From the pinnacles of power by Fortune editor at large Patricia Sellers
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May 29, 2009, 7:30 pm

Power Point: Redeploy your skills

“You are certain to change with time and there’s a chance your bliss may evolve too. Not to worry: The skills you acquire can always be effectively redeployed.”

– Tom Freston, the former Viacom (VIAB) whose commencement speech we’ve run in three parts since Wednesday.

As we said, except for Apple’s (AAPL) Steve Jobs’ extraordinary speech to Stanford grads in 2005, Freston’s talk — which he delivered at his son Andrew’s graduation from Emerson in 2007, less than a year after Sumner Redstone fired him — is one of our all-time favorites. The speech hasn’t been circulated until now.

If you haven’t read it this week on Postcards, do check it out. In Part One, Freston sets up his life lessons by talking about his remarkable career. In Part Two, he talks about chasing your bliss and bouncing back from setbacks. Part Three is about getting a grip on the world and being curious — and staying young, no matter your age. The life and career lessons from Freston — who has moved on to work with Oprah and Bono and travel the globe — are timely today, when most of us are asking: “Am I in the right job for me, and what else might I do?”

By the way, what’s your favorite commencement speech? Let us know! — Pattie Sellers

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Pattie SellersPatricia Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Can Meg Whitman Save California?", Melinda Gates ("The $100 Billion Woman"), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). And she has broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), and "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" Pattie chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package since its launch in 1998. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big consumer brand companies.
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