Jan 23rd, 2021 - Category: Communication
I enjoy commencement speeches. When I come across particularly good ones, I write about them in this blog, save highlights in my clippings folder, or watch the videos online. The latest one, “Solitude & Leadership,” came to my attention thanks to the website Library of Scroll. It was a speech given to the plebe class of West Point in 2009 by William Deresiewicz and was later published on the American Scholar website.
To me this was more true to the definition of “commencement” since it was actually given at the beginning of this class’s higher level education journey. Deresiewicz had a specific issue that was trying to address: how military / academic training at West Point is failing to train students to be leaders in the truest sense of the word. He traces the problem back to an even earlier stage of student education, that it prepares children right from the start to be “hoop jumpers,” passing tests, completing the right kinds (and amounts) of extra-curricular activities, getting the right tutoring, receiving the best grades, etc. Along the way, he brings in concepts from the book Heart of Darkness (aka the movie Apocalypse Now) that highlight how “the great mystery of bureaucracy” is the natural result of this process.
Why is it so often that the best people are stuck in the middle and the people who are running things—the leaders—are the mediocrities? Because excellence isn’t usually what gets you up the greasy pole. What gets you up is a talent for maneuvering.
He goes on to explain that this problem is at the core of a leadership crisis in the US: the leadership that made the US powerful and wealthy in previous generations is what has made the US complacent in this generation. It has created a generation of leaders who cannot and do not think for themselves, hence his central theme of solitude. Deresiewicz maintains that only by looking within, without distractions or peer pressure, can real leaders make the best decisions possible. Even for those of us who aren’t leader in the traditional sense, his advice is excellent and he goes on to explain the nuances of his argument clearly and compellingly. My favorite quote from the speech:
Unless you know who you are, how will you figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life? Unless you’re able to listen to yourself, to that quiet voice inside that tells you what you really care about, what you really believe in—indeed, how those things might be evolving under the pressure of your experiences.
It is well worth the time for a full read and it even inspired me to read some of his other work including the groundbreaking Heal for America. A complete list of his articles can be found here and here.
If you’re interested in learning more about his thinking on this subject, his book Excellent Sheep explores the idea that elite students are losing the ability to think independently due to this broken educational system and he offers suggestions on how to fix it.
On a side note, commencement speeches by definition come at the end of higher education and the “commencement” of the benefits their degrees will confer. There have been many historic ones over the years and Wikipedia has a page that includes three of my favorites: Feynman’s “Cargo Cult Science,” Steve Jobs’ “Calligraphy,” and Arianna Huffington’s “Third Women’s Revolution,” which I wrote about in detail in 2013.
My interest dates back to the first time I saw the play “You Can’t Take It With You.” Written in 1936, the play won multiple awards for writing and the movie won multiple Academy Awards. Near the beginning (page 13), the main character “Grandpa,” who enjoys attending graduation ceremonies just for fun, returns from a commencement speech:
Penny: Was it a nice commencement Grandpa?
Grandpa: Wonderful. They get better every year. (He peers into the snake solarium.) You don’t know how lucky you are you’re snakes.
Ed: Big class this year Grandpa? How many were there?
Grandpa: Oh, there must have been two acres. Everybody graduated. Yes sir. And much funnier speeches than they had last year.
To me, this exchange reinforces Deresiewicz theme. There is a disconnect between higher education and “real life” and commencement speeches are a popular place to point this out.
To end with something a little lighter, I’ll leave you with my favorite humorous commencement speech by Tim Minchin at the University of Western Australia, “9 Life Lessons.”
One: You don’t have to have a dream… I advocate passionate, dedicated pursuit of short term goals, be micro-ambitious, put your head down and work with pride on whatever is in front of you, you never know where you will end up…
Two: Don’t seek happiness, happiness is like an orgasm, if you think about it too much it goes away. Keep busy and aim to make someone else happy and you might find you get some as a side effect…
Three: Remember it’s all luck… Empathy is intuitive, but it’s also something you can work on actually.
And the rest are even better than these, enjoy!