YSU grads will leave ‘city of their comfort,’ Fleischer says

By Jeanne Starmack | May 17, 2015 at 12:01a.m.

By JEANNE STARMACK

starmack@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

YSU Commencement

Randall Craig Fleischer is not as well-known as Simon Cowell, but he does have some impressive credentials and he did have some good advice for 2015 spring graduates of Youngstown State University.

“When you came to this event and found out the speaker was me, how many of you said, ‘Who’s that?’” Fleischer asked the graduates and their families who were crowded into Beeghly Center for the 2:30 p.m. ceremony that included the College of Creative Arts and Communication, the College of Health and Human Services, and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

He was there, he added, because “Simon Cowell was way too expensive.”

He might work for cheap as a speaker, but Fleischer, the musical director of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, the Anchorage Symphony and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic has also appeared as a guest conductor with many major orchestras in the United States and internationally, including the Boston Pops, San Francisco Symphony, China Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic. He is a composer and arranger, and is a national leader in symphonic rock and world music fusion.

He knows about success and he knows about being a leader — two key themes he stressed.

“There is nothing easy about this,” he told them.

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.”

There, he said, “You will be the leaders of your generation.”

He said that in the media, “We hear pundits and talking heads screaming at each other without dignity or grace.”

“I beg you, do not follow this example,” he said.

“Great leaders stood firm in their actions, but showed grace in their interactions,” he continued.

He said that a great leader can attack an issue, not a person, using Ronald Reagan as an example:

“When Ronald Reagan said, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,’ he attacked the issue, not the man.”

“Leadership is not a shouting match,” he said.

He also said that people will be quick to attack new ideas.

“When you share your brilliant new idea with your co-workers, four out of five will say it’s the dumbest idea they ever heard,” he said.

When it becomes a success, he added, those four will want credit.

“The world can be a frustrating place,” he said.

The university presented Fleischer with an honorary doctor of music.

Other speakers included Kayleigh Perline, a double major in psychology and interpersonal/organizational communications who made the Dean’s List every semester.

She talked about “why YSU is not only a college, but my home.”

“These faculty will do anything they can to help their students grow and be a success,” she said.

“YSU also offers many opportunities for students to make choices,” she continued.

“It’s our choices, along with the support of the faculty, that make YSU a home. I have lived here, worked here, grown here.

“ I did volunteer work, and took on leadership positions. I realized my potential. I gained confidence ... “

YSU President Jim Tressel told the graduates that their degrees reflect on the university and on their hard work.

Carole Weimer, chair of the YSU Board of Trustees, said that “today celebrates the day that transforms your dreams of an education into reality.”

“Keep dreaming,” she said. “Dream big, dream often and dream always.”