Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be here.
I want to congratulate you on the completion of your first major life project. The twelve or more years you spent getting to this day were aimed at this result and the skills you learned during those years brought you to this day. That's the good news. The bad news is that this project is probably the shortest one you will do in your lifetime. Other projects may include: marriage, parenting, career, taking care of your own parents and siblings, hobbies, religion, community involvement, friendship and some things you will take upon yourself that I haven't mentioned because I can't think of all of them. All of these things are part of the fabric of life and require time and skill. As I said, these last twelve or so years will seem easy compared to the other life events I mentioned. However, in addition to the training you received here in this institution and at home from your family, I have prepared a list of things that I think will serve you well.
1. Enjoy your family, your life and your job in that order. Be defined by the former; not the latter.
2. Mentor and be mentored. Alway try to work for someone who is smarter than you are.
3. Remember that voicemail, email, Twitter, Face Book, et al will be the undoing of us all because they are poor substitutes for human contact.
4. Never shop at Sears or allow Steven Segal to become more than a punch line.
5. The environment that you create must contain the essentials sought by the characters in the Wizard of OZ; heart, brain and courage. And don't forget that Dorothy was looking for a home.
6. If you choose management as a career, remember to manage people's weaknesses. That's what management is all about. Their strengths will take care of themselves. You can be most effective shoring up weaknesses.
7. Use consultants, counsellors and other distributors of advice sparingly. Frequently, they serve merely as coroners. You will recognize terminal or dead when you see them.
8. Always believe and trust in a higher power.
9. Do something for other humans, the animals and the planet on a regular basis. The ecology is the issue of forever.
10. There doesn't always have to be a number 10. But, if you really need one, it would be to learn to edit yourself.
Well, that wasn't too hard. Only took me 65 years and a few months to put them together. You'll do it faster and better.
May whatever force you choose, be with you always.
Thank you.
