Newswise — Dr. Hoops, honored trustees, faculty and administrative colleagues, graduates, families and friends of USI...
"It is my honor to share this important day with you. It was also sobering, after I accepted Dr. Hoops' enthusiastic and persuasive request, to reflect on a message that might be helpful.
As I recall commencement speeches over the years, they fall generally into two groups. The first, and perhaps the more notable in public discourse, features learned proclamations, often uttered by eminent individuals in government or academia.
Teddy Roosevelt's speech to the 1902 class at the U.S. Military Academy comes to mind " a stirring tribute to West Point on the occasion of its centennial.
Or John F. Kennedy's 1963 address at American University " a moving plea for world peace, made all the more poignant by the fact that JFK delivered it just months before his death.
The second group of commencement speeches is less lofty in tone. These speeches offer more homespun, practical advice to graduates.
Last year brought two valuable examples of this practical sort. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, challenged the 2005 graduates of Stanford University by saying: "You've got to find what you love." Jobs observed that, by pursuing his fairly random interests as a college dropout, in a calligraphy course, he unwittingly prepared himself to create the beautiful typography embedded in the Macintosh computer ten years later. As Jobs recalled:
"¦it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later"¦ 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.
A second commencement address in 2005 contained similar reflections. Thomas Friedman, noted foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times and best-selling author of The Earth Is Flat, spoke to the graduating class at Williams College and listed as Lesson #1: "Do what you love." Quoting writer Dan Pink, Friedman maintained that this is "actually a very hard-headed survival strategy because"¦the world is getting flat."
What does Friedman mean by this figure of speech? Basically, because of advancements in computers and software, the world of work is now truly global. The flatter the world gets, the more essential it is that you do what you love"¦. All the boring, repetitive jobs are going to be automated or outsourced in a flat world. The good jobs that will remain will be those that cannot be automated or outsourced, they will be the jobs that demand or encourage some uniquely human creative flair, passion and imagination. In other words, jobs that can only be done by people who love what they do."¦ So whatever you plan to do, "¦ don't just listen to your head. Listen to your heart. It's the best career counselor there is.Later in 2005 I heard Friedman say that "learning to love learning" was the most important skill a person could have in today's flat world—because the next challenge will always require the creativity of making new connections among diverse concepts.
Today I'd like to pick up this practical train of thought from Jobs and Friedman—find what you love and do it—and take it a little further.
On this front, I have some good news—and some other news.
The good news is, as the famed management guru Peter Drucker opined: [my paraphrase] you quit being paid to know all the answers the day you finish school. Up to that point, the professor asks the questions and you do all in your power to show that you know all the answers, thereby earning the best possible grade.
The other news is that there will be much more to learn in the years ahead. No way can you rest on your laurels for more than a day—this day. You aren't finished with learning. In fact, arguably the most valuable asset you take from this institution and your experience here is, quite literally, an enhanced ability to learn. Hopefully, as Friedman urged, you have been infected with an insatiable love of learning.
After graduation, as you mature in your responsibilities, you will learn more and go further if you ask questions, as Drucker pointed out. This is the beauty of a meaningful education—that you have a well-developed set of values and ethics, that your mind is open to new knowledge, that you know how to ask the right questions, how to find good information and how to make good decisions.
For what purpose do we acquire knowledge and the ability to learn continuously? To pursue meaningful employment to support ourselves, our families and our communities, to be sure. To explore, develop and stretch our personal talents, definitely. And, I would suggest, to improve circumstances for others.
As I review the impressive range of your degrees, I see many focused on serving others and improving their quality of life—through business, health administration and nursing, engineering, social work and education, to name only a few.
At Lumina Foundation we say that "education is one of the best investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people." Studies tell us that college graduates reap personal benefits of higher income, more job flexibility and better health. They also cost less in terms of public support for welfare and prisons. They pay more taxes, generate economic growth, volunteer and vote in higher proportion than other segments of the public.
Many who receive a college degree have large financial debts. I know this is a critical concern. College costs are difficult to manage. Repayment will be a large concern as you leave today.
Having said that, as students we all benefit from the significant contributions of others—in the hard-won freedom we have as Americans, in the knowledge we receive during our school years, in the personal encouragement we are given, in the campus we enjoy and in the financial support that alumni, taxpayers and community leaders give to USI to help reduce the price that students actually pay. How can we repay this debt and use our educations to benefit others?
One way is by paying it forward. Remember the movie? One good deed created many others. Albert Einstein once said, "It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it."
You can start by saying "thank you" to everyone who helped you reach this day of success—parents, spouse, children, professors, high school teachers and counselors, administrators, coaches, neighbors—you know your own list. Take a little time to let each of these folks know how much you appreciate their confidence and their gifts to your life.
Next, write a check to USI. It doesn't matter how modest the amount. Give $1, $5 or $10. The important thing is to recognize the great investment of resources USI has made in you and begin the habit right now of giving back—to help the next generation of students. I'm sure the Development Office will gladly provide envelopes for your convenience.
Then, in the next two weeks, make it your mission to find a place to volunteer and begin, or increase, your giving back—or paying forward—to your community. A good starting point would be your church, mosque, synagogue or any organization supported by your religious affiliation. It will certainly benefit your family and community. It also will benefit you.
Here's the lesson I've learned since graduation: Volunteering has taught me more than any class or job ever could. Simply by giving my time, I have had the privilege of working on issues I love, experimenting with skills I didn't know I had, and exploring a variety of fields with the lowest risk of failure. Volunteering allowed me to observe management lessons in real time, to discover career options I could never have identified by myself—to clarify what I love and to connect those random dots that Steve Jobs talked about.
My husband used to call me his "five-year wonder" because every five years he wondered what I was going to do next. I've volunteered for a wide range of organizations—from public housing to arts organizations, from criminal justice boards to a theological seminary, and from my city's human rights panel to the community foundation and my church. Every major job move in my checkered career has come from knowledge or experience I gained, the people I met, and the challenges we faced together as we struggled to raise and invest money, make equitable decisions and deliver services to the community.
Dr. Hoops and the faculty would want me to acknowledge the great utility of a liberal arts degree in English literature and music, as well as the flexibility of a law degree. I totally agree "¦ and yet, as we move out into the world to actually earn a living and create a life—to find what we love—volunteering is the best route I have found to pursue the adventure.
Most importantly, volunteering gives us the means to invest in the futures of others, just as others have invested in us. Why did I volunteer for our community foundation? I received a full-tuition college scholarship from a community foundation that had no knowledge of me at all. The foundation simply wanted to support students who came to its city. I will never be able fully to repay that debt—but I can work on it. I can pay it forward—and so can you.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whose indomitable spirit led Great Britain and its allies to victory in World War II, said: "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
Welcome to the postgraduate—or post-postgraduate—world! We are sorely in need of your talent, your creativity, your energy and insight. Do what you love—and make a life while you are making a living.
Congratulations to the Class of 2006."
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