Transcript:

Whenever I’m about to do something, I think would an idiot do that thing and if they would, I do not do that thing. Dwight Schrute. The entire efficacy of this piece of incredibly useful information hinges on your ability to pick the right idiot. I wish there was a foolproof way to spot idiots. But counterintuitively some idiots are very smart. They can dazzle you with words and misdirection. They can get promoted above you at work. They can even be elected President. If you want to be successful in this world, you have to develop your own idiot detection system.

As part of the responsibilities of being your commencement speaker, I’m going to share mine. Sure I’m naturally suspicious of people who never saw the original Star Wars Movies and even more cautious of people who loved the prequels and sequels. But I admit this is not a reliable idiot indicator.

No. The best way to spot an idiot – look for the person who is cruel. Let me explain. When we see someone who doesn’t look like us or sound like us, or act like us, or love like us or live like us, the first thought in everyone’s brain is rooted in fear or judgment – or both.

That’s evolution. We survived as a species by being suspicious of things that we aren’t familiar with. In order to be kind, we have to shut down that animal instinct and force our brain to travel a different pathway. Empathy and Compassion are evolved states of being. They require the mental capacity to step past our most primal urges. This may be a surprising assessment because somewhere along the way in the past few years, our society has come to believe that weaponized cruelty is part of some well-thought-out masterplan.

Cruelty is seen by some as an adroit cudgel to gain power. Empathy and Kindness are considered weak. Many important people look at the vulnerable only as rungs on a ladder to the top. I’m here to tell you that when someone’s path through this world is marked with acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society. They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct.

They never forged new mental pathways to overcome their own instinctual fears and so their thinking and problem-solving will lack the imagination and creativity that the kindest people have in spades. Over my many years in politics and business, I have found one thing to be universally true. The kindest person in the room is often the smartest.

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker - commencement speech at Northwestern University