trying to close the loop

I just read here about Ursula M. Burns, CEO of Xerox, who delivered the commencement address at Rochester on May 15th and then the commencement address at MIT on June 3rd. She brought xerox-ed copies to whole new level.

For best results, let the video from Rochester play in the background and read through the transcribed MIT version below:

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Their advice to me can be boiled down into seven words:

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“Keep it real and keep it short!”

So with that in mind, let me give you a little bit of simple advice.

You are about to enter a pretty messy world. The words Charles Dickens used to describe 18th century London are eerily apt:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness.”

As the British would say, that strikes me as “spot-on.” We live in a world of both sobering challenges and awesome opportunities.

As you leave this serene campus, our nation is engaged in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. We are mired in debt and recovering at a painfully slow pace from the deepest recession in 80 years. Our political system at times seems incapable of action and our political rhetoric seems largely devoid of civility. There is a gross mismatch between the skills we need to build a 21st century economy and the product our public education system is producing.

And yet, for all our shortcomings:

• Our system of government is still the envy of the world. The “Arab spring” is all about a thirst for freedom and democratic rule.
• Our universities at their best are also the envy of the world. I dare say that the graduates here today are among the best and brightest that have been produced at any time and in any place in the long history of mankind.
• Our economy is sputtering and yet our ability to innovate continues to lead the world and create new industries.

So my first piece of advice to you is to not be discouraged. In the words of an old Johnny Mercer song that your parents will remember:

“You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
And don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”

Yes, we have problems. But we also have great opportunities. Despite the tremendous challenges you face, I implore you to embrace them. The truth is the world needs you as perhaps never before. We need your passion, creativity and drive. We need the spirit of exploration and the thirst for knowledge that you embraced here. We’re finding that some of our old assumptions and ideas don’t work anymore, and we can use people who are willing to ask “why do we do it that way?” and “how can we do it differently and better?”

Yes, it’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity. That is precisely what is rolled up in your diplomas. It’s all yours. You earned it. You deserve it. And, no one can take it away.

At the same time, I hope none of you will think of your diploma as an end-point. This event is called a commencement, not a curtain call. You’ve been given a wonderful academic foundation — an invitation to begin a journey of lifelong learning. No less an authority than Albert Einstein wrote that “learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”

Well, for openers, I would encourage all of you to follow the example of MIT and embrace change and learning willingly and with a sense of excitement and wonder. Think about that.  The University is celebrating its 150th anniversary. It has survived and excelled for a century and a half because it has evolved and changed.

The only thing I can predict about your lives with any certainty is that change will be a constant in your lives as well. Back in 1980 when I sat where you are sitting today, there were no cell phones. The Internet, let alone the iPad, was not even the stuff of dreams. Chinese capitalism and the fall of the Soviet Union were unimaginable. Kabul and Islamabad conjured up only the vaguest recognition of places in some distant corner of the world. Genetics was in its infancy. Even as recently as a few years ago, the thought of a global economic melt-down was beyond comprehension.

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You should also have fun. Enjoy life. Choose a career that gives you pleasure and fulfillment. Surround yourselves with people who make you laugh. People you love and people who are good.

I know that people are more likely to be successful if they have a passion for what they do.   [...]

Change, but be true to yourself in the process. Your family … MIT … your church or synagogue or mosque or mountaintop … have given you a set of core values — a moral compass.  Hang on to it.

I have a great sign that hangs on the wall of my office:

“Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your Mom proud!”

Your life’s journey will include some turbulent waters. You will face difficult choices. You will be challenged and tested. The values you have developed through family and MIT will hold you in good stead.  [...]

Set your sights on changing the world — in leaving this planet a little better than you found it. [...]

Believe in something larger than yourself. Make a difference. [...]

The Bible teaches us that “to whom much has been given, much is expected.”

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My congratulations to all of you. You’ve worked long and hard to arrive at this weekend. And my congratulations also to all the parents, grandparents, spouses, family members and faculty that helped push you across the finish line. All of you should feel very, very proud.