What makes a great commencement speech?

It’s commencement speech season – politicians, celebrities, musicians, athletes, and CEOs stand before lawns and stadiums filled with graduating students, hoping to impart true words of wisdom. 

This year, speakers have talked about the anxious times young people are facing:  inflation, the war, threats to democracy and of course AI, which has often been met with boos by students. 

Some speeches have veered more political, while others stuck with more personal advice. Queen Latifah told students at North Carolina A&T that “It takes the right kind of delusion to think you can do what you think you can do” and Hugh Jackman advised the young audience at Ball State to trust “the tingle” of your intuition. 

So how did this tradition of commencement addresses evolve? And what makes a speech truly resonate? David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College speech “This is Water” and Steve Job’s Stanford University talk are often hailed as two of the greats. 

We’ll also talk about the clichés to avoid – like “follow your dreams,” “don’t fear failure.”

Guests: 

• Drew Faust, professor of history and the former President of Harvard University from 2007-2018. She’s writing a book about Americans speeches.
• Stephen Krupin, former speechwriter for President Barack Obama. He now teaches speechwriting at the Harvard Kennedy School and writes for leaders in business, philanthropy, and politics