Graduation Speech

Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas. In that order."

At the end of high school, most graduating seniors are given their diplomas with a heaping side of platitudes, many of them patently preposterous. Such as, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Or “You can be anything you want to be.” And especially, “With grit and determination, there’s nothing you can’t do."

Many people who are talented in their various fields have access to insight they can’t share with others. They simply see something we can’t. They try to describe it—picture any Paris Review interview—and often hearing them talk about their process is interesting and informative. But they’re unable to describe the core thing—what gives them the sto... See more

I’ve taught students for 20 years. In that time I’ve seen self-confidence, persistence, and desire play a much larger role in growth and achievement than talent. Passive? Whining? Waiting for orders? You won’t get off the ground. Energized? Enthused? Curious? The sky’s your limit.

those with verbal talent are going to have a more important skill set to offer the world in the coming decades, as the AI revolution takes hold—I think that those who are able to give expression to and speak to the deepest desires of the human heart will be the voices the world needs most.

We all have those whispers. We’re all visited with those little tickles on the back of our minds that help guide us in one direction or the other. But, they get muted out by the busy lives we lead and the level of distraction we tolerate and contend with in our daily lives. To be able to hear the voice of your intuition, and be guided by your insti... See more

In many societies, one’s professional fate is decided by the tribe, the family. However, one is increasingly thrown back into ‘How can I develop my own voice and niche from where I can operate’? Is there something like an individual signature? Perhaps not, but I do believe in skills, in small steps, working on various projects at the same time with... See more

Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance. ...If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you. What you really need at the beginning is somebody to let y

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