John Hennessy didn't want to speak too much or too little.
The executive chairman of Alphabet and president emeritus of Stanford University said a dilemma faced by every commencement speaker is how long to speak.
When he spoke Friday at IU's graduate commencement in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, he compared his role in the ceremony to that of a body at an old-fashioned Irish wake.
"They need you in order to have the party," Hennessy said. "But nobody expects you to say very much."
Hennessy also focused on the connection between IU and Stanford during his commencement address.
David Starr Jordan, the seventh president of IU, was the founding president of Stanford in 1891.
Then, 96 years later in 1987, Thomas Ehrlich became the 15th president of IU after previously serving as dean of Stanford Law School.
After making the parallels, Hennessy focused the rest of his address on the 2,626 master and doctoral students who received degrees as a result of the ceremony.
"You must first find your passion and make that your life's work," Hennessy said.
He used his experiences in the field of computer science as an example of how to follow your passions in life.
Hennessy was also one of three people to receive honorary degrees prior to his speech, along with Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Norman Pace.
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is an IU alumna and the curator of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland, while Pace received his degree in recognition of his service to human knowledge due to his work as a biologist.
With the closing lines of his speech, Hennessy talked about how graduates should use their education for the benefit of others.
"I wish you good fortune on your journey," Hennessy said. "I hope when you reach my age, you'll be able to look back on your life and feel that you have made a positive difference in the life of others. I can tell you that from my vantage point, there is no greater reward."
IU President Michael McRobbie spoke after Hennessy, congratulating the graduates and urging them to value truth in their future endeavors.
"Venerate the truth," McRobbie said. "Defend science and reason when they are attacked. Value the experience and expertise of others. Remain humble in the face of complexity and may you, in this post-truth era, speak for truth and defend it against those who would distort, discredit and defame it.
