Commencement '26 - Taste & Trust
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
Beyond the sea of familiar advice about dreaming big, working hard, embracing failure, and running toward challenges, this spring’s commencement speeches carried two messages that feel more specific to this moment.
The first came from Conan O’Brien at Harvard: ‘My wish for you is that Harvard becomes the least important thing people know about you.’ It was a warning against letting a credential harden into an identity.
Recent trends in the labor market give that line a second edge. A growing body of evidence shows employers shifting from degree-based to skill-based hiring, with AI skills such as prompt engineering, workflow automation, and content creation gaining weight.*
For those who studied to gain a prestigious education, the uncomfortable message is that employers are starting to care at least as much about what graduates can do with AI as about where they studied. Over time, the name of their alma mater may become one of the least important career drivers.
But, if technical AI capabilities are becoming essential, they are not sufficient. Daniel Pink, speaking at Columbus College of Art & Design, identified a more elusive skill: ‘In an age of artificial intelligence, taste will be your killer app.’ AI can write, draw, summarize, compose, and generate variations at scale. What it cannot do is decide which output is excellent, which is ordinary, which is appropriate, and which should be rejected.
Besides, as models increasingly train on their own output in an endless loop, they risk amplifying their own average. Human taste and originality developed through deliberate practice become more valuable, not less.
The second message relates to the primacy of relationships. No amount of AI changes the fact that job opportunities still flow through people who know and trust one another. In a flat job market where traditional pathways are clogged, graduates are encouraged to ‘network everywhere’. The competitive advantage often lies with mentors, peers, and social ties that open doors which never appear on public job boards.
The most striking element across the speeches I read, however, is what has not changed at all. The themes mentioned at the beginning of this note such as ambition, discipline, resilience, and a taste for difficult problems, remain the foundation for success. They must simply be applied to a new terrain.
So, I am adding two points to my standing advice for new graduates:
13. Be proficient in AI: Learn to use AI fluently, while applying judgment and originality to turn its output into an advantage.
14. Build your human infrastructure: Treat mentors, peers, and social ties as part of your professional ecosystem. Invest early in relationships and networks that outlast any single job.
Don’t wait for passion to come to you: Passion is a pure fabrication of the mind. Invent it!
Be a ‘player,’ not a ‘victim’: roll with the challenges thrown your way (never forgetting to comply with all rules and regulations.) Leave the moaning to others.
Learn hard: The next few years will be the most formative of your professional life. Don’t listen to those who promote a work-life balance before you have a family (if you choose to have one). It is a trap set by the uncommitted. Give it all! And…
‘Give’ more than you ‘take:’ Give, give, and give without counting – in friendship and at work. It is one of the most fulfilling acts, one that is underappreciated by many.
Be patient: I see more and more young people running sprints without taking a breath. They do not understand that going too fast will slow them down. The real enemy is procrastination.
Seek advice: People around you are full of relevant experience and wisdom. Ask them for guidance, learn from them, and make them stakeholders by bringing them into your world. You will be amazed by the level of support you receive.
Be competitive: Competing is not an option. It is an obligation because, as a fact of life, people will always be competing with you. See them, watch them, and do not underestimate them. Beware of performative activists. Even to this day, I struggle to push them away.
Create your own brand: Stay in close touch with economic, political, cultural, and technological trends. Use that proximity to build and ‘market’ something different by leveraging your strengths, e.g., intellect, expertise, and creativity. This is how you can maximize your contribution to society.
Be kind and generous: Refrain from expressing negative views about others. It will poison your mind. Remember that each one of us is someone else’s [idiot], as in the ‘Dîner des cons’ (1998);
Take good care of your health: a balanced diet, music, books, travel, adequate sleep, a strong community, and regular exercise will help you maintain a healthy perspective on important matters.
Keep relationships horizontal: Build all relationships on mutual autonomy; never lose yourself in them.
Create your own game: Do not let others dictate your definition of success. Choose courage over the enslavement of approvals; the only real competition is yourself. Win your own game.
2026 ADDITIONS
13. Be proficient in AI: Learn to use AI fluently, while applying judgment and originality to turn its output into an advantage.
14. Build your human infrastructure: Treat mentors, peers, and social ties as part of your professional ecosystem. Invest early in relationships and networks that outlast any single job.
* Sources:
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