Tom Freston’s commencement speech at Emerson College

Pattie Sellers’ exclusive profile of Freston, “The Most Wanted Man on the Planet,” tells the story of a man who had built MTV and Viacom’s vast cable empire, got fired by chairman Sumner Redstone, walked away with $60 million in severance —  and actually knew what do do with the money. Today, when he’s not trotting the globe — Afghanistan, Burma, Rwanda, and beyond — Freston, 63, is helping Oprah Winfrey build her new TV network, OWN. He’s also working with U2 frontman Bono on his mission to reduce global poverty and AIDS.

This talk — which Freston gave at Emerson when his son Andrew was graduating — strikes us as one of the best commencement speeches we’ve heard besides Steve Jobs’ address at Stanford in 2005. Unlike that unforgettable speech by Apple’s founder, Freston’s talk has not been publicly circulated. Until now. We’ll post it on Postcards in three parts — today, tomorrow and Friday.

Good afternoon President Liebergott, distinguished faculty, fellow trustees, beaming parents and soon-to-be recent graduates of Emerson College. I am thrilled to be here and thank you for asking me to share with you one of the most important days of your lives. I feel like the proud father to all of you in general, and to one of you in particular. Hello Andrew. I remember how embarrassed I was when my father spoke at sixth grade Career Day, so I can imagine how you feel right now.

In preparing for these remarks, it dawned on me that it was exactly 40 years ago — almost to the day — that I graduated college and sat where you sit today. That was 1967, and it was a much different world. We were losing a senseless war in a far-away land. As a result of this war, anti-Americanism was rampant throughout the world. And here at home, this war had made our President wildly unpopular, to the point that the mere mention of his name would make crowds hiss and boo.

And it was right around this time in the upcoming presidential campaign that a lot of young people like me began rallying behind a Midwestern, anti-war senator who gave voice to our concerns. I know it’s hard to believe, but that’s how different the world really was back then.

We had a commencement speaker at my graduation too — but of course, I cannot remember who it was or what this person said. Those words were drowned out by my own interior monologue. That I can still remember, word for word: “Dear God, what the hell am I going to do now?”

On the other side of that door that you are all about to walk through is the wild road of life. And that life is hardly ever what you expect. A career path is rarely a path at all. A more interesting life is usual a more crooked, winding path of missteps, luck and vigorous work. It is almost always a clumsy balance between the things you try to make happen and the things that happen to you.

Not only do I believe that, I have the resume to prove it. Down on the bottom of that resume are all the many random jobs I had early on: bartender, bellhop, waiter, mailman, burger flipper, house painter, dishwasher, lawn mower, store clerk, snow shoveler, deliveryman and more. I always hustled to make money and pay for school. I was never afraid of hard work. After college I went to business school.

After that I put some more odd jobs on my resume, traveled a bit, and ended up working in an ad agency on the G.I. Joe account at the height of the Vietnam War. It was like something from a Joseph Heller novel.

Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, I was told I was about to be assigned to a new account and it could be Charmin Toilet Paper. Hearing that, I quit, took my $4000 of savings, headed to Paris, and began a year-long Bohemian odyssey that took me through Europe and North Africa. I ended up in India and Afghanistan — just about as far away from toilet paper as I could get. I stayed there and started a clothing-for-export company. Those years were both complicated and exhilarating. However, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and some other unforeseen complications put an abrupt end to what had been a great adventure. Eight years after I left New York and built a good business, I came home deep in debt.

Back in the states, I set out to change my luck. And my luck kicked in on the day I landed a job at an embryonic venture in cable television — the Internet start-up of its day — at a company that went on to be called MTV. MTV begot Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TV Land, and so on, until they collectively became MTV Networks.

I stayed at MTV Networks, then Viacom, Paramount, and the rest of it for a full 26 years, building those creative businesses into huge global operations. I did that until last fall when the ax fell and, just like that, I no longer worked there. In any career, some days are better than others – and that day was an “other.” It’s ironic: Here I am giving a commencement speech when I’m back right where I started, wondering, like you, “Dear God – what the hell am I going to do now?”

So that’s my career story and how I ended up on this podium today. Sadly, since I was too busy having a panic attack when I was receiving the commencement speech at my graduation, I will never know if I missed out on any wise words I could have used in the 40 years since. Or the good example I could have put to use right now, on how to give a commencement speech.

And maybe something like this might happen to someone in this class 40 years from now. It could be you giving a commencement speech. Or you. Or you.

It could happen and, if it did, what would you say to the many confused faces staring back at you? So, for the benefit of whichever of you may someday follow in my footsteps as a commencement speaker, I’ve put together the shortest list possible…so timeless that it’s guaranteed to stay Mentos-fresh for the next 40 years. Some things you’re going to want to be able to say you’ve done if ever you are called upon to impart wisdom upon the young. So let’s start with the most basic and most important…

Tomorrow, the second segment of Freston’s speech: two pieces of advice for the next 40 years.