# Valedictorian Speech at the MIM'27 Commencement Ceremony - Daniel Baranov

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** INSEAD
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1u4tkUB59M
- **Дата:** 10.06.2026
- **Длительность:** 9:34
- **Просмотры:** 59
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/53290

## Транскрипт

### Segment 1 (00:00 - 05:00) []

Good afternoon. Dear faculty, staff, dear guests, parents, dear MIMs. First, let me apologize for taking so much airtime today. I couldn't resist. But I tried to be brief. I'm deeply grateful for this recognition. It matters a lot to me. But in fact, I owe it to each one of you. The year at INSEAD was rough at times, and luckily, there were people around to support me. My family, my dear friends, my classmates, and everyone at INSEAD who keeps it running. If you think about it, nothing would be possible without others. Our great lunches at the cafeterias wouldn't be possible without our great cooks, payment app developers, and the whole food supply chain. Our campuses wouldn't be so clean without people working 7 days a week to make it look brand new. Fontainebleau Oktoberfest, Lisbon trip, ski trip, Bali trip, health week, Earth week, paintball, yearbook, you name it. Every initiative was made possible because of the people who chose to organize it. And INSEAD as a school was made possible because people came together and made it a reality. They gave their time, they gave their effort, and today we are going to get our degrees. I want you to think about everyone who helped you get to this wonderful point, and as a small tradition of this commencement ceremony, I invite you to stand up one more time and applaud those people and yourselves. — Sometimes it's just never enough. It's an honor to give a speech, especially today. And I thank you for that. You know, while I have this fleeting moment of inflated self-importance, I invite you to take a quick look into that certain future that lies in front of us. Looking years ahead, many problems might come up on our way. This year has exposed many of them. AI made its way from being a friendly chat which can draft an email with dashes for us to a universal tool that can do nearly everything we've been trained for, and a little more, even if you studied quantum physics. Conflicts around the world have grown into disruptors of peace, economies, and lives. Diseases are putting to the test every healthcare system humans have built so far. And don't even get me started on the job market. We all are facing these challenges already as everything is globally interconnected. And INSEAD signifies it by bringing us together across the from across the planet, sending us from France to Singapore, and making us open-minded and respectful to an amazing diversity of life and cultures we have in this world. This knowledge, this mindset, gives us something which can either help us build the next Singapore or make us destroy what previous generations have meticulously put together. And this something is power. And today, dear Mems, you start your path to it. Looking years ahead, many of you will have the opportunity to shape your surroundings and move others toward your beliefs. You will become leaders who can transform business and society. But as you know from both INSEAD and a famous movie, great power comes with great responsibility. We are going to be responsible for those we love and those who depend on us. This might require our time, our effort, and sometimes our soul. A sacrifice, if you may, that can never pay off in money or fame, but instead can pay off in meaning. Here I would like to quote Andre Maurois who wrote in his open letter, Tout être qui vit pour les autres, pour son pays, pour un femme, pour un œuvre, pour les affamés, pour les persécutés

### Segment 2 (05:00 - 09:00) [5:00]

oublie merveilleusement ses angoisses et aussi mes doutes aussi. Which stands for anyone who lives for the others, for the country, for a woman, for art, for the hungry, for the persecuted, wonderfully forgets about their own worries and petty anxieties. I'm certain your parents know what I'm trying to say here. Mine certainly do. But please, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that your own happiness should be put aside. I'm just saying don't waste your life and potential pursuing just wealth accumulation. Money is your tool, your mean, not the goal. Probably that's not something you to hear on your graduation day, but we're all going to be dead. Didn't expect a laugh. So, what truly matters is what we build, not what we consume. Surely, I'm trying to push you and myself to listen to your consciousness, your hearts, and be the best versions of yourselves. But, I know you cannot force people to change. Humanity has attempted that for centuries and has failed every time. History repeats and human beings continue being human beings, imperfect as we are. I know one speech changes nothing or almost nothing. Which brings me to my last point and my favorite Insight tradition, the bell and the gong. What a great way to announce your failures. But, to me it's more about trials. Trying to get a job. Trying to break a bad habit. Trying to bring out the best in people. Failing often. Discouragingly often. But, still trying. Maybe you will not fully succeed at what you're set out to do. But, every attempt will become one small drop of effort to build the world you want to live in. And maybe by the end of this short, but inspiring journeys of ours, these small drops will add up to an ocean. And leave the foundation for next generations to keep trying in the same selfless cycle we call life. It may not have a grand purpose, but it is beautiful in itself. Good luck with whatever comes your way, and thank you. — Thank you, Daniel, and congratulations again on this significant achievement. And now, the moment that we've all been waiting for, which is the class recognition ceremony. Uh we will call the first student very shortly, so just to give you some logistics of how we're going to manage this. When we start the class recognition ceremony, the team positioned in the room will indicate when you should stand up, so please wait for them to give you that signal. You will come up from the stage on the left-hand side. Thank you to the team to tell me which hand to raise. Uh and receive your diploma. We'll take a photo with you, and afterwards you will exit from the right. Uh and go back to your seat. Does that make sense? All right. So, we're ready to go? — Ready?