Critical Reasoning #10 - #11

Saturday, September 23, 2006

As one who has always believed that truth is our nation's surest weapon in the propaganda war against our foes, I am distressed by reports of "disinformation" campaigns by American intelligence agents in Western Europe. In a disinformation campaign, untruths are disseminated through gullible local journalists in order to damage the interests of our enemies and protect our own. Those who defend this practice say that lying is necessary to counter Soviet disinformation campaigns aimed at damaging America's political interests. These apologists contend that one must fight fire with fire. I would point out to the apologists that the fire department finds water more effective.

10. The author of the passage above bases his conclusion on which of the following?
(A) A circular definition of "disinformation"
(B) An example of the ineffectiveness of lying as a weapon in the propaganda war
(C) An analogy between truth and water
(D) An appeal to the authority of the fire department
(E) An attack on the character of American intelligence agents in Western Europe

11. The author's main point is that
(A) although disinformation campaigns may be effective, they are unacceptable on ethical grounds
(B) America's moral standing in the world depends on its adherence to the truth
(C) the temporary political gains produced by disinformation campaigns generally give way to long-term losses
(D) Soviet disinformation campaigns have done little to damage America's standing in Europe
(E) disinformation campaigns do not effectively serve the political interests of the United States

Note: Post your answer along with an explanation if required. Highlight this note to check your answer. Answer: 10-C, 11-E

Critical Reasoning #9

Studies of fatal automobile accidents reveal that, in the majority of cases in which one occupant of an automobile is killed while another survives, it is the passenger, not the driver, who is killed. It is ironic that the innocent passenger should suffer for the driver's carelessness, while the driver often suffers only minor injuries or none at all.

Which of the following is an assumption underlying the reasoning in the passage above?
(A) In most fatal automobile accidents, the driver of a car in which an occupant is killed is at fault.
(B) Drivers of automobiles are rarely killed in auto accidents.
(C) Most deaths in fatal automobile accidents are suffered by occupants of cars rather than by pedestrians.
(D) Auto safety experts should increase their efforts to provide protection for those in the passenger seats of automobiles.
(E) Automobile passengers sometimes play a contributing role in causing auto accidents.

Note: Post your answer along with an explanation if required. Highlight this note to check your answer. Answer: A

Yale - 2006 Class Day Address

Thank you very much. Thanks. Thank you. Who else but a Yale student would describe hosting a reality show as expanding my journalistic capabilities. I love that, love that. Yeah. Were it only true.

Members of the Class of 2006, friends, faculty, parents, members of the Taliban: Thank you very much. [Cheers and applause.] What? What? Oh, come on. Come on. What are you going to do, bury me up to my head in the sand? Hey, I've been there, I've been there.

I have to be honest, I was a bit nervous to come back to Yale. I graduated with the Class of 1989, 17 years ago, and I still have this recurring nightmare … Trumbull, yes, thank you, Trumbull. Sure, why not? [referring to Trumbull College] I still have this recurring nightmare that there's some exam I haven't completed in one of those throwaway science courses like "Intro. to Psych" or something. [Laughter and some boos.] Oh, come on, I love "Intro. to Psych." I just really didn't want to take a science course. And actually last night I literally had a dream that the campus police had an outstanding warrant for my arrest if I returned to Yale. So I was a little bit nervous.

And the other reason I was reluctant to return to campus is that being here actually allows the Yale Alumni Association to get a pinpoint on me. Because you don't know this about the Yale Alumni Association yet, but let me just warn you: For the rest of your life, they will hunt you down. No matter where you go, no matter what country you live in, they will find you, and they will write you letters and they will squeeze you for every cent you make. Seriously, enjoy the next 24 hours because right now you are still students. Tuesday morning they will have all your numbers, all your addresses in the database and they will start tracking you. If Osama bin Laden was a Yale graduate they would know what cave he was in, exactly. It's true. President Bush should get the Yale Alumni Association on the case.

I was actually very excited to meet many of you today until I actually did meet you and realized how young you are all and how old it makes me feel. Tre Borden [Class of 2006 Secretary] informed me that actually most of you were born the year I graduated from high school, which is personally a terrifying prospect for me. It's also a little worrying because the only thing I remember about my high school is my senior prom - well, actually the after-prom party - and I only remember bits and pieces of it. But if what I remember is true, it is very possible that some of you are my children. Especially you with the blue eyes and prematurely gray hair, right there. Let me just say that if that is true, for legal reasons I can't say whether or not you are my children, I'm bursting with pride today. And I'm sorry for not being around for the last 20 years or so.

Seriously, it is a pleasure to be here on what is a remarkable day. It's a beautiful day if it doesn't rain and a very special day in your lives. You've worked incredibly hard to get here, to get through here, and I hope you're all very proud of yourselves. You should be. And I'm sure you've already done this, but I hope that at some point this weekend - I'm sure everybody's encouraged you to do this - that you look your parents in the eye and hug them close and thank them for everything they have done to get you to this moment and this spot. Because as hard as it's been for you, I guarantee you it's been twice as hard for them. [Applause.]

I wasn't really sure what to talk to you about today and I asked Tre and he said, "Well, you know Class Day is such an important day, and I'm sure we'd love to hear some of your memories of it." And that calmed me because the truth of the matter is I have absolutely no memories of this day. I thought back to my own graduation and, I mean I'm sure I was here because I have the little clay pipe and I remember I had the pipe because my mom found it my room that night and accused me, thinking it was a pot pipe. And so we got in a big argument about it and my roommate decided to solve the argument by taking out this two-foot water pipe that he had in a locked box in the living room and comparing it, to show that in fact, that was not a pot pipe. It went well, yeah, it went very well. [Laughter.]

So I have no actual memory of sitting here in a funny hat listening to a speaker, which I actually find calming because, frankly, it doesn't matter what I say, because you all are not going to remember this by, you know, tomorrow. But your parents are going to remember this because they paid through their noses for it, so I will try to make it memorable for them, if for no one else. I do remember Commencement ceremony: I remember the cap and gown, the polyester, I remember the procession, I remember being excited and nervous and completely confused about my future - feelings, I imagine, that most of you are experiencing in some form. When I graduated, when I was sitting here I imagine, I hadn't actually applied for any jobs and I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. [Cheers.] Yeah, that's right. Raise your hand if you're in that position. I remember asking my mom for advice, something I rarely did growing up because my mom is not the most practical person on the planet. The last time I'd done that was in middle school, when I was having problems in math class and I asked her for some advice and she told me to wear vertical stripes because they're slimming. I didn't know what that meant.

But her advice to me at Yale graduation was "Follow your bliss." I was hoping for something a little more specific, like plastics. [Laugher.] What, plastic? You like plastic? All right. But in retrospect, follow your bliss was pretty good advice. My mom didn't actually coin the phrase - actually it was a professor at Sarah Lawrence College named Joseph Campbell who did - and my mom had seen a taped interview on TV. It kind of shows you our relationship - she was giving advice she had gotten off of television. I'm thankful she wasn't watching Montel Williams or something, or Fox News. I kid, because they have huge ratings. They kill me.

The problem, of course, with follow your bliss (and I actually think that's pretty good advice), but the problem with follow your bliss is actually trying to figure out what your bliss is, and that's not an easy thing to do. Like many of you, I have a liberal arts degree, which is to say, I have no actual skill. And I majored in political science [cheers]. You're excited about it now, but believe me, it doesn't go very far. It means you can read a newspaper, but other than that, I'm not really sure what else. I also focused a lot of my studies on communism, which when the Berlin Wall fell, I was totally screwed. I know, it was a happy occasion for a lot of people, but believe me, on this campus, believe me, all of the Russian studies majors were very down in the dumps. The one thing I knew I liked was television and particularly television news. I watched a lot of it growing up so I figured okay, I've got a Yale degree, I'll go give that a shot, I'll apply for an entry-level job at ABC News, a gopher position. Like I'm totally qualified for this: answering phones, I'll go do whatever Peter Jennings wants. I could not get this job. It took six months; they strung me along; I did interviews. I could not get the job, which shows you the value of a Yale education.

But it actually was the best thing that ever happened to me. I decided that if no one would give me a chance, I'd have to take a chance, and if no one would give me an opportunity, I would have to create my own opportunity. So I came up with this plan to become a reporter. I figured if I went places where there weren't many Americans, I wouldn't have much competition. So I decided to start going to wars, which my mom was thrilled about. It was a very simple plan, but it was moronic, but it actually worked. I made a fake press pass on a Macintosh computer - actually, I didn't even make it to be honest, a friend of mine made it because I'm computer illiterate - and I got a home video camera that I borrowed and I just decided to go to wars. I snuck into Burma and hooked up with some students fighting the Burmese government and moved into Somalia in the early days of the famine. I spent really the next two years going from one war-torn country to another: Bosnia, South Africa for Mandela's election. I was in Rwanda for the genocide, which makes ultimately doing "The Mole" a natural step, as you can see where I'm going.

I may have gone to school at Yale, but I always think that in many ways I was educated on the streets of Johannesburg, in Kigali, in Sarajevo, in Port-Au-Prince. And I've learned when you go to the edges of the world, where the boundaries aren't clear, where the dark parts of the human heart are open for all to see, you learn things about yourself and you learn things about your fellow human beings and what we're all capable of. We're capable, really, of anything, great acts of compassion and dignity, as we saw in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We're also capable of great acts of cowardice and brutality and stupidity, which we also saw in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The funny thing is that just two years after doing this, of going on my own and going into wars, ABC News called me up and offered me a job as a correspondent. I was just about 27; I was the youngest correspondent they hired since they hired Jennings and Koppel years ago. For me, it was a lesson: two years before I tried to get an entry-level job and I thought that was the path, because that was the path that everyone took. And had I gotten that job there was no way I would have had the opportunities that I had; there was no way I would have seen the things I've been able to see.

When I was graduating and trying to decide what to do with my life, I really felt paralyzed because I thought I had to figure it out all it once. I had to pick a career and start down a path that I'd be on for the rest of my life. I now that it totally doesn't work that way. It certainly didn't for me. Everyone I know who's successful, professionally and personally, could never have predicted when they graduated from college where they'd actually end up. My friends from Yale who are happiest are the ones who thought less of where they'd be in 10 years and what steps they'd have to do now in order to make partner 10 years from now in a law firm or build their 401K. My friends who are happiest now are the ones who kept taking steps based on what they felt right and what felt like them at the moment. If I had gotten that job on the set of ABC News there's no telling where I'd be now.

When I started going to wars I had no clear goal in mind. There was no path that promised me success or job security. But I was listening really to myself and followed my passion, and I'm more convinced than ever that if you do that, you will be successful. I'm not talking about rich - perhaps you will be - but you'll be fulfilled, and that's the greatest success you can have.

I always wince … I'm kind of rushing because I see the skies darkening, which frankly happens wherever I go, so if I whip out my rain slicker, you all are totally screwed. I always wince when someone says that college is the best four years of your life, because, frankly. for me it wasn't. I hope it's not for you either. Every year after college just gets better. Your confidence grows; you're living the life that you've chosen.

It's so interesting to me how real life has very little to do with what you've learned here, and yet, what you've learned here, what you've struggled to achieve, will help you. I can't exactly say how: It's not something that can necessarily be defined. When I first went to war in Somalia I was surrounded by teenagers with guns and grenade launchers, there was nothing particular that I've learned at Yale that allowed me to survive. When I was in Rwanda in the genocide and was surrounded by bodies and had seen terrible things, there was no one particular class that I've taken that helped me get through. And yet something about the experience here - the friendships, the accumulating of facts and theories, the confidence I gained over the course of four years - allowed me to go to those places and helped me chart my own course.

At Yale I met some of the smartest people I know but that kind of academic success really means very little once you've left this campus. I've never been asked what my grades were at Yale; that only happens if you run for president, and frankly, as we've all seen, it doesn't even matter. No one has ever asked me to talk about my senior thesis paper and I've never gotten a job because I was on the lightweight crew team. All those things were hugely important to me at the time, but right now, in truth, they are kind of dim memories for me. And I'm not saying they're frivolous or unimportant, they're not, and I treasure all the opportunities I had here at Yale.

But when you graduate, the slate is wiped clean. Outside of college campuses, I think we're encouraged today to see things through a very limited lens. On cable news, anchors have become caricatures, wearing their politics on their sleeves or their lapels, claiming that they're looking out for you and if you only watch their show or read their book, you'll be able to understand how things really are. It would be kind of humorous if it weren't, frankly, dangerous. On reality TV shows you watch people swapping lives, but a genuine swapping of ideas is something you rarely see outside of the college campus. We're fighting not just a war of terror but a war of ideas, and I think it's important that as a class, we all understand the importance of understanding other people's ideas, our enemies' as well as our friends'.

I'm not very good at giving advice. We all know that's Bill O'Reilly's job and he does it very well. I actually Googled graduation speeches to see what kind of advice other people give at these kind of things, and believe me, they're incredibly cheesy. Goldie Hawn told graduates at AU, and I quote, "While you are continuing to walk down that sometimes bumpy road of life, develop the art of laughter and joy. Keep in your backpack of treasures the whole you, the best you, the you that won't fear failure." [Laughter.] Yeah, think about it. Think about it. Backpack of treasures. Very true. Yoko Ono gave a Commencement speech (she didn't sing it, she actually talked at it.) She said: "I say you can't stand if you've got too much muck in your head. Let it go, and dance through life." So true, so much muck, you know? Muck is a big problem. Of course. it's easier to dance through life if you have a billion dollars, but I digress.

Since my mom gave me advice from television, I'm actually going to give you advice from a movie, because that's the best I could come up with, frankly. It's one of my favorite movies: "Lawrence of Arabia." (Cheers.) It's a cool movie, I know. There's a line in it where Lawrence says, "Nothing is written." And for you, I think, on this day, at this moment in your lives, I think that is especially true. Nothing is written. You've been taught how to write for yourselves. This weekend, the slate is wiped clean. There are no words that you have to use. There are no sentences you must complete. You stand before a field of freshly fallen snow; there are no footprints that you have to follow. Nothing is written. And I hope you know that it is truly a rare and wonderful place to be. Congratulations, Class of 2006. You deserve it."

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Anderson Cooper Biography

Anderson Cooper anchors "Anderson Cooper 360°," an unconventional, wide-ranging news program airing on CNN/U.S. weekdays. Cooper, who joined CNN in December 2001, served as CNN's weekend anchor before moving to prime time in March 2003, following the war in Iraq and then to a two-hour, late evening timeslot in November 2005, following Hurricane Katrina.

Since joining CNN, Cooper has anchored major breaking news stories, most recently the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. He traveled to Sri Lanka to cover the tsunami and was in Baghdad for the Iraqi elections. Cooper also anchored much of CNN's live coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican City as well as the Terri Schiavo story in Florida. For "America Votes 2004," he moderated a Democratic presidential candidates' forum the network sponsored with Rock the Vote.

Before joining CNN, Cooper was an ABC News correspondent and host of the network's reality program, "The Mole." Cooper anchored ABC's live, interactive news and interview program, "World News Now," as well as providing reports for "World News Tonight," "20/20" and "20/20 Downtown." Previously, he was a New York-based correspondent for ABC News, reporting primarily for "World News Saturday/Sunday."

Cooper joined ABC from Channel One News, where he served as chief international correspondent. During that time, he reported and produced stories from Bosnia, Iran, Israel, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa and Vietnam. He also reported national stories that were broadcast over the Channel One News school television network and seen in more than 12,000 classrooms nationwide.

Cooper has won several awards for his work, including a National Headliners Award for his tsunami coverage, an Emmy Award for his contribution to ABC's coverage of Princess Diana's funeral; a Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian civil war; a Bronze Telly for his coverage of famine in Somalia; a Bronze Award from the National Educational Film and Video Festival for a report on political Islam; and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism for his "20/20 Downtown" report on high school athlete Corey Johnson.

Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He also studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi. Cooper is based in New York City.

Office boy chasing MBA dream, lost son to malaria

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I recently read one dreadful story..

For Shweta Futane, life has been harsh. A wife at 18, she lost her two-month-old son Mayank to malaria in May. Now at 19, she is a widow. Yogesh, her caring, hard-working, and ambitious husband of two years, died in the July 11 train blasts. These days, even their 200 sq feet room at Vinayak Nagar chawl in Teen Dongri in Goregaon seems empty.

A frail Shweta spends hours in front of Yogesh's photo, while his mother Vijya (50) can't believe what has happened to them- even two months later.

"The only world he knew was his books. He would study in the nearby library for hours," she says about Yogesh, who was working as an office boy at the Shangrila India Estate at Churchgate, but was working towards doing better for himself.

The first step to that was an MBA and he was pursuing the degree by correspondence from Pune University. Hence his long hours away from home - first at work and then at the library "In fact, he didn't even want to get married. We forced him to settle down last year," adds Vijya.

Yogesh had finished work to board the 5:48 pm Borivali local, eager to get home and put in a couple of hours of study. His MBA exams were scheduled for July 24. He was nervous, but satisfied about his progress.

... for complete story

Professor Laloo to deliver lecture to IIM-A students

Monday, September 18, 2006

Before it was Dubbawalla's of Mumbai, now its Laloo Prasad Yadav of Bihar. Laloo will lecture IIM-A students about the turnaround of the Indian Railways.

After inviting Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav to deliver a lecture about the turnaround saga of the loss-making Indian Railways, IIM-Ahmedabad, one of Asia's best B-schools, has now sent an invitation to Kumar to address participants of a three-day programme - Participants of Confluence 2006 - to be held in November.

Not just IIM-A students, over 1,000 international students of 20 top business schools from Europe, the US and Far East will listen to the lectures.

...(Express India)

There has been talks about Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to deliver lecture to IIM students too.

One can find people talking about his lecture in IIM. People want to know if outsiders will be allowed to listen one of the biggest crowd puller politician talking to students and faculty of elite business school.

Keeping the spirit of his political rival, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is also in the news for the same reason. He will also be addressing management crowd even at a bigger scale than Laloo. Not just IIM-A students, over 1,000 international students of 20 top business schools from Europe, the US and Far East will listen to the lecture.

...(GujratGlobal)

Indra Nooyi's Graduation Remarks

Friday, September 15, 2006

Following is the transcript of the address given by Indra Nooyi, president and CFO of PepsiCo, at the Columbia University Business School graduation ceremonies on May 15.

Good evening, everyone.

Dean Hubbard, distinguished faculty, honored graduates, relieved parents, family, and friends, it's a distinct pleasure to be in New York City this evening to celebrate the biggest milestone to date in the lives of you, the young men and women before us: your graduation from Columbia University Business School.

It may surprise you, graduates, but as big a night as this is for you, it's an even bigger night for your parents. They may look calm and collected as they sit in the audience, but deep inside they're doing cartwheels, dancing the Macarena, and practically speaking in tongues, they're so excited. This is what happens when parents anticipate that their bank accounts will soon rehydrate after being bone-dry for two years. So, for everyone here this evening, it's a very special occasion. And I'm delighted to share it with you.

I am keenly aware that graduates traditionally refer to our time together this evening as the calm before the storm. Some graduates -- perhaps those who minored in self-awareness -- refer to the commencement address as "the snooze before the booze." However you describe my comments this evening, please know that I understand. It wasn't that long ago that I was in your place. And I remember the day well. I knew that I owed my parents -- my financial benefactors -- this opportunity to revel in our mutual accomplishment. Yet, as the guy at the podium droned on about values, goals, and how to make my dreams take flight, I remember desperately checking and rechecking my watch. I thought, "I deserve to party, and this codger's cramping my style!"

In one of life's true ironies, I am now that codger. Well...I'm the female equivalent. A codg-ette, I guess. And I now understand that values, goals, and how to make dreams take flight, really are important. So being a firm believer that hindsight is one of life's greatest teachers, allow me to make belated amends.

To that distinguished, erudite, and absolutely brilliant man whom I silently dissed many years ago: mea culpa. Big, BIG mea culpa!

This evening, graduates, I want to share a few thoughts about a topic that should be near and dear to your hearts: the world of global business. But, I'm going to present this topic in a way that you probably haven't considered before. I'm going to take a look at how the United States is often perceived in global business, what causes this perception, and what we can do about it. To help me, I'm going to make use of a model.

To begin, I'd like you to consider your hand. That's right: your hand.

Other than the fact that mine desperately needs a manicure, it's a pretty typical hand. But, what I want you to notice, in particular, is that the five fingers are not the same. One is short and thick, one tiny, and the other three are different as well. And yet, as in perhaps no other part of our bodies, the fingers work in harmony without us even thinking about them individually. Whether we attempt to grasp a dime on a slick, marble surface, a child's arm as we cross the street, or a financial report, we don't consciously say, "OK, move these fingers here, raise this one, turn this one under, now clamp together. Got it!" We just think about what we want to do and it happens. Our fingers -- as different as they are -- coexist to create a critically important whole.

This unique way of looking at my hand was just one result of hot summer evenings in my childhood home in Madras, India. My mother, sister, and I would sit at our kitchen table and -- for lack of a better phrase -- think big thoughts. One of those thoughts was this difference in our fingers and how, despite their differences, they worked together to create a wonderful tool.

As I grew up and started to study geography, I remember being told that the five fingers can be thought of as the five major continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Now, let me issue a profound apology to both Australia and Antarctica. I bear neither of these continents any ill will. It's just that we humans have only five fingers on each hand, so my analogy doesn't work with seven continents.

Clearly, the point of my story is more important that geographical accuracy!

First, let's consider our little finger. Think of this finger as Africa. Africa is the little finger not because of Africa's size, but because of its place on the world's stage. From an economic standpoint, Africa has yet to catch up with her sister continents. And yet, when our little finger hurts, it affects the whole hand.

Our thumb is Asia: strong, powerful, and ready to assert herself as a major player on the world's economic stage.

Our index, or pointer finger, is Europe. Europe is the cradle of democracy and pointed the way for western civilization and the laws we use in conducting global business.

The ring finger is South America, including Latin America. Is this appropriate, or what? The ring finger symbolizes love and commitment to another person. Both Latin and South America are hot, passionate, and filled with the sensuous beats of the mambo, samba, and tango: three dances that -- if done right -- can almost guarantee you and your partner will be buying furniture together.

This analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents leaves the long, middle finger for North America, and, in particular, the United States. As the longest of the fingers, it really stands out. The middle finger anchors every function that the hand performs and is the key to all of the fingers working together efficiently and effectively. This is a really good thing, and has given the U.S. a leg up in global business since the end of World War I.

However, if used inappropriately -- just like the U.S. itself -- the middle finger can convey a negative message and get us in trouble. You know what I'm talking about. In fact, I suspect you're hoping that I'll demonstrate what I mean. And trust me, I'm not looking for volunteers to model.

Discretion being the better part of valor...I think I'll pass.

What is most crucial to my analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents, is that each of us in the U.S. -- the long middle finger -- must be careful that when we extend our arm in either a business or political sense, we take pains to assure we are giving a hand...not the finger. Sometimes this is very difficult. Because the U.S. -- the middle finger -- sticks out so much, we can send the wrong message unintentionally.

Unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now. Not as part of the hand -- giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers -- but, instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.

I'd challenge each of you to think about how critically important it is for every finger on your hand to rise and bend together. You cannot simply "allow" the other four fingers to rise only when you want them to. If you've ever even tried to do that, you know how clumsy and uncoordinated it is.

My point here is that it's not enough just to understand that the other fingers coexist. We've got to consciously and actively ensure that every one of them stands tall together, or that they bend together when needed.

Today, as each of you ends one chapter in your young lives and begins another, I want you to consider how you will conduct your business careers so that the other continents see you extending a hand...not the finger. Graduates, it's not that hard. You can change and shape the attitudes and opinions of the other fingers -- the other continents and their peoples -- by simply ascribing positive intent to all your international business transactions. If you fail, or if you are careless, here's a perfect example of what can happen:

A U.S. businesswoman was recently in Beijing, China, on an international training assignment for a luxury hotel chain. The chain was rebranding an older Beijing hotel. As such, the toilets in the hotel had yet to be upgraded. There were no porcelain commodes, just holes in the floor. Until recently, this was the standard procedure in China.

Now, 8,000 miles removed from the scene, you and I -- and most Americans -- can shake our heads and giggle at the physical contortions and delicate motor skills necessary to make the best of this situation. We're simply not used to it. But to loudly and insultingly verbalize these feelings onsite, in front of the employees and guests of the host country, is bush league. And yet, that's exactly what this woman observed.

In the hotel's bar, the woman overheard a group of five American businessmen loudly making fun of the hotel's lavatory facilities. As the drinks flowed, the crass and vulgar comments grew louder, and actually took on an angry, jingoistic tone. While these Americans couldn't speak a word of Chinese, their Chinese hosts spoke English very well, and understood every word the men were saying.

And we wonder why the world views many Americans as boorish and culturally insensitive. This incident should make it abundantly clear. These men were not giving China a hand. They were giving China the finger. This finger was red, white, and blue, and had "the United States" stamped all over it.

Graduates, it pains me greatly that this view of America persists. Although I'm a daughter of India, I'm an American businesswoman. My family and I are citizens of this great country.

This land we call home is a most loving and ever-giving nation -- a Promised Land that we love dearly in return. And it represents a true force that, if used for good, can steady the hand -- along with global economies and cultures.

Yet to see us frequently stub our fingers on the international business and political stage is deeply troubling. Truth be told, the behaviors of a few sully the perception for all of us. And we know how often perception is mistaken for reality.

We can do better. We should do better. With your help, with your empathy, with your positive intent as representatives of the U.S. in global business, we will do better. Now, as never before, it's important that we give the world a hand...not the finger.

In conclusion, graduates, I want to return to my introductory comments this evening. I observed that as big a night as this is for you, it's an even bigger night for your parents. I ascribed their happiness to looking forward to a few more "George Washingtons" in their bank accounts. While this is certainly true, there is another reason.

Each of your parents believes that their hard work has paid off. Finally! They believe that maybe -- just maybe -- they have raised and nurtured the next Jack Welch, Meg Whitman, or Patricia Russo.

Don't disappoint them. Don't disappoint your companies. And don't disappoint yourselves.

As you begin your business careers, and as you travel throughout the world to assure America's continued global economic leadership, remember your hand. And remember to do your part to influence perception.

Remember that the middle finger -- the United States -- always stands out. If you're smart, if you exhibit emotional intelligence as well as academic intelligence, if you ascribe positive intent to all your actions on the international business stage, this can be a great advantage. But if you aren't careful -- if you stomp around in a tone-deaf fog like the ignoramus in Beijing -- it will also get you in trouble. And when it does, you will have only yourself to blame.

Graduates, as you aggressively compete on the international business stage, understand that the five major continents and their peoples -- the five fingers of your hand -- each have their own strengths and their own contributions to make. Just as each of your fingers must coexist to create a critically important tool, each of the five major continents must also coexist to create a world in balance. You, as an American businessperson, will either contribute to or take away from, this balance.

So remember, when you extend your arm to colleagues and peoples from other countries, make sure that you're giving a hand, not the finger. You will help your country, your company, and yourself, more than you will ever know.

Thank you very much.