Commencement

Friends!

So. I have written before about the collective frame of mind that New Years' brings about. There is something uplifting, optimistic, and hopeful about turning the page. Starting anew is filled with such promise. We are invited to be like artists and architects designing what we want. With a blank canvas or just a bunch of clay in front of us, the possibilities are endless. Of course, it can also be a little intimidating when we realize that it's up to us to create the future we want.

A leader once told me that he "wanted his mind to be more occupied by his dreams than by his memories." It struck a chord with me because I think it is generally true. Of course, memories are really important, too, but I think our human energies are more shaped, directed, and amplified by what's beyond our reach than what is already achieved. That's also why we often remind ourselves that the windshield is a lot bigger than the rearview mirror!

We are now living through graduation times. It's like an entire season of new beginnings. I love the spirit of it all. We also get to listen to commencement speeches typically delivered by various accomplished people from all fields who share their wisdom with graduating classes preparing to enter a new phase of their life. Commencement is such a good word for it all. Like so many of our words, it has Latin roots referring to both "coming together," as well as "initiating." So it is really not a celebration of "completion," but rather of "beginning." It's a reminder to all of us that the journey is the destination.

I enjoy them (broadly speaking.) I try to catch as many as I can. While it can be pretentious when people give advice, I do respect the fact that people have tried to summarize important lessons learned and share what they believe has helped them. I treat them as a gift. But like with most gifts, we don't appreciate them equally. Or, to channel our inner Forest Gump…they are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. And in most of them, I often find a point, a line, or a moment that inspires me. It's ok to cherry-pick. I have listed below some good ones from this year and some great ones from prior years. A good playlist for some walks outside as you contemplate your own commencement!

But here is the thought I'd like to share and hopefully, with your help, to spread in our own communities.

We have been through an incredibly challenging year. Like all problems, it has affected people differently, but no one has been totally unaffected. The pandemic has acted as a great revealer and showed how fragile and broken many of our underlying systems truly are. As we begin to open up and climb back to some form of normalcy, let's not waste this opportunity to also treat it as an entirely NEW beginning. Let's only bring back what we have missed, and let's leave behind what we haven't.

Covid certainly reminded us of how important our health really is and the fact that health is both an individual and collective responsibility. It brought the fragility of life and the interdependency of our shared humanity to the forefront as it nearly brought the entire world as we know it to a halt. It also helped us to recognize the immense value of science, front-line caregivers, public service, and many other vocations that we sometimes take for granted but shouldn't.

As I was writing this, I started thinking about what my list would look like. So, I made a quick effort. Here you go:

What I have enjoyed

• Closer relationships with people I love

• Eating even better food cooked at home

• Traveling a lot less

• Less traffic

• Radically improving my productivity remotely

• Being helpful to people and companies in need

• Realizing how wonderful my partners have been in supporting many of our companies during a rough time

• Some really good TV series

What I have missed

• Being with people far away (grandkids and family/friends in Sweden in particular)

• The camaraderie, creativity, and energy of live meetings and social events

• Customers in our retail businesses!!

• Variety and less monotony in my routine ("zoomed out")

• Walking around inhaling the atmosphere of my favorite cities NYC, London, Paris, and Stockholm

• Practicing and gigging with my bandmates

So, my commencement, my new beginning, will try to bring a more balanced mix of what I learned from last year. I will redouble my efforts on my own health. My immune system. My inflammation levels. My eating habits. My pliability. My sleep. My breathing. Spending more time with people I love. All the things I know that affect my health will be met with a more serious commitment and heightened dose of discipline.

I will be more discerning about traveling. I will travel with more intentionality and less stress. Travel to see and experience people. Not just sit through meetings that can be done on Zoom or Teams.

In some sense, we will all soon be graduates from the BC (Before Covid) era as we enter AC (After Covid). Let's help each other make the transition one with meaningful difference on the other side. Let's not waste this crisis. We can use it as a catalytic event for the change we'd like to see. In our own lives, as well as in our broader shared humanity.

Below is a list of some recent and some old Commencement speeches. As with all things I am sharing, I don't agree with all that they say, but there are some really powerful insights in all of them.

It was obviously difficult to select some, but here you go. If you only have time to choose one, Joyce DiDonato’s incredible insights shouldn’t be missed.

• Joyce DiDonato's incredible 2014 Commencement at Juilliard. 4 penetrating insights about life that are true for all of us.

• John Legend's very recent Commencement at Duke this year. While I don't agree with the entirety of his framing, I do agree that zero-sum thinking is a major problem limiting opportunities, and the notion that "our nation is at its best when we realize that we all do better when we all do better" is beautifully articulated.

• Marty Baron's recent 2021 Commencement at Suffolk University. I so much admire his career leading important newsrooms, particularly at the Boston Globe and Washington Post, and his commitment to improving our institutions who in the words of Yuval Levine are the "durable forms of our common lives."

• Steve Jobs Commencement at Stanford from 2005. Stay hungry. Stay Foolish.

• JK Rowling Commencement at Harvard University 2008. The fringe benefits of failure.

• David Foster Wallace famous Kenyon College 2005 Commencement about Fish and Water!

• Admiral William H McRaven's 2014 University of Texas Commencement speech. As a former Marine, there is so much that resonates with me in his simple, honest, and straight talk. What starts here can indeed change the world!

So, let's all celebrate our commencement. We can choose to enter the world we prefer to live in. We don't have to bring the past to the future. At least, not all of it. A little virus reminded us what matters most and what matters least. As we soon send this virus to our past, let's leave with it the distractions and habits that don't belong in a better future.

Congratulations Class of 2021!