​The Outdated Commencement Address

Back in 2014, NPR did a study of 350 differences commencement speeches looking for the themes among them, which they then ranked.

The rankings are:

1) Change the World
2) Listen to Your Inner Voice
3) Don't Give Up
4) Work Hard
5) Embrace Failure

Pretty standard right?
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In the book The Power of Giving Away Power by Matthew Barzun, he asks the readers to picture someone who would heed this advice.

His thoughts?

Someone all alone...perhaps an astronaut flying off on a solo mission to save the world all alone. (Remember the movie Armageddon?)

If you can guess from the title of the book, this goes completely AGAINST Barzun's message.

If Barzun were to give a commencement speech it would include:

1) Change your mindset
2) Share your inner voice
3) Work through hard things together
4) Give up power (to make more)
5) Embrace uncertainty

He encourages the readers to "face yourself and expose your imperfections to others and seek to make something new with them and through them."

Transformation doesn't come from our individual strengths, and from doing it alone.

It comes when we combine our strengths to create something unexpected together.

It's interdependent.
It's co-creation.

What would you add as a number 6 to Barzun's speech?

Originally posted on LinkedIn
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