On freshmen move-in day in 1996, a man and a woman on rollerblades zipped along the long line of cars, stopping just long enough to stick their heads in the windows, shake hands with parents, and say hello to the newly arriving students. That man and woman were William and Wendy Brody, the newly elected president of Hopkins and his wife.
Last night marked Brody's final address to the University after his 12-year tenure as president, as he will step down from the presidency in March 2009. His speech, titled "Uncommon Sense in Today's Financial Crisis: Reasoning and Problem Solving in the Real World," was hosted by the Milton S. Eisenhower (MSE) Symposium.
"I told someone I was giving this talk, and they said, 'That's great Bill, but nobody will show up,'" Brody began, welcomed by laughter and enthusiastic applause from students in the almost-full Shriver Hall.
After recalling a humorous experience in which he delivered a speech to an audience of a single person during his time as provost at the University of Minnesota, Brody applauded this year's MSE Symposium.
"Year after year, [MSE] brings in some of the best speakers," Brody said, and then added jokingly, "until tonight."
Brody told the audience that although he considered reminiscing about being president of the University or commenting on the nation's health care system in his final address, he decided that the current economic state of the nation overshadowed any other possible subject.
"I thought I might as well go back to my roots as a teacher," Brody said, "and talk to you about what I teach undergraduates periodically: uncommon sense. And today I'll talk about uncommon sense in the financial crisis."
Brody quoted Albert Einstein, who wrote that common sense is, "a series of misconceptions acquired by the age 18."
According to Brody, however, this type of sense can be acquired by the age six. Real common sense is a rare commodity.
"It's amazing how infrequently we use our brain matter," Brody said. "We just go back to the misconceptions we acquired, probably in utero."
Brody then segued into the formal topic of his speech, commenting on the magnitude of the current economic situation.
He quoted President Harry Truman, saying, "a recession is when your neighbor is out of work, and a depression is when you're out of work."
And although Brody smiled along with the audience's laughter, he was also quick to point out the gravity of the current unemployment rate in the United States.
According to Brody, humans are by nature heavily biased creatures and experts can often be wrong.
"Although we say the truth will set you free, and we are rational thinkers, in reality we are really irrational and not good thinkers at all," Brody said. "However, we can work at it."
He offered the audience his own secret to success, jokingly instructing them to write down his advice.
He said that success is where preparation beats opportunity.
"How many of you can recognize good luck when it comes your way?" he questioned the audience.
Only one attendee at the back of the hall raised his hand.
In the next part of his speech, Brody tested the audience's observation skills.
He showed the audience a video that was developed by a professor at Harvard to test selective observation.
The 30-second video showed three people in white jerseys and three people in black jerseys passing basketballs among themselves.
The audience's task was to count the number of passes made between players in white jerseys.
In focusing intently on the players in white, many of the audience members who had not seen the video before failed to notice a figure in a gorilla suit run across the screen.
"You see only what you are looking to see," Brody said, "and often times you miss the really important things. In this case, you missed the gorilla."
Brody coined the term "gorilla spotters" as people who make major discoveries in areas in which others notice nothing of significance.
"Things can be so obvious in hindsight," Brody explained, showing the video again, "but going forward, you often miss the gorilla. We just had a very large gorilla in our economy, called subprime debt. No one noticed, though it was so obvious in hindsight."
After bringing the speech back to its original topic, Brody showed the audience another short video.
The video demonstrated the fallibility of economic forecasts.
The video consisted of clips of economic analysis and predictions from various television stations.
It showed a series of interviews from 2006 to 2007 with economic analyst Peter Schiff, who repeatedly warned against the excessive consumption of the nation.
He predicted an imminent recession, which was met with mockery and disbelief by opposing analysts.
The audience laughed at the repeated and blatant disregard shown for Schiff's accurate economic forecast.
"We could all laugh at this, but this is serious," Brody said. "People are losing jobs because the experts are idiots. Experts are idiots, including myself."
He urged the audience to question the experts and whether they know what they are talking about, especially in regard to economic experts.
Brody also explained his view on what actions should be taken in the current economic state.
"We're spending more than we've earned and we need to go on a diet," Brody said.
"We don't have a clue, and we don't have the political will to control Medicare spending. We can't afford to invest in education or research because we're squeezing that out on Medicare."
To close his speech, Brody offered some advice to the audience.
"The most important thing we have to do as a nation is the same thing we have to do with our lives," Brody said.
"And that is to create value."
He explained that it is necessary for the United States to be a nation that builds things and creates services with real intrinsic value.
"We need to bring risk back into the equation," Brody said.
"And not that kind of risk Wall Street is taking, but business risks that spur innovation and allow companies to compete."
Brody encouraged the audience to involve themselves in businesses and activities that create value, for which he guaranteed they would be rewarded.
"Doing things that help people and add value to their lives are the kind of things you need to get involved in," Brody said, "because over the long term that is what brings real joy."
Brody concluded by wishing the best of luck to the University and the audience, and commenting on the pleasure and fulfillment he and his wife have experienced over the past 12 years.
"We hope we have been able to create value for you all and for Johns Hopkins," Brody said.
A brief question-and-answer session followed Brody's formal presentation, as members of the student body and administrators lined up for their turn to question the University president.
The questioners asked Brody about a range of topics, from the favorite part of his presidency to his advice for reducing Medicare spending.
When asked about his vision for the future of Hopkins, Brody acknowledged that the wherewithal to answer that decision now lay in the hands of President-elect Ronald Daniels, though he reaffirmed his point about taking risks as a University during these rough economic times in order to come out stronger.
Overall, the audience response to Brody's speech was positive.
"The speech was humorous, and it was compelling," graduate student Daniel Escobar said.
"He did a good job in saying goodbye and reapplying [the topic] to life in general, outside of the University."
"President Brody made an excellent point on challenging the ideas of experts," senior Wren Haaland said. "It really fits well with the spirit of the University, and research. I hope students reflect on ways to create value in their own lives. I know I will."
Freshman Jonathan Kornblau appreciated the economic focus of Brody's speech.
"I think the bleak outlook he presented was worth listening to," Kornblau said. "It's something we all have to acknowledge and internalize."
MSE co-chair Zach Epstein-Peterson was very pleased with the success of the final installment to the fall 2008 series.
"I think the question-and-answer session went really well. It seemed like [the questioners] were really interested to know what [Brody's] perspective was," Epstein-Peterson said.
Following the event, Brody stayed in the lobby of Shriver conversing with students.
"He's in his element," Epstein-Peterson said. "He's obviously enjoying himself, and with this being his last couple of months here, we couldn't have asked for a better event."
Brody's 12-year presidency is the fifth-longest tenure among Hopkins's 13 presidents.
He is a native of Stockton, Calif., but received his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He received his M.D. and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Prior to assuming the presidency in September 1996, he was the provost of the Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota.
President Brody will step down from his position on Dec. 31, 2008, and will be replaced by Daniels. Brody plans to return to his home state of California, and serve as president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies starting in March of next year.
