Digital Legacy by Erik Qualman
May 20, 2011
This University is special to me in so many ways, as I know it is to all of you. Your love for this University and those seated around you will only continue to grow with time. My hope is that one thing you have learned in your time here is that success and happiness are truly a choice.
Our childhood dreams are composed of becoming an astronaut, a racecar driver, ballerina, movie star or Broadway singer. My childhood dream was to play college basketball.
I loved basketball and at 13 years old even started my own basketball magazine. My parents were the first official advertisers. As parents they could easily see I was a more talented writer than basketball player.
Then my junior year in high school – my dream was squashed - I didn’t make the basketball team.
At seventeen years old I faced a choice on whether or not to quit on my dream. But, when it comes to passions you don’t really have a choice, you need to follow them. I continued the pursuit of my dream.
I went to Michigan State University and was fortunate to win the job of water boy - you know it’s a big time basketball program when they even have tryouts for waterboys.
The team had 12 players; 7 of which would later go on to play in the NBA. They only had one extra spot per year – the 13th spot. But who was I to think I could fill this one spot? So for 3 years I didn’t tryout and remained the waterboy. I was afraid of looking foolish in front of the coaches, players, friends, and family. Bottom line, I was afraid to fail.
Then, the summer of my senior year – a sudden realization set in – this was my last chance at my dream. I’d run out of tomorrows.
Failure be damned, I was going to tryout for the team. Many laughed at my goal; but those closest to me didn’t laugh. Instead they lifted me up on their shoulders to help me try and reach my childhood dream.
The tryouts were exhausting and lasted two months and included hundreds of players. The final day arrived; the day the team received their uniforms for pictures. As a waterboy I had a key to the locker room. Like the years prior the uniforms were neatly arranged, but then something peculiar caught my eye. There was a uniform in front of the 13th locker.
I walked over to the uniform, but before I reached it I dropped to my knees. On the jersey was the most astonishing thing in the world; my last name.
I’m not sure exactly how long I stood there before Coach Izzo put his hand on my shoulder. That’s when I noticed in the mirror that I was crying; crying for the first time since I was a little kid.
The tears were from the realization that if I could accomplish this then I could accomplish anything. I went from not making my high school basketball team to earning a scholarship at one of basketball’s elite programs. Engaging with such greats as Grant Hill, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Michael Jordan.
I learned that failure is your friend because you can be motivated by it and you can learn from it if you fail forward, fail fast, fail better.
Years later I referenced this day when I received hundreds of rejection letters from book publishers. [pause]
You see, it wasn’t making the basketball team that day which was important; it was learning that you should always go for your dream no matter how audacious it may seem. The only failure in life is in not trying.
If nobody laughs at your goals or dreams than you haven’t set them high enough. You need to make it a practice to set laughable goals.
Those that don’t laugh at you are the one’s whose shoulders you will need to stand on…. success isn’t a solitary thing. Remember to thank these people. [pause] Selfishly I’d like to take this moment thank the countless people (many are here today at this University) that have boosted me on their shoulders – none more than my parents and my wife – thank you.
Now I’d like all of you graduates to stand up and wave/solute/thumbs up or simply thank someone in this room or in your heart important to you.
Now, I’d like you to give the person to your right and left a hug. Please be seated
It feels good doesn’t it? Make hugs and thank you’s a habit, this is what life is all about.
Tony Hawk and I were fortunate to be flown into South Africa as guest speakers prior to the opening ceremonies of the World Cup. While there I was fortunate to hear Nelson Mandela say “When people meet you they most likely won’t remember what you said, or what you did, but they certainly will remember how you treated them.”
This afternoon is a day similar to one not too long ago when I sat where you are today. The question is how did I get here? More importantly, how will you get here? Trust me, if you want to get here, then you will be standing here soon. Or to use Henry Ford’s words “Whether you think you are going to fail or whether you think you will succeed, you are right.”
Despite hundreds of rejection letters, how were my books eventually able to become international best sellers and my YouTube videos to be the most watched Social Media videos in the world?
To be honest, it is complete luck. This is probably disheartening to all of you that have spent the last two years of your life spending countless nights studying and sweating over economics and accounting. While you may be disappointed with my answer it is most likely because our definitions of luck vary.
Luck to me you see, is where preparation meets opportunity. When you realize this, you realize you can make your own luck. This brilliant University and your hard work have taken care of the first part – the preparation; in fact you will be the most prepared graduating class in the history of the world.
So we are 50% there, now we must go after the other ½. We must seek out our opportunities and in today’s digital world they are all around us.
There are 3 main traits that will pave your path to success in the digital decades ahead. Simple, Act, True or S-A-T. Yes, I know S-A-T is a scary acronym from our past.
Simple – the boldest way to simplify your life is to stop complaining. This will immediately separate you from the pack. The average person complains 15-30 times per day. For every one positive comment there is an average of 6 complaints. If you wake up each day hoping you will not face any challenges you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Assume everyday there are going to be challenges and embrace them; life would be boring without them.
Life is complicated, those that simplify it win.
#2 Act – Take action. Start each day by writing down or typing into your smart phone the two things that you want to accomplish that day. You will be amazed at how often you can’t even complete one of them. That’s because many of us start the day by rolling over and grabbing our smartphone or iPad and start answering e-mails, texts or tweets. This is a procrastinators dream; don’t fall into this trap. Multi-tasking is junk food for the brain. Get your two things done first before watching the Khardashians. Also, don’t let fear of failure paralyze you – simply act - all great ones fail forward, fail fast, fail better. The only way to increase our rate of learning is to increase our rate of failure.
Mardy McGarry of Wisconsin took action. A special education teacher for 52 years, her heart always went out to her students with disabilities when sand, ladders or other obstacles stopped wheelchairs short. Her vision was to build a playground that allowed children and children with disabilities to play alongside one another.
It was estimated that $450,000 would need to be raised for such a park. Families bought pickets for the fence at $30 apiece, bricks for the walkway went for $50 dollars, one lady donated $25,000 and her company matched it. A few walk-athons and silent auctions later McGarry had reached the goal. Only then did she realize the heartbreaking news that it would cost an additional $900,000 for the actual construction of the park.
Two women heard about the effort on the radio and took the day off to help. Children started sanding surfaces and stacking wood. A couple in their 80’s helped organize the tools. Local restaurants and churches donated meals for the workers. 2800 people volunteered, roughly a third of the town.
Because one person took action, today on a bluff overlooking a lake sits Possibility Playground where children of all abilities play side-by-side.
#3 True, be true to yourself. As the head of one of the countries largest ministries Andy Stanley strongly advises it’s always a mistake to decide what you want to do before you decide what you want to be. In otherwords what you stand for is more important than what you do – so define what you want to be before you decide what you want to do.
I pull Eric Dawson’s story from Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment on what it means to be true. In Dawson’s words:
My story is how I came to work for Apple. In 1996 my son, Seth, was born with a terminal disorder. He couldn’t walk, talk, or sit up, and we had to tube feed him. We were unable to teach him “cause and effect.” Most kids learn this by dropping things on the floor.
Since he couldn’t understand cause and effect I set Seth in front of a Macintosh computer running a custom program I built connected to a game paddle. One minute of The Lion King would play, and then the computer would freeze. Restarting required tapping the paddle.
One day I came into the room without him knowing, and I saw him teach himself to tap the paddle. It was the proudest moment of my life. I went to work for Apple one month later. Seth passed away fifteen days after I started, but he had done his job by tapping the paddle. To this day I help empower people as an Apple employee.
Eric Dawson provides us with a touching story that embodies not only what it means to be true, but also embodies the human spirit.
Simple, act, true or SAT. I once SAT where you sit today and I asked myself what many of you are pondering at this moment, now what the hell am I going to do?
By keeping life simple, acting on opportunities, staying true to your passions and surrounding yourself with the right people you’ll be the luckiest person alive. This feeling isn’t reserved for one person; every person in this room has the ability to feel like the luckiest person alive and if you don’t feel this way currently than that is the challenge I present to you and ask you the question why not? Make a promise to yourself that you are going to change that starting here and now.
What will your grandchildren and great grandchildren find when they Google you or whatever the Google of the future may be. You see we are all leaving permanent records; we are all leaving a digital legacy. A digital legacy which is comprised of digital footprints – what we upload about ourselves, but more importantly digital shadows what others post or upload about us. Our digital legacy is a permanent record of our life.
With that thought in mind I’d like to read you a poem from my upcoming book:
As a youth with little a plan,
My dad oft asked,
“What footprints are you going to leave in the sand?”
It meant little then,
But with time,
This became a motivating line.
If up to me,
What will be,
My ultimate legacy?
A legacy for me,
It would seem,
A far off, lofty dream.
After all, who am I?
I’m just average,
Somewhat shy.
Then I realized something you see,
It is up to me,
My ultimate legacy.
Social media, search,
Mobile, and more,
Leave digital footprints on the floor.
Digital shadows,
If you will,
Following all that I fulfill.
My grandchildren and great grandchildren,
What will they see and think of me?
What is my ultimate legacy?
Will they see that I pursued my dream,
Or that I settled,
For something in-between?
That I lived a life doing things l loved,
Or one of,
Should of, could of?
Digital footprints remain for all time,
So I can’t commit,
The ultimate crime.
What is that crime, you say?
It is, of course,
Not seizing the day.
Yes, my legacy starting today,
Here and now,
Is one that will surely wow.
While I won’t always win,
It’s better than the worst sin,
Asking, what might have been...
Yes, before I die,
I’d rather fail,
Than not even try,
I will reach for the sky,
Laugh,
And cry.
I’ll cry from joy not sorrow,
Because I lived for today
And planned for tomorrow.
My legacy,
You see,
Is truly up to me.
That’s my view,
But, now I ask,
What will you do?