Graduation season is here and I am loving the sight of enthusiastic young people marching across stages to pick up that diploma!
Students are excited and relieved. Parents are the same.
The sight of mortar boards with tassels being flung into the air always gives me joy.
Another of my favourite things is to listen to the various graduation speeches. Sometimes they are given by other students, former alumni and sometimes celebrities.
But it must be a daunting task. What in the world do you say to inspire? What would you say they haven’t heard a million times before?
A recent CNN program took a very interesting tack to the whole issue of convocation speeches, and it really got me thinking.
So, we expect a speech to offer stories of how the speaker overcame adversity, and through education and hard work climbed the ladder of success.
We expect all the usual slogans. Sky’s the limit. Follow your dreams. Anything is possible. Just do it!
On this program, New York University professor Scott Galloway, who is a self-made millionaire, said these pep talks are not at all realistic nor really helpful.
Although commencement speakers often tell graduates to follow their passion, he calls that utter bull. He says better advice is to find something you’re good at, invest 10,000 hours and become great at something people will pay you for.
Here is his reasoning: “Common places for people to feel truly passionate — like sports, films and restaurants — require a lot of time and generally don’t lead to financial success. So, if your dream is to work for Vogue or become an actor and open a nightclub, you need to be prepared for a modest payout for your labour.”
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Dreams are great and we need them for motivation and joy.
However, not every kid will be a star athlete, singer, writer, actor, or inventor.
It seems more realistic to pursue an occupation that offers financial stability and be so good at that it makes you passionate. Then, if you have some money it is easier to also go after your dream job as a side hustle.
It must be a constant struggle for parents to straddle that line between encouragement and tough love. How many moms and dads suffered through their kid’s endless recorder practices. You know why teachers allowed them to bring those instruments home, don’t you? They were hoping they’d forget to bring them back to music class and there would be blissful silence.
Remember all those hot, insect-infested ball fields you endured while your kid sat on the bench?
Is there a point when the cold, hard truth is preferable to enabling?
“Honey, you can’t carry a tune in a bucket.”
“There’s only one Tom Brady and it's not you, my sweet son.”
As the child matures and their career choices become very important, should we, as a society, make it clear there are only so many really great-paying jobs?
Not all jobs are meant to be fun and flexible. Most of them are day-to-day drudgery and you need to make the best of it. Show up, dress up, paste on a smile if you must, and do the best you can. The hours don’t go by any faster if you’re miserable.
Anyway, back to the commencement speech.
Maybe it would be more helpful to talk about the importance of the work ethic and the realities of today’s economy. Maybe discuss the harshness of business and the fact you will likely have to change jobs many times in your career.
I realize that would be the most depressing graduation speech ever, but it might be the best gift.
There’s a quote I’ve always liked: “Always do your best. Nobody can ask for more and you won’t be satisfied with less.”
But let’s end with something completely positive — after a graduation ceremony there is always cake!
