforming your life to
take on the global challenges.
1. Be Passionate
The first and foremost is to enable “Passion in Action” in whatever you are doing,
because passion has no limitations and it’s infinite. Bring in your best to work and you
will do well in all aspects of life. Follow your passion, be prepared to work hard and
above all, don't let anyone limit your dreams. Please remember, we have within us
the strength, patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
Please develop a passion for learning and if you do, you will never experience a dearth
of learning & growing in life. Passion is key to success and happiness that enables us
all to lead a meaningful & impactful life.
Every dream begins with a dreamer, it’s not enough to dream, but one need to wake
up and work passionately to transform the dream into reality. Always remember you
have the power to make a difference. Passion is highly contagious, it is 24/7. It can
inspire everyone around you. If you treat work like a task, it will become uninteresting.
If you’re passionate about what you do and how you can make a difference, work will
no longer be work. It will feel like a mission and that changes everything around you,
so follow your passion and stay true to yourself.
2. Be a Life Long Learner
I am reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote – “Tell me and I forget, teach me
I may remember, involve me and I will learn.” It’s extremely important to continuously
learn, unlearn & relearn. We live in a world which is changing rapidly, technology
invasion has crossed all boundaries. As professionals always remember technology is
a means to solve problems and not an end in itself, be flexible, have an open mind to
embrace different skills, capabilities & competencies to remain at the edge. We are a
young country in an ageing world & that’s our biggest strength today. Each one of you
are part of mammoth 800 million young Indians who are the true knowledge
champions for the future. World needs you more than ever before, you are expected
to remain razor sharp and challenge the status quo, innovate continuously as you are
the generation which will solve the world’s most complex problems. Learn as if you
are going live forever and live as if you are going to die tomorrow.
Dr.govindappa story…

4. 3 | P a g e
3. Stay Focused & Stay Hungry
Every soul is potentially divine & all of us are born genius, but some people fail to
recognize the genius in them and lead a mediocre life. We are the masters of our life,
we must take charge, create interventions to transform our future & redefine our
destiny. Education is the most powerful weapon though which you can change the
world.
As you all know India we are country of abundance, be it all types of resources, human
capital and everything else is in abundance. I feel anything in abundance is a risk &
this brings in a very different kind of challenges which we need to manage to
overcome these risks. World today has very different expectations and the need of
the hour is not commoditization but a true differentiation. World is full of talent but
truly talented are very few. As a country our challenge is not to make talent a
commodity, not to make engineering education a commodity. Engineering cannot
become a commodity as it’s very special and requires a whole new set of skills, abilities
& aptitude. Engineering is all about left brain activity & need a fundamental shift in
thinking, approach to solve challenges & to develop LIFE skills. I urge you to stay
hungry and stay Focused.
4. Play Hard, work hard, work smart
Education is a process by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased and
intellect is sharpened, as a result of which one can stand on one’s own feet. Education
is nothing but the manifestation of perfection that already exists in human mind. One
of the most important and vital goals of education is to facilitate knowledge
enhancement, employment, self-confidence to impact the socioeconomic growth of
the country. If you want to move ahead in life, pick up things that others do not want
to do & do it better. Be a Sponge, Be Open to experiment. Success is not a destination,
but the road that you're on. Being successful means that you're working hard and
working to realize your dream. You can only live your dream by working towards it,
along the way enjoy your journey and live your dreams.
In life always follow your Heart & Gut. As professionals, you need to follow your
instinct and do what you like. In every action as professionals, it’s important to
differentiate between passion & passiveness. Any given situation in life one must
critically analyze situation on hand, apply mind & heart to arrive at a possible solution.
Always trust your heart & gut, you know yourself very well, do not allow other people

5. 4 | P a g e
to tell you who you are & what you are. You are the maker of your own destiny and
life.
5. Be a Good Team Player
We live in a boundary-less flat world working with multicultural & multigenerational
work place. It’s practically impossible to anyone to run the whole mile alone, the
strength of the team is each individual member and the strengthen of each member
is the team. Know that talent can win the games, but team work and intelligence wins’
championships. Creating a better world is a massive task and it does not happen with
individual brilliance but it requires immense team work, collaboration, trust as we
need an entire army of corporations to work together to build a better world. Please
develop highest level of self-integrity where a person clearly is able to distinguish
between the right and the Convenient. It’s about aligning with what you say in public
and what you really do in private. It is people, friends and your colleagues who make
things happen for you – who give you a chance to prove your worth. Any organization
is only as good as its people. Stay nimble and humble but firmly believe in your
abilities.
Key traits of a good team player are – Mutual Trust, Camaraderie, Collaboration,
Initiative, shared vision, Respect and Empathy. Humility is essential for self-
preservation – it helps you to remain grounded, approachable & accessible to people.
We all have come to this world with an expiry date, we do not have the luxury of
wasting any time, set clear goals, maximize your effort and ensure to enjoy your life.
You have a limited time, don’t waste living someone else’s life, the great adventure of
life lies ahead of you – So seize every opportunity and achieve success. In life's difficult
moments, do not lose heart. When fire or flood ravages your garden, like the humble
gardener, gently go back to your work.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again for the honour of being with you in your
moment of glory. I pray to the Almighty to help bring out the very best in you, to make
you competent emotionally, intellectually & physically to create a new world for
yourself. May your path be illuminated by the million suns brightness to enable you to
shine all through your life. My young friends, may the Power be with you Good Luck,
God bless, Go Explore, Experience & Excel to conquer the world.
Thank You!