TONE DEAF

24 May TONE DEAF

We recently witnessed two remarkable commencement speech head-scratchers. Both speakers were successful, educated, and supposedly in-tune with their audiences, but were roundly booed. Surely, they had handlers, PR agencies or script writers to lean on. What went wrong?

Gloria Caulfield, a real estate exec blithely walked onto the stage at the U. of Central Florida touting A.I. as the “Next industrial revolution!” She was shocked to hear loud boos. Flustered, she soldiered on, extolling A.I.’s many wonders.

The problem? The graduates she was speaking to majored in Fine Arts, Humanities, and Animation. Their greatest fear was that A.I. was taking over the marketplace they were about to enter. Also, the University made them learn A.I. over technical and artistic skills, which diminished their creativity. Had Caulfield done her homework, she would have discovered that students are increasingly worried that A.I. will replace them.

Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO made reasonable and logical statements in his commencement speech, but led with praising A.I.’s role in our future as a fait accompli. Although this is an opinion touted by those selling A.I, it has not won universal acceptance, especially with younger professionals.

Both these speakers were tone deaf, misread their audience or just believed in their own prismatic luminescence, based on their career success. Always know your audience—especially their fears. Then use your creativity, not machine software, to make a real connection. Speaking to graduates is a time-honored position and deserves in-depth thinking, creative ideas, and sharing your own life experiences, including setbacks and rejections.