Commencement Speeches, What Would You Say ?
Graduation season rolled in again a couple of weeks ago. It is that time of the year when we hear all these commencement speeches. Speakers are supposed to encourage the new graduates to go out and defy the gods. Many people wonder how one prepares for these speeches and what makes one qualified to give one.
Graduates this year are facing immense challenges economically, politically, and socially. Their democracy is on life support, and the new "gig" economy does not produce good-paying jobs for them. It is all about surviving as opportunities are scarce for the new college graduates. Moreover, socially, the country is divided into unending cultural wars.
I have heard many commencement speeches throughout the years. However, the best speeches I have heard were delivered by Steve Jobs and David Foster Wallace. Both of them were given in 2005. Steve Jobs gave his speech at Stanford University, and Wallace addressed students at Kenyon College. Both men offered some basics as to how students could directly deal with some of the challenges that they would face after finishing college. These two men went beyond the flattery and the banal platitudes that characterized the substance of these speeches.
Steve Jobs's speech was funny, profoundly witty, and filled with compelling personal stories that appeared to have been taken out from the pages of a book about Greek mythology. Ironically, Steve Jobs was a college dropout. He explained to students that he did not see the value of staying in college; hence, he dropped out. That might have been tough for those students graduating that year. They have made great sacrifices, and a college dropout is telling them that college education might not be worthwhile.
Three themes ran through Steve Jobs' speech: "Connecting the dots, love, and loss, and stay hungry-stay foolish." There was so much wisdom in this speech. "Having setbacks are good for the soul, things that you do in life might not make sense to you in the short-term, but later in life, you will connect the dots," Steve Jobs told students. Moreover, what I thought was the best line in his speech, "life is a change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now; you will gradually become the old."
On the other hand, David Foster Wallace's speech given in May 2005 at Kenyon College was somewhat more abstract but immensely useful for students to engage. Wallace was a writer and a university instructor of English who taught creative writing. He published a novel Infinite Jest and it was considered one of the best English-language novels written in the last one hundred years. Tragically, David Foster Wallace hanged himself in September 2008. Wallace started his commencement speech with this didactic little parable. This speech became widely known as "This is water."
Wallace went on to explain to students that sometimes it is unexplainably challenging to see the most obvious things. Yes, those things that are in our faces that we somehow are not consciously aware that they are there. Most of us can relate to this, sometimes the solutions to the problems we are facing might just be before us, but we somehow cannot see them. Either by choice, as one might argue, we just avoid seeing the elephant in the room.
Wallace let students have it. He told them point-blank that real education was not about accumulating knowledge. It was about developing the skill of what to choose to think about the options we have in front of us. Students were asked to take a look at their "default settings"; that is, the way how we are all have been wired and how those settings dictate our choices. He made the case that it is possible to alter this "default settings" and that students can develop that skill. Furthermore, that they could start looking at things differently. He also asked them to embrace the struggle of choosing and not letting their "default settings" dictate their choices. That was what Wallace called "real freedom." He wrapped up his speeches with this, "this is water, this is water." A genuinely brilliant commencement speech.
It would be tough to give a commencement speech in these times of economic and daunting political challenges facing this country. Yes, how does one tell students graduating this year that civility matters, that tolerance is good for our community and that social graces are vital for civil society? Yes, how does an individual do this? We have a president who was elected last year, who succeeded by breaking all the social norms of decency and that he continues doing it as President.
I have been in many graduation ceremonies, two of them as a student. If I were to give one of these speeches, it would be the shortest one ever.
This is what I would say; I will start by talking about the humanity of their degrees. That is, talking about the usual suspects, the responsibilities of citizenship, global affairs, and the beautiful struggle of connecting with something bigger than oneself. In light of the new economic order in this country, I will also talk about their degrees as an economic payoff. After all, these students have invested heavily in their education.
I will touch upon the following three themes: Flexibility. I will tell students that they should know what they want in life and do whatever they can to reach that goal. But at the same time, they should be flexible enough and accept what life has in store for you. This can also be applied in the political system we have in place. They should defend their political positions.
Nevertheless, they must make an effort to make adjustments if things or circumstances changed or if they have been presented with a fact-driven persuasive argument. In light of the corrosive partisanship in Washington, this will serve their country well. I will also tell them that they should try to create their opportunities as good-paying jobs are no longer a reality in this country
Second, I will make a case for them to develop a thick skin. If you endeavor to avoid those who disagree with you, you will be excluding 99% of the people in this world, I will tell them. Granted, some people might hate you, but the great majority of them might just disagree with your positions or ideas. Always give people the benefits of the doubt unless they prove themselves otherwise. You should know that in a free society, we let people say whatever they want in the name of liberty. So, do not be a sensitive soul and smile even when people talk about your mom. Rather than advocating for safe spaces where people have to act in a political corrected way, you should not care what people think of you and engage them whenever is possible.
Finally, I will tell students to develop a strong foundation and have the courage and strength to say "No." This is tough. Life is a road paved with many temptations. We should all pray for wisdom so we can identify those moments when all the stars appear to have been aligned, and the natural thing to do is to say "yes." Resist.
Thank you for reading.
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References used.
David Foster Wallace Transcript of 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Address. May 21, 2005. faculty.winthrop.edu. 21 May 2005. Web. 24 May 2017.
Krajeski, Jenna. "This is Water."New Yorker 19 Sept. 2008. Web. 28 May 2017.
"You have got to find what you love, Jobs says." News.Stanford.edu. 14 Jun 2005. Web. 24 May 2017.Weber
Weber, Bruce. "David Foster Wallace, Influential Writer, Dies at 46." New York Times. 14 Sept. 2008. Web. 28 May 2017
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Photos credit: Photos were downloaded from paid websites with password-protected from one of the colleges where I teach.
Herbalife Targeting Immigrants with its Pyramid Scheme !
I was researching for new documentaries a week ago and came across this one, Betting on Zero, aA documentary about Herbalife. I watched it. I knew that this company was being scrutinized for its business model, but I didn't know they were preying on Latino immigrants. In light of how this company is aggressively targeting humble immigrants, I was somewhat puzzled that Herbalife's business and how its strategies have been under the radar of many major Spanish speaking news organization. This documentary profiles a group of immigrants in Chicago who have been victimized by Herbalife's ruthless marketing strategies. These immigrants were easily deceived and lied to by recruiting their family members and close friends. Newspapers reported that 60% of the money that Herbalife makes come from Latinos in the US.
I was shocked witnessing how Herbalife with such an unethical business model has risen and done well. They have persisted even when it has been exposed many times by major newspapers as to how they have defrauded people. Any rational being who looks at this company from any angle will conclude that this company truly is fraudulent.
Any federal regulatory agency that monitors these companies would say that if a business entity and those who participate in the organization make money primarily from recruiting people instead of selling goods or services to consumers, this business organization is deemed to be operating a "pyramid scheme." Now, how did they get away with this? Herbalife is annually audited by powerhouse Pricewaterhouse-Cooper one of the most credible and prestigious accounting firms in the world. These accounting firms make sure that everything in these companies is real, legal and ethical so investors and consumers can be protected.
Herbalife has very strong PR and Law departments. This company also hires celebrities and well-known people in political circles. They have hired a soccer player, David Beckham and the big-time soccer player Ronaldo who plays in Europe. They also recruit politicians with a lot of credibilities to promote their products. Former Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, Madeline Albright, and our very own former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to mention some. These two have consulted or are currently consulting for Herbalife and see no problem with Herbalife defrauding people.
Former Mayor Villaraigosa comes up in this documentary. He seems indifferent that this company is causing so much pain in our community. He consults for the company, and the company uses him to appease those in our community who question this company's legitimacy. Any immigrant knows who this man is, and these poor immigrants feel more comfortable dealing with this company when they see this man working for Herbalife. It is not hard to see that the man is selling out. It was disgusting seeing him in this film making the case as to how good it is for our community that this company sells its products to us.
The former mayor argues in this film that our community has an obesity problem and that Herbalife has the solutions for said problem. We might have this obesity problem but what Herbalife does will not do anything to stop it. He conveniently ignored the fact that Herbalife is scamming these poor humble immigrants out of their savings. Mayor Villaraigosa recently converted himself as a staunch defender of Latinos again. Of course, he is seeking to become governor of California next year.
Herbalife is a well-established company and is being alleged that it has made this pyramid scheme legal. Yes, this company has everything a legitimate business has, its corporate headquarters are right here in Los Angels and is being led by a CEO, Michael O. Johnson who came from the Disney Company. In 2011, he was the highest-paid CEO in America. Mr. Johnson made almost 100 million dollars running this company. Herbalife is also a public company currently being traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Betting on Zero” is a fascinating documentary in which one of the masters of the universe from Wall Street, Bill Ackman uses his power and resources as a hedge fund manager to bet on Herbalife. In this documentary, a journalist who writes in the financial pages for Bloomberg joined forces with Mr. Ackman to expose this lie to the world. The former is trying to exercise her journalistic responsibilities while the latter is in it to make a buck. Not sure what to make of this but it can be argued that at the very least they are trying to get rid of a fraudulent company that has caused so much pain. At the end of the documentary, the Federal Trade Commission in 2016 came down hard on Herbalife and formally "charged this company with four of unfair, false, and deceptive business practices." The company was fined with $2oo million and was asked to make major changes to its business model. The company is still operating as nothing happened.
There is no such thing as corporate citizenship any longer. Corporate citizenship is the idea that corporations have a social responsibility to society as a whole. The existence of a company must make the quality of life in communities better. Better as they have to make principled centered decisions. Their business endeavors must somehow make society better, and that includes a corporation's investors.
It seems that we are reliving the era of the gilded age when the captains of industries were robber barons who had utter disregard for the welfare of society. Yes, Corporations don’t care about workers and see them as liabilities and subjects of exploitation. We are currently living in a society where very few individuals control obscene amounts of wealth; we have stunning low wage disparity and grinding poverty. It is hard not to argue that America is not a "government of corporations, by the corporations, and for corporations. From MCI WorldCom to Enron both of these companies engaged in massive fraud and caused so much damage to their employees, consumers, and investors.
It is easy to cave in to the forces of cynicism when you see people who govern us lying very casually and prominent players in our economic system making money by building companies that cheat people. But we shouldn't.
Thank you for reading.
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Works used.
Betting on Zero. Dir. Theodore Braun. Biltmore Films, 2017.
Brenner, Michael. "Plutocracy in America." Huffington Post April 1 2013. Web. 1st May 2017
Derber. Charles. Corporate Nation: How Corporations are taking over our lives and what we can do about it. New York: St. Martin Press, 1998.
Devos, Rich. Compassionate Capitalism: People helping people help themselves. New York: Penguin Group, 1993.
Pfeifer, Stuart. "Herbalife hires former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as an advisor." Los Angeles Times 5 Sept. 2013. Web. 3rd May 2017.
Pfeifer, Stuart. "Latinos crucial to Herbalife's financial health." Los Angeles Times 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 3rd May 2017.
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Photos credits: Photos above were screenshots taken from the documentary listed on the works cited above.
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