William O'Hara
BBA Fall Commencement Address
December 10, 2006
Lecturer, Accounting Department
I am truly honored to have been asked to speak to you this morning on behalf of the faculty of the McCombs School of Business.
Just look at all of you! So well-groomed, so well-dressed. I just have one question: Who are you? You don’t look like any students I’ve ever taught. Wait, on second thought, I think I have seen a few of you, but only on days when you had either an interview or a class presentation.
My you clean up so well! I know all of you will appreciate it that I’ll try to keep this message brief and to the point.
Believe me, there is nothing worse than walking through the crowd outside on Red River after this ceremony is over and hearing someone say, “I thought that guy was never going to shut up!”
First to the parents, relatives and friends sitting up there I want to say thank you for entrusting your children to us for these past four or five years.
We have had the honor, privilege and pleasure of sharing our knowledge, experience and research with them, and most importantly, teaching them to think!
I think you will have to agree that the boys and girls you sent us have been transformed into mature young men and women, brimming with poise and confidence and ready to take on the world. We know and they know that they would not be sitting here today at this joyous occasion without the love and support of all of you.
So I would now like to ask the candidates for graduation to stand up, face you and join all of us in giving you the big thank you that you deserve.
Now that you have reached this point in your young lives, I know that many of you are also experiencing some nervous anticipation for what lies ahead. For some, it is continuing your education in law, medicine or engineering. For most, it is entering the world of business.
The McCombs School has produced thousands upon thousands of highly successful business men and women over the years and each of them was once sitting where you are sitting today, wondering the same things.
So I think it is only fitting to look to those who have come before you and see what we can learn from their success.
And I want to focus on four things, four attributes that I think have been keys to their success and should guide you along the same path.
First, don’t just rest on your laurels. The piece of paper you are going to receive from Dean Gau in a few moments represents something very special.
It tells everyone that you’ve got what it takes to excel at one of the top public universities in the land and one of the most prestigious business schools in America.
It’s no accident that recruiters from all of the top companies flock here to encourage you to join their ranks. It’s not like the television show, “The Apprentice” around here. The phrase you hear at McCombs all the time is “you’re hired!”
But from a practical standpoint, your degree “gets you in the door” and arms you with the tools to succeed, and because it’s a McCombs degree, better doors and the best tools in the box. But now it is up to you.
Most of you are too young to remember Senator Bill Bradley, but I am
sure your parents do. Anyway, he was in New York and seated at the head
table of yet another dinner, when the waiter passed by. Senator Bradley
politely asked him for another pat of butter. The waiter promptly
replied, “Sorry pal, only one pat of butter per person.”
Bradley, taken back, paused and went on, “Obvioulsly you don’t know
who I am.
I’m Bill Bradley, Princeton All-American, Rhodes scholar, NBA all-star
with the New York Knicks and now senator from New Jersey.”
The waiter then said to Bradley, “Well, I guess you don’t know who I am.” Bradley replied, “You’re right, I don’t—who are you?” The waiter said, “I’m the guy with the butter!”
Longfellow summed it up best when he wrote, “The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well and doing well whatever you do.”
The second thing I want you to remember, the second attribute, is to
always have reasonable and realistic expectations. Too often, we see
graduates leave here with inflated expectations. They want everything
now.
Well I’ve never seen a recruiter here that was hiring for the position of chief executive officer.
It’s okay to dream big and I encourage you to dream big. But dreams come true by setting and achieving a smaller, but progressively harder, series of goals. And you must have patience.
I had the privilege of working for the CEO of a “Fortune 50”
financial services company for several years and he used to tell a story
from his childhood that illustrates this point.
He came from a large family, and every holiday there were huge family
gatherings. It seems they had one uncle who would always play this trick
on them where he would hold out a dime in one hand and a nickel in the
other and ask them to pick one. Invariably, his younger brother would
always pick the nickel because it was larger in size and everyone would
have a good laugh at his expense. One day, being the “older and wiser” brother, he took his younger
brother aside and said, “Paul, don’t you realize that they’re all
laughing and making fun of you? You should pick the dime because it is
worth twice as much.”
Paul replied, “I know that, but as soon as I pick the dime, he’ll
stop
doing the trick.”
So if you will take the work ethic you have developed here along with the tools you now have, set realistic expectations and have patience, I know you will succeed.
Third, never forget your business ethics. We did not teach you ethics here, nor do we claim to have. Instead, ethics are learned around the dinner tables and playgrounds of your youth...and from all of those fine folks seated up there.
What we try to do is to teach how and when to use those ethics in the various business situations you are sure to encounter on your road to success. Call it “flexing your ethical muscles.”
Several years ago, Richard Braddock was a rising star at Citibank.
one day he made a colossal error that cost the bank $20 million.
Without a second thought he promptly reported the mistake. When he was
summoned to CEO, John Reed’s office, he explained the error, took full
responsibility for it and said to the CEO, “I guess now you’re going to
fire me.”
Reed paused for a moment and said, “Fire you? I can’t afford to fire you—I just spent $20 million to train you. Braddock eventually rose to become president and COO of Citibank.
You have an awesome opportunity ahead of you but what goes with it is an awesome responsibility. So always take responsibility for your own actions and when in doubt, “Just do the right thing!”
And finally, the fourth thing all of our successful graduates have in common is a desire to stay connected with this university and with this business school and to someday give something back.
So if you have not joined the Texas Exes, our alumni association, I encourage you to do so. They have chapters in every major city in the U.S. and in cities around the world. And wherever the road from here leads you, I encourage to be active in your local chapter.
Make sure you continue to be a part of the McCombs business network. We want to know where you are and what you are doing. We want to know about and celebrate your success. The network also lets you keep up with what is going on here. Believe me, you never lose your need to network with others.
There are four things that continue to make the McCombs School of
Business so great and so prestigious:
• great leadership
• a world-class faculty
• the ability to attract and recruit the best students, like yourselves
• and the tremendous support of our alumni, both financially and with
their time and talent
None of our successful alumni ever forget their experience here and how key it was to their success. And they believe they have a responsibility to make sure that this experience will continue to be available to and make a difference for the next generation of successful business leaders.
On the wall outside of Dean Gau’s office is our McCombs Hall of Fame. The people whose names are there believe it. You will hear from Stephan James in a few moments. He believes it, and that’s one of the reasons he is here today.
Now I know that many of you are sitting here thinking about the first thing you are going to buy when you start your business careers and that you hope I will soon finish and sit down.
So I can appreciate the fact that right now this last point may seem a little far-fetched. And that is natural.
But I guarantee you that as you become the successes we know you will become, that you will believe it too.
You will feel the need and responsibility to make sure the McCombs School of Business continues to thrive and provide the tools for success to others that follow you.
Twenty or thirty years from now many of you will be sitting right up there, beaming with pride as your son or daughter prepares to walk this stage in your footsteps, and happy that this school is still flourishing and living up to its great potential.
Remember, money is not necessarily the key to happiness—people with $10 million are not any happier than people with $9 million.
Now back to the moment at hand. Achievement lies within the reach of those who reach beyond themselves. And we are here to celebrate what you have achieved. Achievement...a time for looking back with pride...for looking ahead with joy. And so, on behalf of the entire faculty at the McCombs School of Business: Congratulations! You should be proud.
So, the world is waiting for you right out there. Don’t just go out and make a living—go out and make a difference! And remember, no matter where you are or what you are doing, “The eyes of Texas are upon you all the live long day. Hook-em.”
For information on speaking events at McCombs, contact Public Affairs Representative Gayle Hight, 512-475-6423, gayle.hight@mccombs.utexas.edu.
