赵小兰--开讲啦---英文演讲稿

What are my career goals? I didn’t have it, which was a good thing because our community at that time was so small. So for me when I graduated from school. I was serious I had my simple goals, one is to get a job, two, it is basically to get an apartment, so I can be independent.
And then I went to Harvard Business School. I graduated from Harvard Business School, and because my family was in business. I decided to go into banking, to get some experience in banking. I didn’t understand so much about what banking was all about, but I learned. I worked for Citi Group, and when I was in the middle of working in Citi Group for 4 years, I had an opportunity to work at the White House because Citi Group had a special program. They selected outstanding performers within the bank and then gave them opportunity to support them for an intern in the government. I was selected as a White House fellow. I worked at the White House for one year. It was a difficult time, not easy, but I was so excited. It was so interesting because there was no Chinese, no Asian at the White House at that time, so I felt I was blazing a new trail for other Asian Americans. And I was learning a lot to be a better leader in the future. I worked for the White House for a year.
The President at that time was Wilson Reagan. He was from California. I grew up in New York.
I had never been to California, so I decided to go to California, so I found a job in Bank of America in California and moved to California. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have friends there, but I was excited. I just wanted to see what California was like. So I was within California for 3 years and one day I got a phone call from Secretary Elizabeth Dole, and she was the Secretary of Transportation, and she needed someone who understood banking which I gained the experience from Citi Bank, and she also needed someone who understood shipping which I also had gained in Bank of America, so the two expert teams really helped me to get the job that she had admired. She had a portfolio (证券投资组合) in the Department of Transportation that was losing $1.8 a year, and she needed a banker to go and clear it up. So within one weekend I flew back from California, found an apartment in Washington D.C and started work on Monday. This is Maritime Administration. I worked there for 2 years and learned a great deal about the government. Around 2 years later, I was appointed Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission. The reason why I was appointed was because the previous chairman of Federal Maritime Commission had passed away suddenly. The government needed someone who understood shipping, who had been in the government in shipping, who can be the Chairman. So once again my particular background in shipping, transportation and banking was very important, so I was the Chairman for a year, and then a new president came in. It was the first President Bush, and he asked me to be the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Transportation. At that time I was 35, though older than you, very very young. I was the youngest Deputy Secretary in the whole government and I was also the first Asian American Deputy Secretary in United States government.
And then in 1992, more than 20 years ago, such a long time ago, President Bush lost his re-election. When he loses re-election, what happened to America is that everybody who was with him goes. So I joined United Way of America. United Way of America was the NO.1 charity in America. I was there for 4 years.
I had little time to get married at the age of 39. It was very late. My husband, as you know, is the leader of Congress. He is a very good husband. He does his own laundry, he cooks and helps me with the house too. He is very encouraging women. I think it is really important to find someone who is going to be your life partner because they will help you adapt your life and they will help you adapt to your career as well.
In 1996, I wanted a break, so I joined Think Tank where I took some time to study and learn more about American political system, how to get ideas across, because America is a very confrontational society. People are arguing all the time, so some people are saying this, some people are saying that, and it’s OK. There is a lot of fighting back and forth. And then in 2000, President George W. Bush was getting ready for his president chosen, and I had known him before, because I had companied with him for his father, and I knew him also at Harvard Business School. President George W. Bush was class of 71, and I was the class of 1979, so we knew each other from that as well. You will be interested to know that I was actually supposed to get, I thought, Department of Transportation, but nominate of Department of Transportation, so I was very disappointed.
I can tell you a lesson that if you face a disappointment, NO. 1, you must always think of a long term, so even though it can be a disappointment, don’t be discouraged. If you handle the disappointment well, there will be lots of other opportunities. So indeed, I was originally not offered, but I was indicated that Secretary of Labor was a position that they wanted for me. I wasn’t very familiar with labor as much as I was familiar with transportation. So I was hoping to be appointed to transportation. When it did not happen, I was very calm and I thanked the President and his team for considering me. I wish them well in their new administration, thinking that I will not be going to be a part of it. 2 weeks afterwith, the President nominate for the Secretary of Labor position encountered difficulties in confirmation hearing. In United States, the President proposes a Secretary, and then the Congress, the Senate approves. So the original choice for the Secretary of Labor encountered difficulties in her confirmation process, and she had to drop out(退出). So the White House, the President had to find a new Secretary of Labor, someone they trusted, someone they know, can clear and gain the approval of the Senate, who had no blemish on their records, so they can go through the confirmation process very easily. They approached me again and asked me whether I would be interested in accepting the position of the Secretary of Labor, so that was how I became the Secretary of Labor.
I wasn’t the first choice because my world at that time was so small that there were so few Asian Americans in the government at that time. There was no guide, no one to tell me what to expect, but what I did find helpful was what my parents were talking, you have to have courage, interest and curiosity. I think one thing my parents talked to me a great deal of is curiosity. You have to have interest, you have to have curiosity, and if you are curious, you will go on and seek more doors and more opened and these doors opened for you, if you have persistence, planned ahead, and if you have the will to persist. The world is changing so rapidly, so you have the same opportunities for you. I can’t tell you what the opportunities are, but if you have interest, and have the will, and you have the confidence, you will have a lot of opportunities.。