{"425531":{"#nid":"425531","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AE alumnus Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr. delivers grad school commencement keynote","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAdmiral James A. \u0022Sandy\u0022 Winnefeld, Jr., the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave hundreds masters and doctoral students their final send-off May 2, as the keynote speaker for the Georgia Institute of Technology\u0027s Graduate School Commencement program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe next day, more than 130 AE undergraduates were treated to an inspirational speech by Coca-Cola CEO\u0026nbsp;Muhtar A. Kent, who presented the keynote for the morning program at McCamish Pavilion.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/117948618@N08\/sets\/72157644561387993\/\u0022\u003ECheck out these photos\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003Eof the festivities.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA 1978 graduate of the School of Aerospace Engineering, Admiral\u0026nbsp; Winnefeld did not restrict his message to any one segment of his audience, which drew from every College within the Institute. Instead, he intoned a message that spoke to the universal respect -\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Eand responsiblity\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;-- that a Georgia Tech degree commands --\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Eand demands\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI would submit that you are blessed with this knowledge and thus have a responsibility to use it in some kind of positive way. So make the most of it,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ctable width=\u0022200\u0022 border=\u00220\u0022 cellspacing=\u00221\u0022 cellpadding=\u00221\u0022 align=\u0022right\u0022\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003Cem\u003ETwo of hundreds of graduate students who filed into McCamish Pavilion on May 2 to receive their diplomas\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWinnefield predicted that many of the newly minted masters and doctorates would go on to leadership positions in the fields of their choice. To excel in those fields, he suggested, they would have to open themselves up to new perspectives and new areas of expertise, as their careers demanded.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis fusion of disparate knowledge can come to you in the most fascinating ways at the most unexpected times. \u2026 But these flashes of insight, as exhilarating as they are, don\u2019t arrive free of charge. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, \u2018I wouldn\u2019t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I\u2019d give my life for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWinnefeld suggested that the graduates look beyond\u0026nbsp; the mere accumulation of knowledge to the energetic deployment of their vision.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFirst, \u2026 have a good idea in which you believe, and then \u2026 push that idea through whatever poor, unsuspecting system it is in which you operate,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhatever their goals, Winnefeld encouraged the graduates to remember that great success is borne of great humility.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The quickest way for a young fighter pilot or platoon commander or submarine watch officer to lose credibility in my business is to lack humility, by denying mistakes or taking credit where it\u2019s not due or even taking credit where it is due\u0022 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a rock star to lead change. Your people will be more eager to follow you if they know they\u2019re doing it for the betterment of something other than your own reputation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWinnefeld told the graduates that while the ingredients of success are many, the vision that drives it generally comes from precious few. \u0026nbsp;He encouraged his listeners to be the sorts of leaders who could synthesize the big picture from disparate sources.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLeading change begins with the creative process, when someone like you challenges the assumptions and connects the dots from different fields into previously unknown combinations, then unveils either an incremental or revolutionary idea people haven\u2019t yet seen,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGet an\u0026nbsp;Institute-wide rundown on\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/spring-2014-commencement\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECommencement 2014\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ctable width=\u0022500\u0022 border=\u00220\u0022 cellspacing=\u00221\u0022 cellpadding=\u00221\u0022\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMembers of the Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate Class of 2014 take a moment to pay homage to one of the guiding images of their tenure at Tech:\u0026nbsp;The Fixed Wing.\u003Cbr \/\u003EFor more images of the graduation festivities, visit the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/GT-Aerospace\/185777213430?ref=search\u0026amp;sid=12820132.100812020..1\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGT-Aerospace Facebook\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;page.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Admiral James A. \u0022Sandy\u0022 Winnefeld, Jr.gave hundreds masters and doctoral students their final send-off May 2, as the keynote speaker for the Georgia Institute of Technology\u0027s Graduate School Commencement program."}],"uid":"27456","created_gmt":"2015-07-16 11:32:52","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:08","author":"Britanny Grace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-05-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-05-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"13313","name":"James Winnefeld"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["communications@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}