Fed Chair Jerome Powell addresses Princeton graduates
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while speaking to Princeton University’s graduating class of 2025, stressed the importance of taking risks and showing initiative. (Credit: Princeton University)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell encouraged students to consider a career in public service and stressed the importance of taking risks and showing initiative while speaking to Princeton University’s graduating class of 2025 on Sunday.
“The combination of luck, the courage to make mistakes and a little initiative can lead to much success,” Powell said at the Baccalaureate Ceremony in Princeton, New Jersey. “But know this: the world needs more from you than personal achievements and individual success. I strongly urge you to find time in your careers for public service.”
Powell, who has served as the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve since 2018, spoke candidly to graduating students about his time at his alma mater — from which he graduated in 1975.
The American investment banker and lawyer, who grew up in Washington D.C. and majored in politics at Princeton, said he focused more on playing guitar than studying during his freshman year at the university. Although his grades improved by his senior year, he graduated from the private Ivy League university without a plan.
Powell, who has served as the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve since 2018, spoke candidly to graduating students about his experiences at his alma mater – from which he graduated in 1975. (Princeton University / Fox News)
“For those of you who are fundamentally unsure about your path, I was you,” Powell said.
In the months following graduation – and as his classmates and friends went on to work on Wall Street or study at graduate schools – Powell put labels on shelves in a warehouse. However, by the next fall, he entered law school ready to make the most of the opportunity, he said.
“We all move at our own pace, and that’s OK,” Powell said.
Acknowledging that everyone is a work in progress, Powell called on students to continue to learn and focus on self-improvement throughout their lives. But while hard work, determination and creativity are important, he recognized that luck has also played a role in his success.
“I got really lucky — beginning at birth,” he said.
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The Fed Chair urged the graduating class to take risks, and acknowledged that many of them may one day be asked to take on leadership roles in their careers. When that time comes, he said, it is normal to not feel ready — a sentiment he once felt himself.
“Just know that almost no one is truly ready,” Powell said. “All I can say is go for it!… Be the leader that people can learn from, the one that people want to work for.”
Additionally, Powell said some of the most pivotal moments in his life can be traced back to moments where he…
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