????昨天，這位優秀的律師和公司董事在位于紐約市的菲爾德斯頓文化倫理學院（Ethical Culture Fieldston School）發表了演講。作為其中一位學生家長，筆者的上司、《財富》雜志（Fortune）總編輯賽安迪有幸聆聽了當天的演講。另外，高盛投資公司（Goldman Sachs）CEO勞埃德?布蘭克費恩在出庭為高盛前董事高磊杰的庭審作證期間特地請了一天假，趕去參加了自己女兒的畢業典禮。

????筆者認為，喬丹的演講對成年人和孩子來說同樣鼓舞人心。因此，筆者致電喬丹，詢問是否可以與讀者分享他的演講。二十世紀五十年代在種族隔離盛行的亞特蘭大長大成人的喬丹充分利用了每次機遇，曾經擔任過諸如美國運通（American Express）、施樂（Xerox）和拉扎德公司（Lazard）等知名公司CEO的顧問。現年76歲的他是拉扎德公司的董事和資深董事總經理。今天上午，喬丹告訴筆者，他從不拒絕任何與他人分享經驗的機會。下文是喬丹針對菲爾德斯頓畢業生發表演講的內容節選：

????2012屆的畢業生們，你們獲得了無價的禮物，但是接受這份禮物的同時，你們需要承擔重大的責任，這也正是我今天上午要演講的內容。

????大家都知道，你們的高中生活和我的高中生活幾乎沒有相似之處。菲爾德斯頓學院位于世界上最大的城市之一，是美國最古老和最優秀的學校之一，而你們非常幸運地就讀于此。我想告訴大家的是，當年我需要步行5英里，翻越山路才能到達學校，往返路途均是如此。我想在此和大家分享一下我的高中生活。

????1953年，我畢業于佐治亞州亞特蘭大市的大衛?托比亞斯?霍華德高中（the David T. Howard high school）。當時，亞特蘭大只有三所高中供黑人就讀，而且其中一所還是職業學校。1926年之前，亞特蘭大沒有黑人可以就讀的公立高中。

????說到“黑人可以就讀的高中”，我要指出的當然是種族隔離。當時，在亞特蘭大，不允許黑人與白人就讀同一所學校，美國南方所有的城市也都是如此。

????The high-powered lawyer and corporate director yesterday addressed the grads of New York City's Ethical Culture Fieldston School. My boss, Fortune Managing Editor Andy Serwer, was among the proud parents there. So was Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who got a one-day reprieve from testifying in the trial of former Goldman director Rajat Gupta so he could see his daughter graduate.

????Jordan's talk, I heard, was inspiring to the grownups as well as the kids. So I called the man and asked if I could share what he said. Jordan, who grew up in segregated Atlanta during the 1950s, took advantage of every opportunity and built a career advising CEOs of such companies as American Express (AXP), Xerox (XRX), and Lazard (LAZ), where he is now, at 76, a director and also a senior managing director of Lazard Freres. Jordan told me this morning that he doesn't pass up opportunities to share what he's learned. So here's an excerpt of what the big man told the Fieldston grads:

????You, the class of 2012, have been given a gift of immeasurable value, but that gift comes with enormous responsibilities, and that's what I want to talk to you about this morning.

????You see, there is very little resemblance between your high school experience and mine. You have been privileged to attend one of the nation's oldest and finest schools, in one of the world's greatest cities. Now I'm not going to tell you that I had to walk barefoot five miles to school … uphill … both coming and going. But I do want to tell you a bit about my high school experience.

????I graduated in 1953 from the David T. Howard high school in Atlanta, Georgia. At that time, there were only three high schools in Atlanta for black people, and one was a vocational school. Atlanta did not have any public black high school until 1926.

????When I say the words "black high school," I'm speaking, of course, of segregation. At that time, black people could not attend school alongside white people in Atlanta--or anywhere in the old South.