How to become (or not become) a CEO

The past weekend's graduation speeches provided inspiration for ambitious young MBA grads and slackers -- er, dreamers -- alike. William Johnson, CEO of Heinz, delivered the commencement address to the University of Texas McCombs School of Business on Friday, and Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker, did the honors Saturday at Tulane's ceremony.

Johnson's speech, "A Journey from MBA to CEO," which included an inspiring anecdote from the movie Hoosiers, was pretty lively for a Fortune 200 executive. The message was that leadership success is something comes from seriousness and concentration. He talked about the "qualitative, intangible skills" that leaders acquire from failures, citing New York Yankees' manager Joe Torre, who was repeatedly fired before ever winning a World Series. Johnson cautioned against looking too far ahead and emphasized personal sacrifice. "You must have the passion, energy and stamina to stay the course -- even in the face of adversity," he said.

If Johnson told grads to keep their heads down in order to succeed, Lewis wanted them to keep their heads in the clouds. He talked about his decision to give up a big salary on Wall Street to become a writer. Parents hoping for a comfortable retirement were probably squirming when Lewis advised them to "Do as little as possible / And that unwillingly / For it is better to receive a slight reprimand / Than to perform an arduous task."

But that was the point. Lewis wasn't advocating sloth, but was reminding the grads not to follow the crowd or the easy buck -- a surprisingly entrepreneurial message. "Do what you love," he said in closing. "Before you figure out how much love will cost you."

Senior contributing writer Max Chafkin has profiled companies such as Yelp, Zappos, Twitter, Threadless, and Tesla for the magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. @chafkin