For the past four years, the folks at Wofford College in
Spartanburg, South Carolina have been kind enough to invite me to speak at
their Sophomore Experience event (http://www.wofford.edu/center/sophomoreexperience/). Scott Cochran, the Dean of Wofford’s Center
for Professional Excellence, is a dear friend of mine and someone I will write
about in more detail in a future blog.
The important thing today is the sense of rejuvenation I am
feeling after my visit to Wofford. NEVER
let someone use broad generalizations to tear down today’s youth. The liberal arts students I meet every year
at Wofford inspire me to no end and this year’s crop was particularly
intriguing. They included future
businesspeople, doctors, entrepreneurs, attorneys, poets, activists,
psychologists, accountants, musicians, car traders…the list is as varied as you
might expect.
The engagement, passion and enthusiasm these students shared
with me, however, was somewhat unexpected.
These young people are cautiously idealistic: They want to change the world for the better
but they know it will take smarts, hard work and commitment, all of which they
have in abundance.
When I returned to work after my visit, I was already pretty
pumped up. Then a box containing the
Steve Jobs biography arrived. Even
better, the students had taken the time to write personalized notes thanking me
for MY inspiring them. They had it
backwards: As gratifying as it was to be
appreciated for my time, THEY are the ones who inspired me and gave my batteries an annual mid-winter re-charge. Thanks Wofford. Keep emailing me updates as you chase down those dreams.
What
Am I Reading?
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill came out
in 2008 and somehow completely escaped my attention (despite apparently being
widely publicized as the first novel that Barack Obama read on his summer
vacation in 2009!)
Netherland is told by Hans, a banker
transplanted from the Netherlands, who is struggling to find his way in New
York after his wife and son head to the U.K. in the aftermath of the 9/11
attacks. Hans stumbles upon a varied
cast of immigrants who bond over cricket matches played in the shadows of New
York overpasses and other odd places they’ve conquested to play the world’s
most popular stick-and-ball game.
