Brad Meltzer’s Commencement Speech Went Viral
Brad Meltzer never saw it coming.
It was 2024, and he was giving the commencement address at the University of Michigan, his alma mater and soon to be that of his son, seated in the audience, clad in cap and gown. Meltzer, a prolific author, was well-versed in these moments.
"When you give one of these speeches, you know that this is a joke, and hopefully, people will laugh here, and maybe they'll clap here," he told us. "You have your ideas of where people are going to react."
But he had no idea about this reaction—or at least, its intensity. As he delivered his speech on creating magic in life, he got to the point where he discussed the importance of empathy and kindness—and suddenly, 70,000 people in the stands erupted into applause. "I remember in the moment going, what just happened there? What was that?” he says.
Meltzer's words went viral. People started calling him to ask about it. Friends and strangers requested copies of it. And it eventually turned into his latest book, Make Magic: The Book of Inspiration You Didn't Know You Needed.
That speech, which Meltzer says ended up being "one of the most magical moments of my life," continues to edify and inspire us all—and its message is as simple as it is necessary and radical, says Meltzer. "I don't think I was prepared for how much desire there was for us to get back to a place of kindness and empathy."
We recently called Meltzer to talk more about the message behind his speech and book. The following are four highlights from our conversation, in which he chats about true magic in our lives and the joy of making his kids proud.
#1: The Need for Empathy
"I knew where the jokes were, but this part about empathy was just… something. And when the speech was over, that was the section of the speech that started going viral. That's what everyone was sharing. And my wife said to me, 'You tapped a vein you didn't know was there.' I was so moved to see what was happening. And I think it happened because we are currently starving for kindness and starving for empathy. And I think that's a beautiful thing, and I think that's a heartbreaking thing."
#2: The Joy of Making His Kids Proud
"This picture [above] that the university took has brought me more joy because it's… it's my boy I'm pointing to! My kids are not really impressed with anything I do, nor should they be. My son once said as he was reading one of our books, 'Dad, this one's actually good.' Or when I do a book signing, my kids sit in the back with their arms crossed, and they're just like, 'Here's dad doing his silly book thing again.' But for one day, for one 15-minute period, my son was like, 'You did right, dad.'
I think the reason is that when I was writing the speech, I was struggling with how to fill in the magic tricks. And my wife finally said, 'Stop trying to think what the right answer is. Instead, write the best advice you have for your child.' And then I wrote the speech in an hour—it came out of me in no time. I was like, Oh, that's it. I want this for my son."
#3: On How He Came Up with the Theme "Make Magic" for His Speech (and book)
"It was actually in one of my books, The Escape Artist. There's a line that says, 'There are only four types of magic tricks.' And it goes to the four types of tricks that I got from a magician years ago. I thought that was an interesting framing device, but [at first] I didn't know what to fill it in with. So, I called different friends—Simon Sinek, Adam Grant—and asked, 'What do you think of this?' All of them gave me some advice. And Simon gave me some wonderful lines that I credit him with. But at the end of the day, it wound up just being the advice I had for my son that cracked through."
#4: Why Kindness Is Everything
"I realized that with all this stuff that I was doing, the greatest joy I was getting was giving this gift to someone else. It was knowing that none of this had anything to do with me. It was freeing, and it was beautiful.
It all reminds me of 20 years ago. I was washing my hands in a public restroom at an airport, and there was a guy next to me. He and I finished washing our hands around the same time, so I'm a couple of steps behind him as he's walking out of the restroom. He sees the janitor who's cleaning up, and the guy says to the janitor, 'Thanks for keeping it clean.' And I just was so taken in that moment. For 20 years now, I've been saying to every janitor in every public restroom I've ever entered, 'Thank you for keeping it clean.' Now my son says this to every janitor in every public restroom, 'Thank you for keeping it clean.' I don't know who that man in the restroom with me was, but it just shows you the power that one person can have on another person just by the tiniest act of kindness. That is magic to me."
Brad Meltzer is the Emmy-nominated, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lightning Rod and 12 other bestselling thrillers. He also writes nonfiction books like The JFK Conspiracy, and the Ordinary People Change the World kids book series. He is also the host of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel. Learn more at bradmeltzer.com. You can watch Meltzer's University of Michigan commencement speech here.
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