The last day of the present

GEMS OOIS 2020's Commencement Speech

Mrs. Principle, Esteemed Members of the School Board, Respected Educators, Ladies & Gentlemen, GRADUATES! Namaste… Good evening.

It gives me great pleasure to be present here with you tonight on your special day; in about 1 week from today, I will be celebrating my 40th Birthday, and I can’t find a better opportunity to reflect on my past 22 years than to share the valuable lessons I’ve learned throughout my life & career with all of you.

My dear graduates, it’s my honor to be sharing with you 1 Secret, 3 Lessons, and end with 1 Advice.

I shall start with the Secret…

Around 8 years ago, I was having a chat with my sister, she was participating in a competition and only days before her final presentation, she was considering giving up, she was afraid, and her way to represent her Fear was by considering it like a BRICK (Blata in Arabic) so a Brick on her chest that was not allowing her to move forward, so I asked her: how many times do I fly per month? She said: I don’t know, maybe 4-6 times. And I continued: And how long have I been in this lifestyle, she replied: like 6 years already. And Here I told her, do you know that despite the 100s of flights that I took, I have a Flying Phobia… Yes, Me, Samer Chidiac, have an Avio Phobia, the Fear of Flying… every time, and when the days get closer to my flying time, I used to get so tensed that when I wake up before my flight, my heard would be beating fast and I used to hold my knees together close to my chest and move back and forth, until I calm down and get wear my suit, take my back and just go…

Make no mistake, I wasn’t afraid of the Plane crashing, but in fact, I was afraid of what the entire meaning of the flight was for me; just like those who fear public speaking, they aren’t really afraid of someone from the audience coming up and hurting them, but it is what public speaking carried for the person, and for me, Flying was boarding on a Journey to the Unknown…

And tonight is the beginning of your special journey to a whole new world, and I know that some of you… are afraid.

So, my secret is not actually that I had the Fear of Flying but it’s How I dealt with it, I not only made peace with my fear, in fact, I became friends with my fear, and friends don’t hurt each other, they can be annoying sometimes, but a true friend wouldn’t hurt you.

It’s ok to be afraid sometimes, sometimes fear can push you to do things you wouldn’t have done if you were not afraid; Just remember that Fear may slow you down, but it won’t hurt you.

Become friends with your Fear.

My first lesson is about Believing in yourself

As of today, I have written and published 8 books, have spoken before 10s of thousands of people, won 10 international awards, started 4 companies, worked with and advised some of the biggest companies & entities in the world, and my work & thoughts reach out & impact Millions of people every single day… But when I was your age, most people considered me a failure, I wasn’t the brightest at school, and I even failed my 1st year at university 3 times in a row.

A lot of people thought of me as a failure. I sometimes used to wake up at night and cry myself out in bed because no one thought I could achieve anything meaningful in my life… No One… even my own parents  - who loved me very very much -  but started having serious doubts if I would ever make something out of myself.

But then I had myself to believe in, you see when no one has expectations from you, you feel lighter, and kind of relieved, and you can do anything you want without really caring about other people’s opinions. So I decided when I was 19 years old, that by the time I will be 30 years old, I will become a General Manager of a Company, and when I will reach 35 I will be working in a Multi-national company like Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft…

It was a long shot, I thought I will pressure myself and maybe, just maybe, I may reach this when I become 40; and trust me when I tell you that almost everyone whom I told them about my dream, laughed at me, it was the 90s, and starting a business in the middle east wasn’t anywhere close to being easy. So, I started my company, ON PAPER, I gave it a name, and even made a logo in Black & white – because I didn’t have access to a color printer – I became the General Manager of my Virtual Company… ON PAPER… and in my mind, I acted like that…

and guess what? When an opportunity presented itself, I was more than READY, I have been preparing for this… for that moment for YEARS… at 25, I became the General Manager of a Medium-Sized Marketing & Technology Company, with around 40 employees and operations in 3 countries… and at 27, I got headhunted to work for Microsoft… so as I celebrated my 30th birthday, I have tasted what it was like to make your dream come true… the dream I had at 19, and not only that, I reached there 5 years ahead of my best optimistic estimate.

So here’s lesson #1: ALWAYS, believe in yourself, you are capable of so much more than you think…

Lesson #2 is about Walls & Obstacles

On your way to fulfill your dreams, there will be obstacles & walls; they can come in different forms: Problems, Constraints, events and even People.

I first want you to remember that the only true problems in life are the ones related to the health and wellbeing of yourself and your loved ones… PERIOD. Everything else is NOT a problem.

In my senior year in college, I wanted to do my graduation project related to the internet, (remember, we’re talking about the early 2000s, things were not very evolved yet); my university supervisor, looked at me & my project mate, she never believed that we were capable of doing such a project and gave me a hard look of “Reality Check” and told us to stick to the classical project types… We got a little depressed… lucky for us, there was a national competition running across universities, so we decided to do something unusual, we decided to GO ALL IN, we risked everything and went for 2 significant projects at the same time, 1 for the university and 1 in secret for the competition… Without any support from anyone, we didn’t even tell our parents. And at the end of that year, when they announced the winning project, and out of ALL THE UNIVERSITIES combined, there were only 2 projects that won, 1 for each category, ONE… and in the category that we participated in… that ONE winning project was Ours, and we got awarded the Best Mobile Internet Business Model for 2002 from Ericson and France Telecom, and overnight we became the innovators of our country, where media connecting with us and other countries asking us to fly there to present our idea; Noone believed that it was really US!  And we did graduate that year.

So, my lesson to you is this:

Sometimes God Places Walls on your way to success, But walls are there for a reason, they are not there to hold you back, they are there to TEST your Determination. Do you REALLY WANT TO SUCCEED? Or Not!?

My 3rd and final lesson is about Regret

In 2006, I was taking a domestic flight in the United States; I went on the plane a little sick (it wasn’t too serious, just a strong cold), what I didn’t know at that time, is that having a cold and flying are not a great combination.

When the plane was in the sky, I started feeling the pressure… It was too much, so I went to the restroom to find that I was bleeding, from my nose and even from my ears… there was not much I could do… After I came back to my seat, I put my head on the window, closed my eyes, and wondered if I would ever reach my destination… or Not.

At that particular time, my life started flashing before my eyes, I really didn’t wish I have watched more TV and wished that should’ve spent more time at the office… I started remembering my loved ones; I really regretted not spending enough quality time with my parents, friends… etc.

& at that time, I already realized that If I leave the world on that night, people would forget me shortly afterward, because I haven’t left any legacy for them to remember me for. I was only 26; I thought that one should start thinking about these types of things when they are 80… Then, I took one decision that changed my life forever & enabled me to become the person I am before you tonight; I decided to Live every day with No Regrets, and To Leave a Legacy, EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Your legacy could simply be how you treat others, if you love from all your heart, that’s a legacy, when you make an impact - no matter how small – that’s a legacy, when you deliver a kick-ass presentation and write an exceptional article when you stand for a cause in your life… when you are Kind to others… all of that are examples of “a legacy”.

So, my lesson to you is this: Live every day with no regrets, so you don’t regret it one day; & Leave a Legacy, Every single day!

And last but not least, I want to leave you with One Advice

Be YOURSELF, but become the Best Version of your self & Never Stop Improving!

When you start your career, you will be judged based what you do, just like the persons handling the luggage in the airport, they are measured by what they DO, then as we go higher in that structure, like working on the plane as a cabin crew, then you will have a combination of what you do and what you know, some might think that the cabin crew is an easy job, it’s really not… then as we go higher in that structure, and we reach to the Captain of the Plane, it’s more of what they KNOW than what they DO… you see planes these days practically fly themselves, but it only takes one time, when the Captain needs to take a difficult decision on the spot, that would make all the difference… it’s the experience and knowledge of the manager and director, and finally, when you are in a LEADING position, it’s WHO you ARE… your thoughts, your ideas, your knowledge, your actions, your relationships, everything… When you are at the TOP… it’s WHO YOU ARE…

So Be Yourself, but become the BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF and Never stop improving. Read, Learn, Experience, Reflect, take risks, and Take control of your TIME… Never stop improving yourself… I have read 33 books this year, and I have read 30 last year, and 28 the year before… and every time I get an opportunity to learn a new thing… I SEIZE IT!

The next 5 years of yourself will not only shape your life but represents an opportunity for you to shape the world & to create a Future that YOU, Your Parents, Friends, and Loved ones will be very proud of.

No one knows what the future brings. Your parent dreamed of this day, they imagined it 10-15 years ago, but I bet you, None of them thought for 1 second that They will hold a mobile, click 1 button and a car will magically appear in front of your very own house, driven by a complete stranger who may not even speak your language but took you exactly to this venue without needing to telling them anything, and not even giving them any money in cash. So, I repeat, NOONE knows what the future brings, but I know this, it was DREAMERS like you that made our present Possible… and I know that Dreamers sitting in this room who will SHAPE OUR FUTURE.

So, there you go, Remember these:

·      Become friends with your fears

·      Always believe in yourself

·      Stay determined to succeed

·      Live every day with no regrets

·      And become the best version of yourself

Graduates…Congratulations… Go Change the World.

Thank you.

Samer Chidiac is a Strategic Innovation & Transformation Advisor, a Business Psychologist, a Philanthropist, an Author, and a Keynote Speaker. 

You can check his Books on Amazon & Sellfy, Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and check his Website for More.