Vieira told the Tufts graduates that young people constantly asked her: 'How did you get where you are? What is the formula for success?' Her answer consistently disappointed them: there is no formula. Her own career had been a series of accidents and pivots — she changed her major from math to drama to French to astronomy before the dean told her to stop, and she ended up in English only because she had enough credits. A pass/fail class in broadcast journalism that she took on a whim in January 1975 changed everything. A CBS executive named Bill Shermer heard her narrate a radio documentary, saw something in her that she didn't see in herself, and offered her an internship. That single encounter — one person opening a door — set the course of her entire career. The lesson was that success is not the product of a plan but of openness: being willing to try things without knowing where they'll lead, and being receptive when someone sees a spark in you that you haven't yet recognized.