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Hello, my name is Ashley Grice

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and I am the CEO of Brighthouse,

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the creative consultancy that is part of BCG.

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First off, I want to say congratulations

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on your milestone achievement,

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and I say that with both excitement and trepidation.

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I have two nieces who are also going through graduation

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this year, and I get a sense

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of both excitement and loss that they feel

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achieving such an important piece in your life

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at such a strange time.

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As for advice, I get asked by students all the time

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on finding a perfect first job,

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and in light of the job market

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and the changing ways of working

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I thought this might be of worry to you,

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so I wanted to quell your anxiety

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by saying this, simply, there is no perfect first job

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and the first job that you take

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will not define the rest of your career.

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In fact, it's taken me 25 years

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to get into the perfect job which is where I am now

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but I have certainly enjoyed the journey.

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So instead of looking at perfection,

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lean into a job where you can learn something

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about yourself, pick up skills

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both rational and emotional that will help you on your way.

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When I'm asked about my career I often show people

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two slides, the first one is how my career looks

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on LinkedIn.

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It starts with internships, it ends with my CEO position now

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and along the way there are title changes

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every couple of years, it looks very smooth,

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a 45 degree angle, a slope of 1 to 1.

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But in this way I think this LinkedIn is very misleading,

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it is just as filtered as a Kardashian Instagram post,

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don't let it fool you.

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I then show what my real career looks like,

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which is the same upward slope

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but with lots of peaks and valleys along the way.

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It's a very jagged trajectory, and it's in these jags

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where I learned all the life skills I needed.

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I learned things on the rational side

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that I need to be where I am now,

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how to price something, how to manage people,

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how to run a PNL.

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Also learned the emotional things

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I need to be where I am now,

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how to be a working parent, how to manage up,

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how to manage Millennials.

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It is the combination of the rational and emotional

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where true leadership emerges,

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and you learn these things in the jags of your career,

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so if I can tell you one piece of advice

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it would be to lean into the jags.

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My career has had many jags, and as I look back

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there are few things that I would change,

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I don't think I would play anything differently,

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because even when it was a time where I wasn't enjoying it

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I was learning something about myself

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and it allowed me to arrive at a place

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where I was both accomplished and happy.

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Things can change on a dime,

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so don't focus as much on the destination

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as you are on the journey.

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Lean into what you want to learn

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so that you can make sure you find value along the way.

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I wish you all the very best,

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I'm impressed by your generation's focus on authenticity,

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on sustainability, on personal responsibility,

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on inventiveness, please go do something with these gifts

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and enjoy your journey.

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Congratulations.