Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. George Bernard Shaw.

The month of June is traditionally the month of university graduations. Ever so rarely, a graduation class is treated to a truly exceptional valedictorian – as was the Harvard class of 2008. The speaker was J.K. Rawling, of Harry Potter fame.

I happened upon her speech on TEDTalks last week. Find a few minutes to listen. It’s amazing… just what you might expect from a woman who imagined Harry Potter’s world even as she was struggling to put her own back together.

There’s something very special about graduations. They are a time of hope and love, of unbridled optimism and boundless opportunities. So much is invested in the graduates by themselves and their families. And I don’t just mean the money, although that’s a big part of it. There is the sacrifice, the hard work and dreams.

Sometimes the dreams work out. But sometimes they don’t. Life doesn’t always go according to plan… that’s the theme of her speech entitled The Fringe Benefits of Failure.