Will O'Hara 's Keynote Address to MPAs at Commencement
MPA Commencement Ceremony
Keynote Speaker: Will O'Hara
Friday, May 22, 2008
Dean Gilligan, Chairman Anderson, distinguished
members of the faculty, parents, relatives and
friends
and, of course, our wonderful and amazing candidates for graduation:
I am truly honored to have been asked to speak to
you this evening, especially because several of my former students are
sitting down there as candidates for graduation.
In fact, when one of my former students found out that I would be
speaking tonight, she actually asked me to give her a personal “shout
out!” Once I explained to her that it would break with all protocol to
single out one student, I knew that Nicole Matthews would understand why
I could not honor her request.
Let me first say that there is nothing worse than walking through the
crowd outside of Gregory Gymnasium, after a commencement ceremony is
over, and hearing someone say, “I thought that guy was never going to
shut up!”
Well tonight, I am that guy! So I know all of you will appreciate it
that I’ll try to keep this message brief and to the point.
I know what has been required of all of you just to be sitting here
tonight as you end one journey in your young lives and prepare to begin
another. Earning the McCombs MPA degree is very demanding and extremely
hard. That is as it should be, for nothing worthwhile should be easy.
I also know that many of you are experiencing some nervous anticipation
for what lies ahead as you prepare to enter the world of business,
especially with the current economic and business climate in America and
around the world.
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.
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 Gilligan and Dr.
Anderson 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 have
always flocked here to encourage you to join their ranks. This is
especially true for our MPA graduates.
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 might. Anyway, he was in New York and seated at the
head table of yet another one of those endless dinners, 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.”
The master of ceremonies, upon overhearing this exchange was, taken
aback and said to the young man, “obviously you don’t know who he is”.
The waiter said, “You’re right, I don’t, who is he?”
The mc went on, “He’s Bill Bradley, Princeton All-American, Rhodes
scholar, NBA all-star with the New York Knicks and now U.S. senator from
New Jersey.”
The waiter then said to the mc, “Well, I guess you don’t know who I am.”
The mc replied, “You’re right, I don’t—who are you?” The waiter said,
“I’m the guy with the butter!”
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, although for those companies that have
accepted tarp money from the government, that may one day change.
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 500 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 this one uncle who would always play this
trick on them where he would hold out a dime in one hand and a nickle 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.”
His brother 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 of Citibank.
You have an awesome opportunity ahead of you but what goes with it is an
awesome responsibility. Remember: ethics is synonymous with integrity.
So always take responsibility for your own actions and when in doubt,
“just do the right thing!”
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 several cities around the world. And wherever the road from
here leads you, I encourage you 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.
Obviously, Red McCombs believes it.
On the wall outside of Dean Gilligan’s office is our McCombs Business
Hall of Fame. The people whose names are there also believe it.
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.
I would be remiss if I didn’t address the tough economic times that we
are currently experiencing because I know it is weighing heavily on each
of you. So I want to quickly make three final points.
First, nearly all of you have jobs awaiting you. These companies spent a
lot of effort and a lot of money to recruit you because they recognize
the value in hiring McCombs graduates. You are the future of these
companies. So barring some catastrophe, you will probably be the last
ones to leave.
Second, I believe the unprecedented government reform and regulation
that will emerge from the ashes of this economic meltdown will make
Sarbanes-Oxley look like a six-inch putt and will result in a bonanza
for the accounting profession as reporting, compliance and tax planning
burdens explode the demand for your services.
Finally, I personally don’t foresee a lot of improvement until sometime
in late 2010. But history has proven that tough times like these create
tremendous opportunities when things do improve and companies begin to
ramp up. By then, you will have been in your companies long enough to
have demonstrated your talents and people will have noticed you. So you
will be poised to take advantage of these opportunities and then luck
will kick in and play an important role for you.
I know you are thinking “Wait a minute, did he just say luck?” Well, I
don’t mean luck in the traditional sense, but instead I think about what
our legendary football coach, Darrell Royal, often says about luck. He
defines luck as “what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” You
are graduating from the number one accounting program in America and so
no one else is more prepared than you are to seize these opportunities.
Remember, opportunities are never lost—someone will take the one’s you
miss.
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.
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
always try to be the “guy with the butter!”
And remember, no matter where you are or what you are doing – “The eyes
of Texas are upon you all the live long day.”
Congratulations and “Hook-em!”
