Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf，President of Liberia
Harvard University，May，26th，2011
The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them.心有多大梦想就有多大，不要担心超出自己现在的能力。
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
背景故事
每年一度的哈佛大学毕业典礼总是很轰动，尤其是演讲嘉宾及演讲内容，它不仅是一种仪式，更代表了一种趋势。2011年，担任哈佛大学毕业典礼的演讲嘉宾更是引人注目，她正是非洲国家第一位女总统、利比里亚的“铁娘子”埃伦·约翰逊·瑟利夫（Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf）。在演讲中，已73岁高龄的瑟利夫夫人从她个人的角度，讲述了利比里亚和非洲大陆的过去和现在，并勉励毕业生们，面对未来要有远大的理想，尽管生活中有困难与挫折，也要无所畏惧。确实值得赏析，非常值得分享。
名人简介
埃伦·约翰逊·瑟利夫（Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf，1938年10月29日——），非洲女政治家，利比里亚总统。生于利比里亚首都蒙罗维亚。毕业于美国威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的会计专业，同时也获得了美国科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的经济学学位，后又拥有哈佛大学公共管理硕士学位。
70年代，在利比里亚政府中担任驻联合国官员，后任财政部长。
1980年，利比里亚发生政变后，被迫流亡国外，先后供职于纽约联合国开发计划署以及世界银行。
1985年，回国竞选议员，但被当时的多伊政府以“肆意煽动”的罪名判处10年监禁。在美国的压力下，她在服刑两个月后获释，但仍受到跟踪和监视。
1989年，泰勒发动政变，推翻利比里亚政府，她被迫逃亡。
1997年，利比里亚举行总统选举，她作为13个总统候选人之一参加角逐，但因只得到10%的选票而未能如愿。
2005年，在第二轮总统选举中，她以59.4%的选票当选为利比里亚新一届总统。她不仅是该国历史上的第一位女总统，也是非洲有史以来的第一位女总统。
演讲赏析
Failure Is Just As Important As Success
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf，President of Liberia
Harvard University，May，26th，2011
President Drew Gilpin Faust，members of the Harvard Board of Overseers，members of the Harvard Corporation，faculty，staff and students，fellow alumni，members of the graduating Class of 2011，parents，family and friends，distinguished guests，ladies and gentlemen：
I am honored not only to be the 360th Commencement speaker at my alma mater，but to do so in the year Harvard University celebrates 375years of preparing minds as the oldest institution of higher learning in America.Thank you for the invitation and congratulations to you，Dr.Faust，the first female president of Harvard！It is a great privilege to share in Harvard’s distinguished and storied history.Harvard has produced presidents，prime ministers，a United Nations secretary-general，leaders in business，government and the church.But more than anything，Harvard has produced the men and women on whose talent our societies function-the leaders in law，health，business，government，design，education，spirituality and thought.
An event four decades ago put me on the path that has led me to where I am today.I participated，as a junior official of Liberia‘s Department of Treasury，in a national development conference sponsored by our National Planning Council and a team of Harvard advisers working with Liberia.My remarks，which challenged the status quo，landed me in my first political trouble.The head of the Harvard team，recognizing，in a closed society，the potential danger I faced，facilitated the process that enabled me to become a Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government.The Mason Program provided me with the opportunity to study a diversified curriculum for a master’s degree in public administration.Perhaps more importantly，in terms of preparation for leadership，the program enabled us to learn and interact with other Fellows and classmates who represented current and potential leaders from all continents.
I engaged，thrilled to be among the world‘s best minds，yet overwhelmed by the reality of being a part of the world’s most prestigious institution of learning.As a result，I did things that I should have done，like studying hard，going to the stacks to do the research for the many papers and for better knowledge of the history of my country.I notice a few blank stares-evidence of the generation gap-so let me explain：the stacks contained books，which people used to write，and other people used to read，before Google Scholar was created.I also did things that I should not have done，like exposing myself to frostbite when I joined students much younger than I to travel by bus to Washington，D.C.，to demonstrate against U.S.involvement in the Vietnam War.
It is difficult to imagine achieving all that I have，without the opportunity to study at Harvard.It is，therefore，for me a profound honor to be counted as an alumna.I salute my fellow graduates who share that rich heritage of academic excellence and the pursuit of truth.
In preparation for this Address，I was pleasantly surprised to learn how far back Liberia‘s connection to Harvard goes.The establishment of the Liberia College（now the University of Liberia）in 1862，the second-oldest institution of higher learning in West Africa，was led and funded by the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia.Simon Greenleaf，the Harvard College law professor who drafted Liberia’s Independence Constitution of 1847，was the founder and president of the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia.
The first Liberian graduate of Harvard did so in 1920，and since then there has been a steady trail of Liberians to Cambridge.Most of them returned home to pursue successful careers.
Thank you，Harvard，and thank you to the many Mason Program professors，dead and alive，for the compliments you paid when my papers and interventions were top rate，and for the patience you showed when I struggled with quantitative analysis.
The self-confidence，sometimes called arrogance that comes from being a Harvard graduate can also lead one down a dangerous path.It did for me.One year after my return from Cambridge，I was at it again，in a Commencement Address at my high school alma mater.I questioned the government‘s failure to address long-standing inequalities in the society.This forced me into exile and a staff position at the World Bank.Other similar events would follow in a life of in and out of country，in and out of jail，in and out of professional service.There were times when I thought death was near，and times when the burden of standing tall by one’s conviction seemed only to result in failure.But through it all，my experience sends a strong message that failure is just as important as success.