SFSU commencement address 2008

MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM:

Thank you Bob. Congratulations, class of 2008. How are you feeling, San Francisco State?

It is good to be here and it's an honor to be asked to speak to you. Now, I did -- I did a little bit of research before I decided to accept this. I asked my staff, I said, "Tell me about your graduation speaker at college." They all are college graduates, by the way, and not one of them could remember who spoke at their graduation. So let me introduce myself to you as the guy you will soon forget that spoke at your graduation here at SF State.

It is my honor to be invited to share with you not a political speech, but to share with you just some thoughts and ideas that I have been jotting down in the last few days, some of the things I've picked up along the way. But I would be remiss not to pick up on what some of the previous speakers have said, particularly some of the passionate eloquence of Dr. White who sounded more like Reverend White when he spoke about our composite strength. And, I think, it is important to reflect on this.

Bob Corrigan, your president, reflected upon it in his opening remarks of this the 107th graduating class. He commented to me when we were walking up, he said, "I don't know if you know this Mayor, but there are 107 countries represented in this graduation, here today, which is extraordinary." And that deserves some consideration because for the rest of your lives you're going to be identified with San Francisco State University. You're going to be identified with a city that is among the most diverse cities in the most diverse region in the most diverse State in the world's most diverse democracy.

And people are living together, advancing together, and prospering together across every conceivable difference, that's the magic of our city, that's the magic of your university, that's the magic and spirit that unites us all here today. In addition -- and by the way I know you're thinking, "how long?" I got you. Don't worry. Not long.

I was thinking about, though, what makes -- beyond that composite strength -- the fact that we are celebrating all our interesting differences, but at the end of the day, we're uniting around our common humanity and things that unite us. I also was trying to think about what makes San Francisco such a unique and special place, why it's often been described as 47 square miles surrounded by reality.

Think about that.

A city of dreamers, a city of doers, a city of entrepreneurs, a city of innovators, a city that is always on the leading and cutting edge of new ideas. At its core, it's people who live their lives out loud.

And this is what I want to impart to you and challenge you to think about: it's passionate people that have found their purpose, the things that drive them. And the more I go around and the more I go through life, I am now starting to understand this distinction between committed people and interested people. And the difference therein lies my belief of the determinative nature of success: that committed people find ways of getting things done. Interested people find excuses. And where that commitment comes from is passion. Pursuing something you love.

When you graduate as you are in a moment, formally, what you do next should be in that pursuit. Do not take a job for what it pays you. Take a job because of how it inspires you and what you can learn from it. I have met so many people that are utterly disconnected with happiness because every single day they're waking up and they're going to work. And they don't particularly like their jobs because they haven't found their passion. If you don't like your job, you're not going to excel it at it, period. But if you find something you love, you'll find that connection, you'll find that commitment, and you'll find your bliss, and you'll find your connection to something much bigger.

And that's why I just want to challenge you to answer this question -- I have on my desk a little plaque that says, "what would you do, what would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

What would you try to achieve? Who would you try to become if you knew it was impossible to fail, what would you try to do? And if you can answer that question, and if you can live and manifest the answer to that question, then I believe you guys are well on your way.

Another key determinant of success in life is failure. And I want to focus on this. A lot has been written and discussed about the importance of failure, but I need to underscore this point because you have all been trained in a way that makes you less likely to fail as often as I would like you to.

And what I mean by failure is the willingness and ability to take risks, we are so risk-averse, specifically in the public sector. And the purpose for me of taking risks is that mistakes are portals of discovery. When you fail -- and I challenge you to fail forward fast -- when you fail, you're learning something new. It's remarkable to me, and this is interesting, that all the great discoveries in physics have been made by people 25 years and younger. And the reason why is they just don't know what they don't know. And as a consequence, they're willing to try new things. And so I challenge you as you move forward in life, do not become risk averse. I want you to do what Winston Churchill said when he answered the question, "what is the secret of all success?," Winston Churchill, he said it was moving from failure to failure with enthusiasm.

Think about it. If it's that easy… Wayne Gretsky commented, "You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take." The point is, if you think those two did all right, consider some of their colleagues who somewhat shared similar fates. Guys like Elvis Presley and Michael Jordan, Dr. Seuss, Henry Ford -- if you don't know him you probably drive one of his automobiles -- all of them had failure in common. Jordan was literally rejected from his high school basketball team. Michael Jordan wasn't good enough. That guy Churchill finished last in his class, whoever you are, congratulations… there are a number of you, I see.

Henry Ford went bankrupt not once, not twice -- three, four, five times went bankrupt. Dr. Seuss tried to publish that darn green eggs and whatever ham, not once -- five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-three times he was rejected. Until a publisher finally said, "all right, what the heck do I have to lose?" And Elvis Presley got an F in music.

My point, I think, has been made.

I want you in that context -- and I heard it a moment ago, and it's just so right on -- to also preserve a sense of being different. Learn from but don't follow others. We get so consumed by how someone else is doing in terms of defining our own success in life. I kind of love what the late, great Jerry Garcia said, Grateful Dead, I know you, some of you still know who the Grateful Dead are. And I love the idea that a politician could quote Jerry Garcia. Only in San Francisco. But he said, "you do not want to be the best of the best." Let me repeat that, this is what he said, he said, "you do not want to be the best of the best. You want to be the only one that does what you do."

Think about that. And by the way, that described the Grateful Dead, didn't it? It describes them day. Everyone has a unique, latent talent. Everyone's expression is unique, celebrate that. Don't try to become someone else and something inherently you are not. That's the opportunity. Live your life out loud for you to find the ability to be fully expressive, and that is the opportunity of originality. That's what each and every one of you inherently possess.

Another point, we heard it a moment ago, as well. And that is lifelong learning. This is important. I keep reminding my staff when they come in and lecture me is that they need to first seek to understand, then to be understood. A lesson my mother taught me. This was codified so many times over in so many books that I've read, but probably best by the greatest basketball coach in history. The greatest coach in history who said, it's what you learn after you know it all that counts. That was John Wooden. Think about that. It's important.

Learning doesn't end here today. It's the beginning of a process. If you're green, you are growing, if you are ripe, you are rotting. Be green.

Also, learn to listen. And I know many of you are not. But listening is the only way to find out what you are missing. There is a great story, I just read this in a book about president Teddy Roosevelt who was an admirer of listeners and practiced it himself. And he was at this big, fancy gala out at the White House. It's a true story. And everyone came up all these silent pleasantries, nice to meet you Mr. President, keep up the good work. And the President would say a few words, thank you that's great. He recalled no one was paying a damn bit of attention to him. So he said the following to everyone he met, with a big smile on his face at this big, fancy gala with all these fancy people. He said with a smile when he shook their hand, he said "I killed my grandmother this morning." True story, he said that. And everyone went by and everyone said, "that's wonderful, Mr. President, nice to meet you." He kept repeating it until one very seasoned diplomat leaned over and whispered into his ear -- into the president's ear and said, "Well, Mr. President, I'm sure she had it coming." Learn to listen.

We heard from Manny [Mashouf] about the importance of generosity. This is also important because I'll tell you the three people that were honored today -- Walter, Isabel and Manny -- were honored for one reason. Not because of the things they have received but because of things they have given. This is important in life. Because we kind of sometimes forget that. It's the old lesson of the candle. It doesn't lose at all it's brightness by lighting another candle.

There's a story I heard a couple years ago, and bear with me very briefly, about the Special Olympics, This friend of mine, Michael Pritchard, told this story about the Special Olympics. They're all lined up, and there was a very large woman, taller than the rest, bigger, stronger, named Judy. Judy starts running around the track. She's well ahead of everybody else. And people are enthusiastically cheering her on, saying keep going, Judy, keep going. She gets about fifteen yards from the finish line, and people say, come on Judy, the gold medal, the gold medal. she slows down and stops, she's shaking her head. Come on Judy, fifteen yards, fifteen yards, you've got it. She keeps shaking her head. Until she turns around and waits for every single person – this is a true story -- to come right up and she puts out her arms and wraps around every single shoulder and they all walk across the finish line together. That's generosity. That's the spirit of generosity. That's what it's all about, guys, and I hope you think about that.

Two final points. Forget pursuit of power. Forget the pursuit of power. I'm talking Gandhi, King, Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, I could go on. But I challenge you to think with me, think about Gandhi in 1935, Dr. King, 1959, Havel, '85, how about Mandela in 1988. What did they all have in common? Jail time. None of them had formal authority. Theirs was the pursuit of purpose, not power. They had moral authority.

You do not need a title to have moral authority, you do not need a title to change the world. There's just simply enough evidence to prove that point. Think about those four leaders the next time you are desperate for that job that you must have to finally be someone. Do not forget. It's not about being someone, it's about doing something. Not about being some governor or president so that you can finally do something. You have moral authority. Use it.

I'll close by saying this, as well, that one thing about success I've also learned is it's not a place and it's not a definition. It's a direction. There is no having made it. I'd like to tell you that there was. So I just want to make you think a little bit about an old line that it's important to happily achieve, not achieve to be happy. I know that you've achieved something great today, but I hope you've enjoyed the process. And I hope whatever new goals and sights you is set for yourself remember that, this is it, tomorrow, the next day, this is it. So, the point is calm down, reflect upon it, and enjoy it and know that there are no experts. I am learning this, and if you didn't believe me, just think about weapons of mass destruction. There are no experts. We're all winging it. So relax. Don't take it or yourselves too seriously. Final words, how long? Not long.

I've always believed that the best way to predict the future is simply to go out and create it. And a lot of people talk about the future being in front of us, but at the end of the day, don't ever forget it -- this is the spirit of what Walter talked about a moment ago -- the future is not just in front of you, it's inside of you. You've got to have the courage to manifest it. To take the risks. To live your lives out loud. To be driven by passion and purpose. Remember purpose is what it's all about, not power. Live your life out loud, be fully expressive, recognize your fate is connected to every single person next to you, in front of you and around you and relax and enjoy and -- and regale in this great day in your accomplishments as graduates 2008 at San Francisco State. Thank you all, and have a great afternoon.