Commencement (3 of 3)

#2:  David McCullough, Jr., Wellesley High School, 2012

The McCullough family must have a gift for these things, because this speech is pure gold.  David McCullough, Jr., tops his dad (#5 on my list of great commencement speeches) with this past summer's speech that went viral online after he told students they "weren't special."  

My favorite line of this speech is the final one (listed below in bold).  It has a poetic quality with the pause between "...special." and "Because..." which leaves room for interpretation.  I see the pause as an indictment of society's need to classify people as either above or below one another--as more or less special.    

There are some parallels between the two McCullough speeches on this list, and it's clear David, Jr. has been strongly influenced by his father.  Both father and son urge their audiences to read and relentlessly pursue education.  Yet, David, Jr. one-ups his father with the "shock-value" of delivering this address to a group of students from one of the most privileged Boston suburbs.  This clearly is a man who cares more about communicating his message than he does about keeping his job! This speech comes right out and challenges a culture that is so maniacally focused on being "special" that it has forgotten to highlight the importance of being perfectly oneself.

Excerpts:

• "A winning percentage like that’ll get you last place in the American League East.  The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings." 

• "So think about this: even if you’re one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you." 

• "You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another–which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality—we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement." 

• "We have come to see them as the point—and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole. No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it’s 'So what does this get me?'" 

• "If you’ve learned anything in your years here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning." 

• "Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might." 

• "You’ll note the founding fathers took pains to secure your inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—quite an active verb, “pursuit”—which leaves, I should think, little time for lying around watching parrots rollerskate on YouTube."

•  "Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things. Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view."

•  "The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.

            Because everyone is."

Text:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/09/david-mccullough-at-wellesley-commencement-you-are-not-special-video.html
Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfxYhtf8o4

#1 steve jobs, Stanford University, 2005

As was the case with so many of his creations, this speech is different from all the others on this list.  Read in a certain light, one could argue this speech is an egomaniacal rant.  I do not see it that way.  This speech has the simplicity of an iPhone, and it's content is unmatched.  Coming from a man who rarely made a public appearance without some hidden agenda, I believe Jobs used this speech as an opportunity to address an audience that extended well beyond Stanford University's Class of 2005.  Steve's address reads like a "last lecture," and the stories he tells are simply brilliant.  

Before I give you the excerpts and links to this speech, I want to introduce it with a story of my own--one that I think is critical to understanding the way this man worked.  This will be familiar to those who have read Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography. 

In the early 1980s, Apple's most lucrative and productive computer was the Apple II.  It was a simple yet popular personal computer that, both at the time and for the following decade, was responsible for the majority of Apple's revenue.  While the company wanted to continue along the lines of the Apple II and ride the revenue stream, Steve broke away and formed a rebel group within the organization.  He handpicked a select team of individuals to work on a project he was determined to see through--the development of the Macintosh.  When the first Mac was finally finished on February 10, 1982, Steve had his "rebel crew" sign the inside of the casing--like artists.  

This act of defiance was indicative of the behavior that led to Steve's firing from Apple a few years later.  He was not fired for caring too little; he simply cared too much about projects which his bosses deemed "unprofitable."  (I am aware that this oversimplifies the situation, but I'd argue his unwillingness to compromise was the main factor in the board's decision to turn against Jobs.)  For an artist who refused to capitalize his name in signatures, I thought it would be a small yet fitting tribute to honor that peculiarity in the heading for the #1 speaker on my list.  Enjoy.

Excerpts:

• "Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

• "I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over."

• "I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me."

•  "You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

• "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

• "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

• "It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you."

Text:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/67769038/Steve-Jobs-2005-Stanford-commencement-address

Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Commencement (2 of 3)

#4:  Aaron Sorkin, Syracuse University, 2012

This is one of the more recent speeches on my list.  I read it because--thanks to my brother, John, and friend Tommy--I've become fascinated by the HBO series The Newsroom.  Sorkin's previous works include A Few Good Men and the television series The West Wing, among others.  It turns out he's pretty good at offering advice as well.  
Note:  If you enjoy these excerpts, I'd highly recommend watching and listening to the YouTube of his delivery (link is below).  It's exceptional.  
  
Excerpts:

• "And make no mistake about it, you are dumb…There are some screw-ups headed your way. I wish I could tell you that there was a trick to avoiding the screw-ups, but the screw-ups, they’re a-coming for ya. It’s a combination of life being unpredictable, and you being super dumb."

• "To get where you're going, you have to be good, and to be good where you're going, you have to be damned good.  Every once in a while, you'll succeed.  Most of the time you'll fail, and most of the time the circumstances will be well beyond your control."

• "In the summer of 1983, after I graduated, I moved to New York to begin my life as a struggling writer.  I got a series of survival jobs that included bartending, ticket-taking, telemarketing, limo driving, and dressing up as a moose to pass out leaflets in a mall."

• "You'll meet a lot of people who, to put it simply, don't know what they're talking about.  In 1970 a CBS executive famously said that there were four things that we would never, ever see on television: a divorced person, a Jewish person, a person living in New York City and a man with a mustache." 

• "Develop your own compass, and trust it.  Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt."

• "Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character."

• "Rehearsal's over. You're going out there now, you're going to do this thing. How you live matters."

Text:  http://www.syr.edu/news/articles/2012/sorkin-remarks-05-13.html

Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwvilfPWHYI

#3:  Conan O'Brien, Harvard University (2000) and Dartmouth University (2011) 

Look at that--you're getting two for the price of one here!  This is not a "cop-out" to try and squeeze six speeches on a list with room for five.  These speeches must be presented together because their messages build upon each other.  While I guarantee these speeches will make you laugh, they will also make you think.  The person who delivered the speech at Harvard in 2000 is not the same person who delivers the speech to Dartmouth in 2011.

Wait, you're right, I got a little carried away there.  It is the same person...but he's grown.  He's learned from his experiences and adapted to changing circumstances.  In 2000, O'Brien lectured the graduates on the virtues of failure.  He credits his past failures for his current successes.  Yet, he appears to think  his greatest failures are in the past.  At Harvard, Conan has a linear view of the way the world works.  His failures were valuable, he is successful now, and he will continue to move in that direction.   Even though he told the Harvard grads "the story is never over," Conan realized the hard way that failure--even when you know it's a possibility--is paralyzing!  In a world where change is the only law, Conan's 2011 address shows someone who has grown in ways that even he had never imagined.  Often, it is our reaction to a particular circumstance that defines it as either "good" or "bad."

Excerpts:

Harvard, 2000

• "I'd like to thank the Class Marshals for inviting me here today. The last time I was invited to Harvard it cost me $110,000, so you'll forgive me if I'm a bit suspicious."

• "1985 seems like a long time ago now… In 1985 we drove cars with driver's side airbags, but if you told us that one day there'd be passenger side airbags, we'd have burned you for witchcraft."

• "I'm going to tell you my story because, first of all, my perspective may give many of you hope, and, secondly, it's an amazing rush to stand in front of six thousand people and talk about yourself."

• "I was finally putting my Harvard education to good use, writing dialogue for a man who's so stupid that in one episode he forgot to make his own heart beat. Life was good."

• "I took the opportunity seriously but, at the same time, I had the relaxed confidence of someone who knew he had no real shot. I couldn't fear losing a great job I had never had. And, I think that attitude made the difference."  (This is very interesting when viewed in the context of his 2011 Dartmouth address.  It's amazing to think that he said this in 2000...before he was fired from The Tonight Show after ratings fell and Jay Leno decided to return.)

• "I've dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. Your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you're desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way."

•  Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over.

Text: http://www.examiner.com/article/the-best-commencement-speech-ever-written-by-conan-o-brien

Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cFY0-IFcwc

Dartmouth, 2011

• "Before I begin, I must point out that behind me sits a highly admired President of the United States and decorated war hero while I, a cable television talk show host, has been chosen to stand here and impart wisdom. I pray I never witness a more damning example of what is wrong with America today."

•  "That’s right, with your college diploma you now have a crushing advantage over 8 percent of the workforce. I'm talking about dropout losers like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. Incidentally, speaking of Mr. Zuckerberg, only at Harvard would someone have to invent a massive social network just to talk with someone in the next room."

• "But don't get me wrong, I take my task today very seriously. When I got the call two months ago to be your speaker, I decided to prepare with the same intensity many of you have devoted to an important term paper. So late last night, I began."

• "And one of the reasons it's so tough finding work is that aging baby boomers refuse to leave their jobs. Trust me on this. Even when they promise you for five years that they are going to leave—and say it on television—I mean you can go on YouTube right now and watch the guy do it, there is no guarantee they won't come back. Of course I'm speaking generally."

• "Disappointment stings and, for driven, successful people like yourselves it is disorienting."

• "There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized. I went to college with many people who prided themselves on knowing exactly who they were and exactly where they were going."

• "Your path at 22 will not necessarily be your path at 32 or 42. One's dream is constantly evolving, rising and falling, changing course."

• "It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention."

Text:  http://www.dartmouth.edu/~commence/news/speeches/2011/obrien-speech.html

Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDYXaaT9sA

Commencement (1 of 3)

I want to begin this next post with a BIG congratulations.  One of my best friends from Wildwood Crest, NJ, is graduating from college this semester, and I got the idea for this post while thinking about his achievement.  I’m not going to use any names, but this person has been through an awful lot over the past few years.  His journey through college was anything but conventional.  Then again, what real journey goes exactly to plan?  I’d argue that more “learning” occurs when one is forced to make adjustments after the original plans go awry.  This person’s dedication towards achieving a goal he set for himself has been incredibly inspiring, and I couldn’t be prouder to know him.  In the spirit of my buddy’s graduation, we’ll commence with this post.

The whole idea of the collegiate commencement address fascinates me.  (Do you see what I just did there!)  Usually delivered by an accomplished businessperson, politician or artist, it aims to cram one final nugget of wisdom into a group of students the college or university proclaims their best and their brightest—those worthy of a degree.  Ironically, the school is doing exactly it what had always warned the students against doing—cramming at the last minute! 

The logical thought would be that any commencement address should congratulate these hard-working individuals on the end of their education.  The speaker should tell them how great they all are for having worked so hard over the past few years.  One might even go as far as to expect that the speaker tell the graduates how easy the rest of their lives will be from that moment forward, right?  Wrong.  It’s just a shame most of the soon-to-be-graduates are too drunk and/or hung-over during the ceremony to remember this advice for beginning, not ending, their journey.  Maybe the school was right about that advice on cramming at the last minute?!

Now, we’ll move to the good part.  I’m more of a “learn by doing” type of person.  Instead of explaining to you what I think makes a good commencement speech and why you should love them too, I’m going to show you five of my favorites.  As always, I hope you’ll make your own judgments.  Tonight I’ll reveal the first one, then I’ll post two more tomorrow and the final two on Monday (12/10).  

#5: David McCullough, Boston College, 2008

I was in the audience for this one, but only in body.  It took me some time to really appreciate it.  Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the speech, along with links to both the complete text and to a video of the speech as it was delivered. 

Excerpts:

• “Facts alone are never enough… One can have all the facts and miss the truth.  It can be like the old piano teacher’s lament to her student, ‘I hear all the notes, but I hear no music.’”

• “Abigail Adams put it perfectly more that 200 years ago:  “Learning is not attained by chance.  It must be sought with ardor and attended with diligence.”  Ardor, to my mind, is the key word. “

• “For many of you of the graduating class, the love of learning has already taken hold!  For others, it often happens later and often by surprise, as history has shown time and again.  That’s part of the magic.”

• “We’re all what we read to a very considerable degree.”  (What does that say about you—here—reading this blog?)

• "If what you have learned here makes you want to learn more, well, that’s the point.”

• “…always remember to tip the maid.”

• “On we go.”

Link to text (Click the link to view in "plain HTML" once you're directed to the site): https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-ONmXfbvAlcJ:www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/08/McCullough_BCCommencement08.pdf+david+mccollugh+commencement+speech+boston+college&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiAscyWCPME8VlkRKP4xLDRkx08ejC8togKVH87EY1rjwlt6lzStBSdW1-UPDqOrYi40YRsSg96VovXqbtnVdcFZlaLub4u78Fb80v34nD21e9OmK3JWxJlA0_G4SDs_536gBte&sig=AHIEtbSN5A8GFeoin6riCkDWvwpP3V6fMw

Link to full video:  

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/205440-1

Read Me

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Teddy Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic"
April 23, 1910

Change

Coach Paulo gave a nice little talk today on swim technique. While the talk was outwardly about changing swimming technique to be more efficient and powerful in the water, his bigger message was that we need to be open to change.

Demanding excellence--both athletically and personally--requires an openness to change. One must be humble enough to admit that one's current situation is unsatisfactory, yet at the same time cocky enough to KNOW that you possess the talent and ability to be much better. In a world full of paradoxes, this is another one.

As the conversation moved towards the idea of change, the image of the Grand Canyon popped into my head. I'm not sure why--I've never even been there. Yet, the more Paulo talked about the power of change, the more I thought about the image.

I thought about the power of concentrated effort. Is there any better symbol of that power than the Grand Canyon? George Bernard Shaw once said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

 If one were to take a glass of water and pour it over a rock, the water would run right off the harder surface. One would undoubtably conclude that the rock was stronger than the running water. Yet, the Grand Canyon proves that the water--not the rock--is stronger. How can this be?

 The short answer is determination. Many people want to change their situations in life. It is DETERMINATION that separates those who DO from those who DON'T. The determined water, though seemingly weaker, carved a gorge in the rock that can be seen from outer space! The water's concentrated effort to move from point A to point B, over time, proved to be stronger than the complacent rock. The talk and the promises are useless. Action is what matters. Action. Day in, and day out. Every day.