Leadership in Action: Dividends and Interest - Fewer Leaders are Fit for a Cap and Gown

SOMETHING USEFUL

A lot of commencement speakers seem to understand that their role is mostly ceremonial. For instance, political commentator William F. Buckley Jr. once told a graduating class, “Don't think of me as your commencement speaker; think of me as the last hurdle between you and graduation.” And Doonesbury artist Garry Trudeau once said that commencement speeches exist for a reason: to ensure that no one graduates before being properly sedated.

I have always admired graduation speakers who are able to come up with something that is not only interesting and humorous but also useful to the audience. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Musician James Taylor, speaking to the 1995 graduating class of the Berklee College of Music, said: “I ...