Commencement Speech

This morning I was the commencement speaker at Samuel Merritt's ceremonies for its graduates in the DPM (Doctor of Podiatric Medicine) and DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy). Samuel Merritt began as a small nursing program but has grown into an impressive specialized member of the Association. What had about 150 students a couple of decades ago now has more than 1100.

Here is what I said -

The Wisdom of Professional Crowds

As you might expect I get offered the opportunity to speak to a graduating class an independent college relatively frequently. That does not diminish my appreciation for the role nor should it diminish the appreciation I have of your accomplishment. With that said, I also understand the role of a commencement speaker. I have learned that the best commencement speeches have some humor and are short. And even if the first condition is not met, the second one is an absolute.

I want to talk to you about your future roles, after all this is a commencement. But before I do, I want to give you a brief story of my own commencement from my doctoral studies. Soon after I graduated from USC, my family and I were on a vacation and we wanted to change our reservations for one of the hotels. We called the reservations number and a pleasant voice answered, “Dr. Brown, how can I help?” My administrative assistant had changed all my records to reflect my new status. After we had completed the reservation change, the reservations person asked what kind of medicine I practiced, I told her I was an academic. She replied “Oh, my sister is a PHD also.” I asked her, “which field?” She replied “She is a professional hair dresser.”

You are entering your respective professions at a time when the appreciation of professional expertise is at a low point. Survey after survey shows a high level of skepticism about all professions – some like politicians are lower than others but all have suffered. I believe the level of trust is not likely to recover. But I want to offer two comments, and only two, about how well trained and caring professionals can work in this era.

About two years ago, James Surowiecki, did a book called the Wisdom of Crowds – subtitled “Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economics Societies and Nations.” Suroweicki argues that in many instances individuals, even those with expertise, make lousy judges of reality. I can attest that in my own field of economics, my brethren have successfully projected 11 of the last 3 recessions. The author cites a number of examples and then relays a conclusion first found by Francis Galton near the turn of the 20th Century. Galton noticed that judges at a county fair were poor judges of both mundane and important things. For example, he found that at a county fair, even the experts were not very good at judging the weight of an ox. What amazed him was that if the total guesses were aggregated, the average of all those guesses was remarkably correct in coming very close to the exact right answer. That should put some trust in our collective intelligence.

Surowiecki believes that under certain conditions that crowds actually do make great decisions. They include 1) the crowd must be diverse, 2) decentralized, 3) it needs a way of summarizing the collective verdict, 4) the people in the crowd need to be independent. That sounds a lot like California in 2006 – diverse, decentralized and independent – so if we can figure out how to register our preferences, we should do pretty well.

The second idea I would like to present is one from Frederich von Hayek , the first winner of the Nobel in Economics. Hayek was one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. In an article he wrote about the uses of knowledge in society. He argued that centralized systems would inevitably fail because they ignored the importance of “the knowledge of time and place.” The macro thinkers will often miss important details. I first discovered an application of Hayek’s principle when I was in Oaxaca, Mexico. The vendors of small coin purses, which are very useful to carry for 5 and 10 peso coins, seemed to mirror the broader fluctuations of the currency markets, often almost instantaneously. I wondered when I first observed the trend, how this group of relatively unsophisticated dealers in inexpensive goods could keep so well informed about changes in value. Hayek argued that the failure of centralized economic and planning systems were always based on this thing called the knowledge of time and place. Each of us brings together a unique set of skills and backgrounds that allow us to understand a part of our world better than anyone else. We should be able to apply that principle too – to professional practice.

OK, so I have now exposed two ideas briefly from the field of economics, how in the world would I possibly relate that to your eventual practice or in either teaching and research in your fields?

In both instances – the Wisdom of Crowds and the knowledge of time and place – the value of traditional kinds of expertise is discounted or at least valued differently than most professionals would traditionally expect. So does this mean that the last several years when you have acquired the deep knowledge of Podiatry and Physical Therapy have been a waste of time? NO, not at all.

The best professionals in this era have learned to listen to the people they are working with and to use their knowledge of time and place to help in their diagnosis and therapy. For those of you who go into practice, I remember one podiatrist who I worked with when I was a runner. Podiatrists and runners have a natural bond. When I was running marathons my podiatrist was a graduate of this institution. Randy had a real ability to listen and learn from his patients. He was successful because he treated his patients not as parts of his day but as thoughtful and responsive individuals who he could assist only after learning about their individual situations.

For those of you who will go into teaching, the lesson should not be lost on you. If you are not part of this generation you should understand something called the Googleization of higher education. I teach once a year at USC and once a year at a university in Mexico. In both cases students now expect to use their laptops in class. When I say something outrageous, up go the laptops and my reference gets googled. Some professors see that as a challenge to their authority. I see it as an opportunity, a chance to collaborate with students in learning. I am a guide not a font of wisdom.

In both of these instances, there is some need to attack your profession with a level of humility, that some professions simply have no propensity toward. One of the strong ethics in Samuel Merritt which I believe is imbedded in the curriculum, is that strong commitment to involving the patient in their therapies – so you may be one up on others in the system who are also starting out.

So go out. Celebrate today. But as you go on to practice your professions remember Suroweicki and Hayek. Thank your patients for their diversity, and independence and different ways of looking at the world. If you do you will be successful in the greatest sense of the word.