On social media, a friend forwarded what was called the “Shortest speech by CEO of Coca Cola…”
It reads:
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.”
Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required time to your family, friends & have proper rest
Value has a value only if its value is valued
While I’m not the first to cast doubt on this alleged speech, the quote sounded too cheesy to be true so I decided to study it a bit.
“Value has a value only if its value is valued”
First off, what the hell does this even mean? No CEO would say this. Perhaps the goober who put together the image with the quote on it tacked this on. I’ll assume this is the case.
A Google search of “Brian Dyson speech” turns up 236,000 results. Many of them are “inspirational quote”-type websites. Even NPR quotes the speech:
Brian J. Dyson
Georgia Tech, September 6, 1996Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Some search results include longer versions of the alleged speech:
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit … and you’re keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or evenshattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for Balance in your life.
How?
Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.
Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.
Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings!
Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.
Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.
Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.
Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
Georgia Tech
Sept. 6th, 1996
A search for this commencement date at Georgia Tech returns few plausible results, so it appears this date is incorrect. A more general search of “georgia tech” “commencement” “1996” turns helpfully turns up an archive at Georgia Tech of the President’s commencement speeches.
According to this archive, the Spring 1996 commencement speaker was Georgia Gov. Zell Miller:
It is now my great pleasure to introduce our commencement speaker. We are very fortunate this commencement, to have a speaker who is not only renowned for his
political achievements, but is also recognized for his profounf influence on the
future of Georgia.Before ascending to his current office, our speaker had a diverse career. At one time or other, he has been a businessman, a college professor, a Marine Sergeant, the author of three books, and even a short-order cook and college baseball coach.
Today, he is the governor of Georgia.
Since taking office in 1991, Governor Zell Miller’s love of teaching and commitment to education has resulted in one of the most ambitious agendas to improve public education in this century.
The Fall 1996 commencement speaker was Ms. Jackie M. Ward:
It is now my pleasure to introduce our commencement speaker, Ms. Jackie M. Ward.
Ms. Ward is a founder and chief executive officer of Computer Generation Incorporated. No stranger herself to drive and dedication, she began her career in data processing with the J.P. Stevens Company and later worked her way up through
technical and management positions with General Electric and the UNIVAC division of Sperry Rand Corporation.
So, at least the date of this alleged speech is incorrect.
A search of the Snopes message board reveals an early mention of Mr. Dyson’s commencement address to Georgia Tech … in 1991. It mentions a news story from the Athens Banner-Herald where a school superintendent was accused of plagiarism for appropriating part of Mr. Dyson’s speech:
The superintendent of schools has admitted plagiarizing a portion of the commencement address he gave [in June 1999] at Hopkinton High School, saying it was an oversight.
Michael Ananis used a portion of a 1991 speech given to Georgia Tech graduates by former Coca-Cola executive Brian Dyson. The plagiarism was discovered after an anonymous letter to a local newspaper.
Does this prove Mr. Dyson gave the 1991 commencement speech? Well, not by itself. The Banner-Herald story ran (and Mr. Ananis accused of plagiarism) in the summer of 1999, at which point the Internet (and its search engines) had become commonplace. The Banner-Herald story also does not quote the parts of the speech plagiarized, nor does it name the “local newspaper” that published the letter from the “anonymous” writer. It’s possible that Mr. Ananis simply searched online for a commencement speech to borrow and found mention of the Dyson speech. We don’t know if what he found was an accurate transcript or simply fiction on someone’s part.
Unfortunately, Georgia Tech’s speech archive appears to only go back as far as 1996, which doesn’t do us much good in determining if Mr. Dyson spoke at commencement in 1991.
Just when it looks as if this speech has been busted, yet another Google search hits pay dirt. The same SmartTech server that archives Georgia Tech’s Presidential speeches also archives The Whistle, Georgia Tech’s faculty newspaper. The September 30, 1991 edition of the Whistle includes Mr. Dyson’s speech in its entirety:
Here’s a link to Mr. Dyson’s full speech and the PDF scan of the Whistle page.
So, there you have it. Brian Dyson did speak at Georgia Tech’s commencement and he really did provide the “five balls” example, however
- It was at the 172nd commencement on Sept. 6, 1991, not Sept 6, 1996.
- It was not the “shortest speech” ever, but was part of a full, well-written speech.
- This dumb “value only has value” part is superfluous, as is the “longer version” mentioned on other websites.
- The quote on NPR’s website is pure fiction.
That sets the record straight on that little Internet mystery!
Nice research. Thanks