Below is a Keynote speech I gave at a conference for students at
Swarthmore College – a very liberal school where students are skeptical about
business ethics. It details how my life
led me to a strong belief in value-based leadership, how such leadership
creates more profitable companies, discusses my views on leadership and points
out that everyone can make a difference. I thought you might be interested in
reading it.
You might also be interested in reading the book Apples Are Square,
by Susan and Tom Kuczmarski, which discusses value-based leadership. They
interviewed me among dozens of “leadership pioneers” and I was honored to be
one of those selected to be profiled in their book.
Randall W. Larrimore Keynote Speech Swarthmore Lax Conference
Swarthmore
students tend to regard business, particularly big business, with disdain.
Certainly Enron and World Com and others have caused all of us to look at
business critically. Over the next 30 minutes, though, I hope to convince you
that the most successful companies are run with a value system with which
Swarthmore students would be comfortable.
After reviewing my background, I will discuss four things:
1. Good guys do win. That is, I’ll prove to you that
companies with strong cultures and solid value systems run by leaders with
integrity are the most successful
companies over the long term.
2.
Successful leaders embody the
values important to Swarthmore students.
3. To make the system work, you must be true to yourself
and stand-up for what is right.
4.
And, finally, you CAN make
a difference.
My objective
today will be to create the possibility in your minds that a Swarthmore student
can be successful business person and still maintain the values so dear to us
at this institution. I hope to show you that you can take the Crum to the
boardroom.
MY BIOGRAPHY
While my
professional career was outlined as part of your program, I’d like to put some
color around the details.
I
grew up in Seaford, Delaware, a town of about 7 thousand people. The only
industry in the town was a DuPont chemical plant where they made nylon. I
actually lived on Nylon Boulevard. Like the majority of Swarthmore students I
excelled in everything; I was a big fish in a little pond.
I went to
Swarthmore thinking I would save the world through chemistry. After completing all the requirements for a
major in Chemistry by my junior year, I decided that I really didn’t want to be a chemist. In fact, I wasn’t
sure what I wanted to be, although I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor or a
lawyer…or an Indian Chief. I had taken some economics courses and decided that
business might be something I should pursue.
I took six economics courses my senior year so I could graduate with a
degree in economics. Actually I could
have had a double major in chemistry and economics except that I didn’t
complete the chemistry comprehensive exam for what at the time seemed like a
good reason. I was sitting in the library in the old DuPont science building
working on the exam when I became distracted by my friends outside playing
Frisbee on a beautiful spring day. After working on the blue book for another
30 minutes or so, I made a bold, and no doubt rash, decision to forego my
chemistry degree and go play Frisbee.
I was drafted
during my senior year and, of course, I was able to get a deferment until I
finished college. But it was clear to me that I should prepare to go into the
military. Not wanting to go in as an enlisted
man, I decided to go to Harvard
Business School under a
two year ROTC program to become an officer.
When I graduated the Army had a surplus of officers and I went into the
Army Reserves, serving on active duty about six months in total over 8 years.
The point of the story, though, is that I had to go directly to graduate school
from Swarthmore, which I would not recommend for anyone. I think a graduating
senior would be much better off working for a couple of years or interning –
doing anything except going directly to graduate school. The break after Swarthmore will allow you to
put the Swarthmore experience in context, to find yourself and give you a renewed commitment to your next
educational experience.
While I got a
great deal out of going to Harvard, I must admit I spent a lot of time in the
pub playing bridge and traveling back to Swarthmore where my girlfriend was
still a student. An interesting thing also happened to me: somehow, I morphed
from being considered a conservative on the Swarthmore campus to being branded
a political radical at Harvard Business School. I think it had something to do
with the context of the respective institutions. Of course, part of that may
stem from my helping shut down Harvard Business School during the Kent State
crisis in 1970.
After graduating from Harvard, I spent the next 13 years
in a variety of jobs
·
Five years working for a consumer goods company learning
about marketing and the importance
of identifying end-consumer needs.
·
Five years working as a consultant where I received a
great post-graduate education in operations, strategy, finance and
acquisitions. I also learned that the CEOs of major corporations didn’t walk on
water; that they put their pants on
just like you and I do.
·
Three years working for an international company living in
London and Rome. I experienced how
good we have it in the United States and learned that
In 1984 I moved
to Chicago where I would work for the next 13 years for the same company under
a variety of corporate ownerships. For the last ten of those years, I led a
company focused on the hardware and home improvement industry selling products
like Moen faucets and Master Lock padlocks. I was at a group level and had to
learn to get things done through the presidents of the various companies
reporting to me. I led two companies through dramatic cultural changes, was
involved in numerous acquisitions, expanded several companies internationally
and established several joint ventures in the Far East.
I ended my
full-time career at the end of 2002 after spending five years as President and
CEO of a Fortune 500 public company with sales of about $4 billion and over
6,000 employees.
I now serve as a director
and non-executive chairman
of Olin Corporation, a $1.5 billion company in the chemical and
primary metals industries. I also am on the boards of the Campbell Soup Company
and two non-profit organizations.
Below is a Keynote speech I gave at a conference for students at
Swarthmore College – a very liberal school where students are skeptical about
business ethics. It details how my life
led me to a strong belief in value-based leadership, how such leadership
creates more profitable companies, discusses my views on leadership and points
out that everyone can make a difference. I thought you might be interested in
reading it.
You might also be interested in reading the book Apples Are Square,
by Susan and Tom Kuczmarski, which discusses value-based leadership. They
interviewed me among dozens of “leadership pioneers” and I was honored to be
one of those selected to be profiled in their book.
Randall W. Larrimore Keynote Speech Swarthmore Lax Conference
March 21, 2004
Thanks, Andy, for
your kind introduction. I’m delighted to be here to talk to Swarthmore students
about my experiences taking the Crum to the boardroom. [Editor’s note: The Crum is the creek that runs through the Swarthmore
campus.] You’re not going to be tested on this later, except in real life,
so I’d like you to listen and not worry about taking notes.
Swarthmore
students tend to regard business, particularly big business, with disdain.
Certainly Enron and World Com and others have caused all of us to look at
business critically. Over the next 30 minutes, though, I hope to convince you
that the most successful companies are run with a value system with which
Swarthmore students would be comfortable.
After reviewing my background, I will discuss four things:
1. Good guys do win. That is, I’ll prove to you that
companies with strong cultures and solid value systems run by leaders with
integrity are the most successful
companies over the long term.
2.
Successful leaders embody the
values important to Swarthmore students.
3. To make the system work, you must be true to yourself
and stand-up for what is right.
4.
And, finally, you CAN make
a difference.
My objective
today will be to create the possibility in your minds that a Swarthmore student
can be successful business person and still maintain the values so dear to us
at this institution. I hope to show you that you can take the Crum to the
boardroom.
MY BIOGRAPHY
While my
professional career was outlined as part of your program, I’d like to put some
color around the details.
I
grew up in Seaford, Delaware, a town of about 7 thousand people. The only
industry in the town was a DuPont chemical plant where they made nylon. I
actually lived on Nylon Boulevard. Like the majority of Swarthmore students I
excelled in everything; I was a big fish in a little pond.
I went to
Swarthmore thinking I would save the world through chemistry. After completing all the requirements for a
major in Chemistry by my junior year, I decided that I really didn’t want to be a chemist. In fact, I wasn’t
sure what I wanted to be, although I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor or a
lawyer…or an Indian Chief. I had taken some economics courses and decided that
business might be something I should pursue.
I took six economics courses my senior year so I could graduate with a
degree in economics. Actually I could
have had a double major in chemistry and economics except that I didn’t
complete the chemistry comprehensive exam for what at the time seemed like a
good reason. I was sitting in the library in the old DuPont science building
working on the exam when I became distracted by my friends outside playing
Frisbee on a beautiful spring day. After working on the blue book for another
30 minutes or so, I made a bold, and no doubt rash, decision to forego my
chemistry degree and go play Frisbee.
I was drafted
during my senior year and, of course, I was able to get a deferment until I
finished college. But it was clear to me that I should prepare to go into the
military. Not wanting to go in as an enlisted
man, I decided to go to Harvard
Business School under a
two year ROTC program to become an officer.
When I graduated the Army had a surplus of officers and I went into the
Army Reserves, serving on active duty about six months in total over 8 years.
The point of the story, though, is that I had to go directly to graduate school
from Swarthmore, which I would not recommend for anyone. I think a graduating
senior would be much better off working for a couple of years or interning –
doing anything except going directly to graduate school. The break after Swarthmore will allow you to
put the Swarthmore experience in context, to find yourself and give you a renewed commitment to your next
educational experience.
While I got a
great deal out of going to Harvard, I must admit I spent a lot of time in the
pub playing bridge and traveling back to Swarthmore where my girlfriend was
still a student. An interesting thing also happened to me: somehow, I morphed
from being considered a conservative on the Swarthmore campus to being branded
a political radical at Harvard Business School. I think it had something to do
with the context of the respective institutions. Of course, part of that may
stem from my helping shut down Harvard Business School during the Kent State
crisis in 1970.
After graduating from Harvard, I spent the next 13 years
in a variety of jobs
·
Five years working for a consumer goods company learning
about marketing and the importance
of identifying end-consumer needs.
·
Five years working as a consultant where I received a
great post-graduate education in operations, strategy, finance and
acquisitions. I also learned that the CEOs of major corporations didn’t walk on
water; that they put their pants on
just like you and I do.
·
Three years working for an international company living in
London and Rome. I experienced how
good we have it in the United States and learned that
people in
different cultures and stages of economic development have different tastes and
needs. Interestingly, my experience working in Rome caused me to face some
ethical dilemmas. Even though I was living in the citadel of Catholicism, the Roman sense of right
and wrong was different than mine. As the only American in the
office, it didn’t seem right that I should be their guardian of morality. I finally decided that there were some things
I could live with, some I couldn’t and, of course, there were many others where
there was no conflict.
In 1984 I moved
to Chicago where I would work for the next 13 years for the same company under
a variety of corporate ownerships. For the last ten of those years, I led a
company focused on the hardware and home improvement industry selling products
like Moen faucets and Master Lock padlocks. I was at a group level and had to
learn to get things done through the presidents of the various companies
reporting to me. I led two companies through dramatic cultural changes, was
involved in numerous acquisitions, expanded several companies internationally
and established several joint ventures in the Far East.
I ended my
full-time career at the end of 2002 after spending five years as President and
CEO of a Fortune 500 public company with sales of about $4 billion and over
6,000 employees.
I now serve as a director
and non-executive chairman
of Olin Corporation, a $1.5 billion company in the chemical and
primary metals industries. I also am on the boards of the Campbell Soup Company
and two non-profit organizations.
STRONG CULTURES AND
INTEGRITY CREATE VALUE
Now to the heart
of my message: You can take the Crum to the boardroom. I believe the
values we Swarthmoreans hold so dear are the same values that can make you
successful in the business world.
The stories of
Enron, World Com, Tyco, Health South and others would lead one to believe that
all companies have scoundrels at the top and only make money by cheating.
However, there is statistical evidence that companies that are successful over
the long term have an ingrained belief in playing by the rules and have strong
positive cultures grounded in deeply held values and a sound vision. Let me
cite to two studies on corporate culture and two studies on corporate
governance to support my point.
John Kotter and
James Heskett, two Harvard professors, wrote a book in 1992 called Corporate
Culture and Performance. They broadly defined culture as the shared
attitudes, behavioral patterns and values that cohesive human groups pass on
from one generation to the next. Kotter and Heskett studied the performance of
207 large firms over an eleven-year period through 1990. They concluded that
corporate culture can have a significant impact on a firm's long-term economic
performance. Firms with cultures that emphasized all the key constituencies,
such as customers, stockholders and employees, and which had principled
leadership from managers at all levels outperformed firms by a huge margin that
did not have those cultural traits. Over an eleven-year period, the former, the
good guys, increased revenues by over four times more (682% vs. 166%) than the
latter; that the good guys expanded their work forces by
almost eight
times more (282% vs. 36%); grew their stock prices by 12 times more (901%
versus 74%); and improved their net incomes by 756 percent versus one percent.
Consider that
final finding again: Companies with strong healthy cultures and principled
leaders that paid attention equally to customers, stockholders and employees
outperformed those that didn't in terms of growth of net income over the
eleven-year period by 756 percent.
In the book Built
to Last by Jim Collins, the author looked at what a dollar invested in
companies with strong cultures would have returned in the 60 year period from
1930 through 1990. He found that a dollar invested in the stock market would
have been worth about $400 after that 60-year period of time and that a control
group of leaders, but not visionary companies, would have been worth $900. But
the big payoff came from visionary companies with strong, ethically positive
cultures; a dollar invested in those companies at the start of the period would
have been worth $6,000 in 1990!
Now you may not
care about the profits of an individual firm and don’t relate profits to
advancing the greater good of society. However, remember that capitalism is
based on profits and anytime higher profits can be aligned with doing the right
thing we have a win/win for the company and for society.
Recently there
has been a lot of talk about needing better corporate governance. That is,
having companies managed for the good of the individual investor with full
disclosure of accounting methods, strong shareholder rights and whistle blower
protection. In fact, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to legislate
standards of corporate governance. The New York Stock Exchange has passed
similar requirements. While these are all positive steps, I can tell you that
good companies have always tried to live by the rules and to follow the
principles of good corporate governance. I’ll cite two additional studies to
support this:
As reported by
“Business Week” in February 2004, Georgia State University and Institutional
Shareholder Services recently completed a study that found that companies with
the best governance had a five-year average annual return of nearly 8 percent
above their industry averages, while those with the worst governance scores
returned 4 percent less than the average.
That’s a swing of 12 percent in favor of the good guys.
“The Corporate
Board,” in its January/February 2004 issue, reported that the “Quarterly
Journal of Economics” recently analyzed the performance of 1500 large public
companies assessed against a matrix of 24 good governance standards. They found
that “firms with stronger protection for the individual shareholder had a
higher firm value, higher profits and higher sales growth…”
I hope these
examples demonstrate that companies that have strong cultures and good
corporate governance, and which are responsible, ethical and led by people with
integrity, outperform their peer competitive groups over the long term. Since
capitalism rewards those companies that perform better than their peers, there
is a strong financial incentive to do what is right.
That’s not to say
that all companies will pass your test as being socially responsible since you
may disagree with companies that make tobacco or birth control devices or do
biogenetic engineering or drill for oil in Alaska. There will always be
disagreements
about what is
good for the greater society. All I’m suggesting is that whatever the product
being produced, there is significant financial incentive to produce products in
a responsible manner and manage the company with integrity.
Some of you are
probably interested in the World Trade Organization and whether companies have
a financial incentive to cut corners when operating abroad. Let me give you one
small example of why doing the right thing still makes economic sense. In 1995
we built a plant in Guangzhou China to manufacture Moen faucets. It was in the middle of a state-run factory
complex. Our factory was built to
American standards: It was clean, well lit and safe. We paid a living wage and
treated our employees with respect and dignity. Did we have to do these things?
No, we could have matched the Chinese standard for factories and paid less in
wages, but it made good business sense to do the right thing. We were able to
hire the best workers, obtain higher productivity, produce higher quality
products and make the venture profitable ahead of schedule. By doing the right
thing for our workers, we did the right thing for our shareholders.
The focus on
creating value for shareholders will also drive greater diversity in the
workplace over time. To be sure, some companies are pursuing greater diversity
because it’s the right thing to do. But I contend that the profit motive will
also cause greater diversity. By 2050 minority groups will be 49.9 percent of
the population, according to the Census Bureau. As minorities make up more and
more of the population, it will be in the best interest of companies from a
profit standpoint to have management that mirrors the consuming public in order
to properly understand and appeal to the needs of minorities.
Some of you may
also be concerned about the amount of production and the number of jobs that
are being moved oversees to China or to India, for example. Certainly this is
being done to reduce costs, but it is not being driven solely by companies
trying to make more profit. It’s being driven by consumers who are demanding
lower prices. Be aware that every time you shop at Wal-Mart or a discount store
and buy imported product you’re sending a message to the management of a
company that you want lower prices. Union workers who shop at Wal-Mart and buy
imported products need to understand that this eventually may have an impact on
their jobs as companies turn to lower labor cost countries to produce goods
inexpensive enough to meet the demands of Wal-Mart buyers. Obviously, I’ve
simplified my example and companies are always looking for ways to reduce
costs. However, companies are not being irresponsible by “offshoring”
production or services, they are just responding to market demand. Consumers
like you vote with your dollars. Your “vote” influences the decisions and
actions that companies take.
I know you may be
asking yourself if Larrimore’s statistics are correct, why aren’t all companies
exercising good corporate governance and being run with leaders with high
integrity, a sound vision of the future and a belief in a strong, positive
ethical culture?
It’s a good
question. I think part of the answer is that there is still a generation of
leaders who didn’t grow up around the Crum and don’t understand the value
system of today’s workforce. There are also bad apples who let ambition lead to
greed which in turn leads to unethical behavior. They try to get rich quick and
don’t really care about the long-term health of their company. It is these few
bad apples who have sullied the business community and have led to steps to try
to prevent the Enron and Tyco fiascos from
happening again.
Most business people are as upset with the actions of Bernie Ebbers, Jeff
Skilling, Dennis Kozlowski and the others as you are.
Let me also note
that those of you who go into business will have a responsibility to act with
integrity and not let skullduggery or unsafe actions or threats to the
environment take place. I’ll talk later about how you need to be true to yourself
and your beliefs.
I believe,
though, that the vast majority of business people are ethical, not only because
it’s the right thing to be but because it’s the most profitable thing to do
over the long term. So I firmly believe you can take the Crum to the boardroom
and be successful.
Now to the heart
of my message: You can take the Crum to the boardroom. I believe the
values we Swarthmoreans hold so dear are the same values that can make you
successful in the business world.
The stories of
Enron, World Com, Tyco, Health South and others would lead one to believe that
all companies have scoundrels at the top and only make money by cheating.
However, there is statistical evidence that companies that are successful over
the long term have an ingrained belief in playing by the rules and have strong
positive cultures grounded in deeply held values and a sound vision. Let me
cite to two studies on corporate culture and two studies on corporate
governance to support my point.
John Kotter and
James Heskett, two Harvard professors, wrote a book in 1992 called Corporate
Culture and Performance. They broadly defined culture as the shared
attitudes, behavioral patterns and values that cohesive human groups pass on
from one generation to the next. Kotter and Heskett studied the performance of
207 large firms over an eleven-year period through 1990. They concluded that
corporate culture can have a significant impact on a firm's long-term economic
performance. Firms with cultures that emphasized all the key constituencies,
such as customers, stockholders and employees, and which had principled
leadership from managers at all levels outperformed firms by a huge margin that
did not have those cultural traits. Over an eleven-year period, the former, the
good guys, increased revenues by over four times more (682% vs. 166%) than the
latter; that the good guys expanded their work forces by
almost eight
times more (282% vs. 36%); grew their stock prices by 12 times more (901%
versus 74%); and improved their net incomes by 756 percent versus one percent.
Consider that
final finding again: Companies with strong healthy cultures and principled
leaders that paid attention equally to customers, stockholders and employees
outperformed those that didn't in terms of growth of net income over the
eleven-year period by 756 percent.
In the book Built
to Last by Jim Collins, the author looked at what a dollar invested in
companies with strong cultures would have returned in the 60 year period from
1930 through 1990. He found that a dollar invested in the stock market would
have been worth about $400 after that 60-year period of time and that a control
group of leaders, but not visionary companies, would have been worth $900. But
the big payoff came from visionary companies with strong, ethically positive
cultures; a dollar invested in those companies at the start of the period would
have been worth $6,000 in 1990!
Now you may not
care about the profits of an individual firm and don’t relate profits to
advancing the greater good of society. However, remember that capitalism is
based on profits and anytime higher profits can be aligned with doing the right
thing we have a win/win for the company and for society.
Recently there
has been a lot of talk about needing better corporate governance. That is,
having companies managed for the good of the individual investor with full
disclosure of accounting methods, strong shareholder rights and whistle blower
protection. In fact, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to legislate
standards of corporate governance. The New York Stock Exchange has passed
similar requirements. While these are all positive steps, I can tell you that
good companies have always tried to live by the rules and to follow the
principles of good corporate governance. I’ll cite two additional studies to
support this:
As reported by
“Business Week” in February 2004, Georgia State University and Institutional
Shareholder Services recently completed a study that found that companies with
the best governance had a five-year average annual return of nearly 8 percent
above their industry averages, while those with the worst governance scores
returned 4 percent less than the average.
That’s a swing of 12 percent in favor of the good guys.
“The Corporate
Board,” in its January/February 2004 issue, reported that the “Quarterly
Journal of Economics” recently analyzed the performance of 1500 large public
companies assessed against a matrix of 24 good governance standards. They found
that “firms with stronger protection for the individual shareholder had a
higher firm value, higher profits and higher sales growth…”
I hope these
examples demonstrate that companies that have strong cultures and good
corporate governance, and which are responsible, ethical and led by people with
integrity, outperform their peer competitive groups over the long term. Since
capitalism rewards those companies that perform better than their peers, there
is a strong financial incentive to do what is right.
That’s not to say
that all companies will pass your test as being socially responsible since you
may disagree with companies that make tobacco or birth control devices or do
biogenetic engineering or drill for oil in Alaska. There will always be
disagreements
about what is
good for the greater society. All I’m suggesting is that whatever the product
being produced, there is significant financial incentive to produce products in
a responsible manner and manage the company with integrity.
Some of you are
probably interested in the World Trade Organization and whether companies have
a financial incentive to cut corners when operating abroad. Let me give you one
small example of why doing the right thing still makes economic sense. In 1995
we built a plant in Guangzhou China to manufacture Moen faucets. It was in the middle of a state-run factory
complex. Our factory was built to
American standards: It was clean, well lit and safe. We paid a living wage and
treated our employees with respect and dignity. Did we have to do these things?
No, we could have matched the Chinese standard for factories and paid less in
wages, but it made good business sense to do the right thing. We were able to
hire the best workers, obtain higher productivity, produce higher quality
products and make the venture profitable ahead of schedule. By doing the right
thing for our workers, we did the right thing for our shareholders.
The focus on
creating value for shareholders will also drive greater diversity in the
workplace over time. To be sure, some companies are pursuing greater diversity
because it’s the right thing to do. But I contend that the profit motive will
also cause greater diversity. By 2050 minority groups will be 49.9 percent of
the population, according to the Census Bureau. As minorities make up more and
more of the population, it will be in the best interest of companies from a
profit standpoint to have management that mirrors the consuming public in order
to properly understand and appeal to the needs of minorities.
Some of you may
also be concerned about the amount of production and the number of jobs that
are being moved oversees to China or to India, for example. Certainly this is
being done to reduce costs, but it is not being driven solely by companies
trying to make more profit. It’s being driven by consumers who are demanding
lower prices. Be aware that every time you shop at Wal-Mart or a discount store
and buy imported product you’re sending a message to the management of a
company that you want lower prices. Union workers who shop at Wal-Mart and buy
imported products need to understand that this eventually may have an impact on
their jobs as companies turn to lower labor cost countries to produce goods
inexpensive enough to meet the demands of Wal-Mart buyers. Obviously, I’ve
simplified my example and companies are always looking for ways to reduce
costs. However, companies are not being irresponsible by “offshoring”
production or services, they are just responding to market demand. Consumers
like you vote with your dollars. Your “vote” influences the decisions and
actions that companies take.
I know you may be
asking yourself if Larrimore’s statistics are correct, why aren’t all companies
exercising good corporate governance and being run with leaders with high
integrity, a sound vision of the future and a belief in a strong, positive
ethical culture?
It’s a good
question. I think part of the answer is that there is still a generation of
leaders who didn’t grow up around the Crum and don’t understand the value
system of today’s workforce. There are also bad apples who let ambition lead to
greed which in turn leads to unethical behavior. They try to get rich quick and
don’t really care about the long-term health of their company. It is these few
bad apples who have sullied the business community and have led to steps to try
to prevent the Enron and Tyco fiascos from
happening again.
Most business people are as upset with the actions of Bernie Ebbers, Jeff
Skilling, Dennis Kozlowski and the others as you are.
Let me also note
that those of you who go into business will have a responsibility to act with
integrity and not let skullduggery or unsafe actions or threats to the
environment take place. I’ll talk later about how you need to be true to yourself
and your beliefs.
I believe,
though, that the vast majority of business people are ethical, not only because
it’s the right thing to be but because it’s the most profitable thing to do
over the long term. So I firmly believe you can take the Crum to the boardroom
and be successful.
GOOD LEADERS EMBODY THE VALUES IMPORTANT TO SWARTHMORE
STUDENTS
Now I want to
turn to why good leaders embody the values that are important to Swarthmore
students.
At Swarthmore we
learn to value people for who they are and how they think, not by what they
look like or what their backgrounds are. We value independent thinking. We
learn to be empathetic. We learn to care for people. I contend that successful
business leaders do the same. Indeed the values we hold so dear around the Crum
can be taken to the boardroom.
Let me give you
an example of a couple of experiences I’ve had that demonstrate the point.
While I attended
Swarthmore I worked for Dupont as a computer programmer for a couple of
summers. I was a summer employee and
therefore the junior engineer working with full-time experienced
engineers. My job was to help develop a
mathematical model that would duplicate the process of making nylon so Dupont
could better design and start up new nylon plants. We were using Fortran IV and
working with an IBM 360 computer using 80 column punch cards to put in the
data. I suspect most of you have never seen an 80 column punch card. These are
cards that are about three inches by seven inches. You used a typewriter-type
machine to punch holes through the cards that another machine would read to
input your code into the computer – sort of
like the Florida voting cards with the chads. Anyway, the cards were
processed in batches, typically in the evening. Work essentially stopped until
your cards were processed.
I found that if
you treat people like you’d like to be treated, if you show a genuine interest
in them, they tend to respond, and try to help you. I’m convinced that I got special service from
the computer department because I treated the operators with respect and
dignity.
This lesson in
caring about people was reinforced in my first job. Although I was in an entry
level position, I found I was getting much better service from the research and
development department and the sales force than other, more senior people. I
believe this was because I spent the time developing a relationship with them
and treating them as important members of my team. It’s always been shocking to
me that many people treat those in lesser jobs as unimportant. Those of you who
have read Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehreinreich know what I mean.
Don’t ever lose that ability to relate to others that is so valued at
Swarthmore.
Let me give you
another reason why successful business leaders go out of their way to treat
people with dignity and respect. It’s not just because they’re nice guys.
Certainly that’s part of the reason, but for those cynics among you, let’s just
say it makes good business sense. Why? Well, companies are made up of people
and it’s the people in the company who make it successful. And I’m talking
about all the people, not just management.
Successful
companies develop business building strategies which then must be executed. Let
me explain through an equation that has been critical to my success.
S x E = R
”S” stands for
Strategy; “E” for Execution and “R” for results. Strategy times Execution
equals Results.
And execution is
a function of organization ownership. So “E” also stands for “O”, ownership.
Strategy is
important, but execution is even more important for superior results. To get
great execution the people in the company need to own the strategy so that
they’re committed to its success.
In the mid-‘80s,
I was running a manufacturing company. One day one of my vice- presidents came
into my office rather discouraged. He said, “We never have the answers you
want. We’re never right. Every time we come in with a program or a proposal you
ask us more questions or give us more suggestions. Then we leave; we work on
it, and we come back, often only to be asked to recheck something else.”
After this fellow
left I thought about what he said. In my mind, I wasn’t asking questions
because I thought they were wrong. I was just trying to improve the product,
and, as a former consultant, I had always thought you should keep striving for
that perfect strategy. However, after this comment I realized that in the
process of looking for the perfect strategy, whatever
it was they were recommending was becoming my idea rather than their idea, and they were
losing ownership. While a great strategy is terrific, it’s the execution that
makes something happen.
So, let’s go back
to my equation. Let’s say “S” or strategy equals a nine. Let’s also assume the
organization doesn’t really own the strategy so “E” is only a two. You have 18
as the result. This is nowhere near as
powerful as having a six in strategy and a six in ownership/execution. You then
score a total of thirty-six, or more than double the previous result. You can
always improve the strategy, but unless the organization owns the strategy and
the execution, you won’t be successful.
Phil Jackson, who
led the Bulls to six NBA championships and the Lakers to three championships,
is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. He wrote in his book Sacred
Hoops “Visions are never the sole property of one man or one woman. Before
a vision can be reality, it must be owned by every single member of the group.”
I repeat, my
experience has convinced me that the most important thing you can do to
implement a successful strategy is to get the people throughout your entire
organization to OWN the strategy.
So,
how do you get an organization to own a strategy? Well this goes back to my
point that successful business
leaders care about
their people and realize that they are more
than just a machine; they are a critical asset of the company.
It used to be
that people came to work just for a paycheck. Work was work. Employees were
loyal and the company was always right.
It your boss asked you to move to Wichita, you asked if you should be
there on Friday or Monday. Starting with the X generation, we found that
employees (or associates as we call them today) wanted more from a job. They
weren’t as willing to be passively submissive.
Today if you ask someone to move to Wichita, you’re in for several
weeks, if not months, of discussion.
We’ve also found
that people want more out of their job than a salary. They want personal and
professional enrichment. They want to feel that they’re contributing. They want
to know that they’re part of a bigger picture and that what they do means
something. They want to be proud of their job and of the company for which they
work.
The management
style of command and control used in the ‘50s, ‘60s and even into the ‘70s
doesn’t work anymore. People don’t respond well to being told what to do. The
good leaders of today, even in the military, understand that you must lead
through inspiration.
Colin Powell has
said some really neat stuff about leadership. I’d like to read something he
said a few years ago when he was asked about how he learned about leadership.
He went on to add
that when he was a second lieutenant a sergeant said to him, “Lieutenant
Powell, sir, let me make it clear for you so that you never, ever doubt again
what leadership is all about. Now listen carefully. I ain’t going to repeat
it. A good leader is someone whose
troops will follow him if only out of curiosity.”
Powell thought to
himself, “Why would you follow somebody around a corner, up a hill or into a
dark room? The reason is trust. But how do you achieve trust?” Powell went on to add, and I’ll paraphrase a
little bit … by constantly looking for ways to do things better. By showing
people that you care as much for them as for yourself. By recognizing
accomplishments,
and by insuring that people who are not doing their job are fired. He then
said, “People want leaders they can be proud of, leaders who have high
standards, who have great moral courage, who have character.”
If you’re going
to implement a successful strategy, you MUST have the people in the
organization supporting you. Your people must own the strategy. Phil Jackson
also said in Sacred Hoops, “Strategy is important, but once you’ve done
the mental work, there comes a time that you have to throw yourself into
action, and put your heart on the line. Even for those who don’t consider
themselves spiritual in the conventional sense, creating a successful team
whether it’s an NBA championship, or a record-setting sales force is
essentially a spiritual act. It requires the individuals involved to surrender
their self-interest for the greater good.”
I think that’s
what really happens when the people in an organization own the mission and the
strategy. You forget your petty differences. You are now working at
implementing a strategy because you own it.
Because you believe in it!
Leadership is not
about beating people into compliance. It’s not about demanding that people
follow you based on your title. In fact when I joined United Stationers,
everybody had their title on a plaque outside their office. I took all the
titles off. Colin Powell said you have
to earn people’s respect and you just don’t get it from a title. Your
associates need to trust and respect you if you’re going to develop and
execute a successful strategy.
I contend that
Swarthmore students are well equipped to be tomorrow’s leaders. You’ve learned
to be tolerant and to respect others’ views. You can become passionate about
something and inspire others to action.
You’ve witnessed the value of individual attention and the free exchange
of ideas. You’ve learned to relate with senior professors and students from
assorted backgrounds with diverse ideas.
You’ve learned that power is derived from the soundness of your ideas
and the way you relate to others, not from physical strength or intimidation.
The “command and control” style of leadership that might be fostered in Big Ten
type schools with powerful sports programs or strong fraternity systems has
been avoided at Swarthmore. You have been educated in an institution that
teaches that leadership comes from earning the respect of others. Don’t ever
forget that.
BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
Now let’s talk about being true to yourself.
As you build a
career in whatever field, don’t ever lose the principles you now cherish.
Sometimes this won’t be easy. There are organizations, both profit and
non-profit, that won’t live up to your ideals. You’ll also have financial
responsibilities and a family to feed that may make it hard to do what you know
is right if it might jeopardize your job. However, I strongly encourage you to
stand up for what you believe.
I want to tell
you a short story about my father. He went to college for a semester and then
was drafted into World War II. When he returned to civilian life he got
married. A year later I was born and he went to work for his father in a dairy.
They pasteurized milk produced by local farmers. He did that for 25 some years,
but eventually the dairy was just too small to compete and they closed the
business. My father saw the end coming
and went back to
college when I was in ninth grade. Eight years later, when he was fifty years
old, he got his college degree.
He became an
English teacher in a community college and became a changed man. I had never
seen him so happy. It turned out that he had always wanted to be a teacher and
he was now fulfilling his life-long dream. I asked my father why he had spent
so much time working in the dairy when he really wanted to be a teacher. He
said, “Well I had mouths to feed, I had to take care of my family. I just
didn’t have any choice.”
WOW! I thought it was incredibly sad that someone
could spend a large part of their adult life doing something the person didn’t
want to do. I promised myself I would never get in a situation where I had to
do something just because of job security.
So I tried to go to good schools, take jobs with good companies that would
give me good, marketable experience and perform to the best of my ability. This gave me the confidence that I could
always find another job. In hindsight, I think having the conviction that I
could always resign and find another job made me a better business person.
This was because
it allowed me to express my point of view and make those tough decisions that
weren’t conventional thinking. It allowed me to argue with people and stand up
for what I believed. In some cases I
found myself recommending something that my boss didn’t support. Unless you have a lot of self-confidence
you’re likely to get in a situation where you’re afraid to express your opinion
or, even worse, be afraid to say “no, I won’t do that.” Self-confidence comes from knowing you have
other choices.
I had a professor
at Harvard who told students to always have “f___ you” money. That is, we
should always be able to walk away from a job if we disagreed with what we were
being asked to do. He encouraged us to start our careers with low fixed living
expenses and build a savings account so that we would have maximum flexibility.
So as you leave
Swarthmore, I encourage you be the best you can be. Try to build a strong
resume that will give you the freedom to find another job if you have to. Save
some “f___ you” money, as my professor said. This will give you the confidence
to challenge conventional thinking, to stand up for what you believe, to not
accept unethical behavior and to change jobs if you’re unhappy.
A word of caution
though. I’m not suggesting you quit a company because you don’t like your boss
or because your ideas aren’t accepted. We all have to learn to deal with people
we may not like – that’s part of life.
We also have to accept that our ideas may not always be the best idea.
All you can expect is that your idea should be given careful consideration.
I just ask you to
always do what’s right, and if that’s not possible, then have the confidence
you’ll find another job. Don’t work for an Enron if you see things happening
that are wrong. Stand up for what you believe. Maintain the integrity that is
so much respected by others. Have the
confidence to take the Crum to your job.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Swarthmore
students are committed to helping others. You’re filled with idealism. You want
to make the world a better place. You want to be an academic, or a doctor, or
perhaps a lawyer serving the downtrodden or maybe a public servant or a Peace
Corps
volunteer. You
want to make a difference. God forbid that a Swarthmore student should go into
business. Certainly in 1969 when I
graduated, you were almost ashamed to admit that you were going to business
school.
Trying to figure
out how to make a difference is scary though. After moving to New York City to
start my first job we lived in a one bedroom apartment on the 34th floor. I
remember very vividly looking out the window one night at the millions and
millions of
While one of you
may become another Jonas Salk or a Supreme Court justice or maybe even
President of the United States, most of you will have to accept that you won’t
be able to change the course of the world. However, you will find that you can
influence the people around you, your local community and perhaps an even
larger constituency.
Those of you who
go into business will find many ways to make a difference, particularly as you
move into higher levels of responsibility.
You can make sure that your company is ethical. You can strive to make
the products you sell perform as promised. You can help to make the work
environment safe and prevent accidents. You can insist that people treat other
people with dignity and respect. You can push for diversity and equal
opportunity.
As a manager you
can help your employees balance their work and personal lives. Suggest they get
involved in charitable activities. Allow them to take off to celebrate a
child’s birthday or attend a special school event.
You can create an
environment where employees can contribute with their mind as well as with
their hands, where they can experience personal and professional growth.
I’ve gotten
immense satisfaction from being in business. I believe I’ve changed the lives
of thousands of employees and their families by taking the Crum to the
boardroom.
All of you can
make a difference no matter what you do. You may not be able to change the
world, but you can change your community. You can change the organization where
you work. Perhaps most importantly, you
can change the lives of the people around you, even if it is only one person at
a time.
In summary, I
hope I’ve convinced you that the value system fostered by the Swarthmore
experience is exactly what is needed for businesses to be successful over the
long term. That, indeed, you can take the Crum to the boardroom. I also hope
that you leave here today believing that you can make a difference and that you
can do that even in the business world.
I’ll end by
telling you a story that has made a big difference in my life. It’s adapted
from “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eisely.
One day a man was walking along
the beach when he noticed
a figure in the distance. As
he got closer, he realized the figure was
that of a boy picking something
up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “ What are you doing?”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize
there are miles and miles
of beach and hundreds of
starfish? You can’t possibly make a difference!’
Here’s your
starfish [which were passed out to all of
the students]. Now go make a difference.
Thank you. Are
there any questions?
Now I want to
turn to why good leaders embody the values that are important to Swarthmore
students.
At Swarthmore we
learn to value people for who they are and how they think, not by what they
look like or what their backgrounds are. We value independent thinking. We
learn to be empathetic. We learn to care for people. I contend that successful
business leaders do the same. Indeed the values we hold so dear around the Crum
can be taken to the boardroom.
Let me give you
an example of a couple of experiences I’ve had that demonstrate the point.
While I attended
Swarthmore I worked for Dupont as a computer programmer for a couple of
summers. I was a summer employee and
therefore the junior engineer working with full-time experienced
engineers. My job was to help develop a
mathematical model that would duplicate the process of making nylon so Dupont
could better design and start up new nylon plants. We were using Fortran IV and
working with an IBM 360 computer using 80 column punch cards to put in the
data. I suspect most of you have never seen an 80 column punch card. These are
cards that are about three inches by seven inches. You used a typewriter-type
machine to punch holes through the cards that another machine would read to
input your code into the computer – sort of
like the Florida voting cards with the chads. Anyway, the cards were
processed in batches, typically in the evening. Work essentially stopped until
your cards were processed.
While I was
waiting around for the program to come back, I started visiting with the
computer operators and asking them about their bowling league, or how their son
Johnny was doing in basketball, or just chatted about stuff. Pretty soon I was
getting my cards processed two or three times a day when most of the engineers
were only getting one batch processed every evening. They couldn’t understand
why I was getting such preferential service from the computer operators. After thinking about it I concluded that I
was getting such great service because I treated the operators as people.
I found that if
you treat people like you’d like to be treated, if you show a genuine interest
in them, they tend to respond, and try to help you. I’m convinced that I got special service from
the computer department because I treated the operators with respect and
dignity.
This lesson in
caring about people was reinforced in my first job. Although I was in an entry
level position, I found I was getting much better service from the research and
development department and the sales force than other, more senior people. I
believe this was because I spent the time developing a relationship with them
and treating them as important members of my team. It’s always been shocking to
me that many people treat those in lesser jobs as unimportant. Those of you who
have read Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehreinreich know what I mean.
Don’t ever lose that ability to relate to others that is so valued at
Swarthmore.
Let me give you
another reason why successful business leaders go out of their way to treat
people with dignity and respect. It’s not just because they’re nice guys.
Certainly that’s part of the reason, but for those cynics among you, let’s just
say it makes good business sense. Why? Well, companies are made up of people
and it’s the people in the company who make it successful. And I’m talking
about all the people, not just management.
Successful
companies develop business building strategies which then must be executed. Let
me explain through an equation that has been critical to my success.
S x E = R
”S” stands for
Strategy; “E” for Execution and “R” for results. Strategy times Execution
equals Results.
And execution is
a function of organization ownership. So “E” also stands for “O”, ownership.
Strategy is
important, but execution is even more important for superior results. To get
great execution the people in the company need to own the strategy so that
they’re committed to its success.
In the mid-‘80s,
I was running a manufacturing company. One day one of my vice- presidents came
into my office rather discouraged. He said, “We never have the answers you
want. We’re never right. Every time we come in with a program or a proposal you
ask us more questions or give us more suggestions. Then we leave; we work on
it, and we come back, often only to be asked to recheck something else.”
After this fellow
left I thought about what he said. In my mind, I wasn’t asking questions
because I thought they were wrong. I was just trying to improve the product,
and, as a former consultant, I had always thought you should keep striving for
that perfect strategy. However, after this comment I realized that in the
process of looking for the perfect strategy, whatever
it was they were recommending was becoming my idea rather than their idea, and they were
losing ownership. While a great strategy is terrific, it’s the execution that
makes something happen.
So, let’s go back
to my equation. Let’s say “S” or strategy equals a nine. Let’s also assume the
organization doesn’t really own the strategy so “E” is only a two. You have 18
as the result. This is nowhere near as
powerful as having a six in strategy and a six in ownership/execution. You then
score a total of thirty-six, or more than double the previous result. You can
always improve the strategy, but unless the organization owns the strategy and
the execution, you won’t be successful.
Phil Jackson, who
led the Bulls to six NBA championships and the Lakers to three championships,
is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. He wrote in his book Sacred
Hoops “Visions are never the sole property of one man or one woman. Before
a vision can be reality, it must be owned by every single member of the group.”
I repeat, my
experience has convinced me that the most important thing you can do to
implement a successful strategy is to get the people throughout your entire
organization to OWN the strategy.
So,
how do you get an organization to own a strategy? Well this goes back to my
point that successful business
leaders care about
their people and realize that they are more
than just a machine; they are a critical asset of the company.
It used to be
that people came to work just for a paycheck. Work was work. Employees were
loyal and the company was always right.
It your boss asked you to move to Wichita, you asked if you should be
there on Friday or Monday. Starting with the X generation, we found that
employees (or associates as we call them today) wanted more from a job. They
weren’t as willing to be passively submissive.
Today if you ask someone to move to Wichita, you’re in for several
weeks, if not months, of discussion.
The employee will
be thinking about the impact on his or her career, what it will mean for his
personal life, how she will fulfill her commitment to coach soccer or be the
head usher at her church, not to mention how the person’s spouse will find a
job. Employees today are much more well rounded and aren’t willing to sacrifice
their personal life for a job.
We’ve also found
that people want more out of their job than a salary. They want personal and
professional enrichment. They want to feel that they’re contributing. They want
to know that they’re part of a bigger picture and that what they do means
something. They want to be proud of their job and of the company for which they
work.
The management
style of command and control used in the ‘50s, ‘60s and even into the ‘70s
doesn’t work anymore. People don’t respond well to being told what to do. The
good leaders of today, even in the military, understand that you must lead
through inspiration.
Colin Powell has
said some really neat stuff about leadership. I’d like to read something he
said a few years ago when he was asked about how he learned about leadership.
He said, “The
only way to accomplish a mission is through those troops entrusted to your
care. It’s not you. It’s not the organization. It’s not the plan you have. At the end of the day, it’s some soldier
who will go up a hill and correct your mistakes, and take that hill.”
He went on to add
that when he was a second lieutenant a sergeant said to him, “Lieutenant
Powell, sir, let me make it clear for you so that you never, ever doubt again
what leadership is all about. Now listen carefully. I ain’t going to repeat
it. A good leader is someone whose
troops will follow him if only out of curiosity.”
Powell thought to
himself, “Why would you follow somebody around a corner, up a hill or into a
dark room? The reason is trust. But how do you achieve trust?” Powell went on to add, and I’ll paraphrase a
little bit … by constantly looking for ways to do things better. By showing
people that you care as much for them as for yourself. By recognizing
accomplishments,
and by insuring that people who are not doing their job are fired. He then
said, “People want leaders they can be proud of, leaders who have high
standards, who have great moral courage, who have character.”
If you’re going
to implement a successful strategy, you MUST have the people in the
organization supporting you. Your people must own the strategy. Phil Jackson
also said in Sacred Hoops, “Strategy is important, but once you’ve done
the mental work, there comes a time that you have to throw yourself into
action, and put your heart on the line. Even for those who don’t consider
themselves spiritual in the conventional sense, creating a successful team
whether it’s an NBA championship, or a record-setting sales force is
essentially a spiritual act. It requires the individuals involved to surrender
their self-interest for the greater good.”
I think that’s
what really happens when the people in an organization own the mission and the
strategy. You forget your petty differences. You are now working at
implementing a strategy because you own it.
Because you believe in it!
Leadership is not
about beating people into compliance. It’s not about demanding that people
follow you based on your title. In fact when I joined United Stationers,
everybody had their title on a plaque outside their office. I took all the
titles off. Colin Powell said you have
to earn people’s respect and you just don’t get it from a title. Your
associates need to trust and respect you if you’re going to develop and
execute a successful strategy.
I contend that
Swarthmore students are well equipped to be tomorrow’s leaders. You’ve learned
to be tolerant and to respect others’ views. You can become passionate about
something and inspire others to action.
You’ve witnessed the value of individual attention and the free exchange
of ideas. You’ve learned to relate with senior professors and students from
assorted backgrounds with diverse ideas.
You’ve learned that power is derived from the soundness of your ideas
and the way you relate to others, not from physical strength or intimidation.
The “command and control” style of leadership that might be fostered in Big Ten
type schools with powerful sports programs or strong fraternity systems has
been avoided at Swarthmore. You have been educated in an institution that
teaches that leadership comes from earning the respect of others. Don’t ever
forget that.
BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
Now let’s talk about being true to yourself.
As you build a
career in whatever field, don’t ever lose the principles you now cherish.
Sometimes this won’t be easy. There are organizations, both profit and
non-profit, that won’t live up to your ideals. You’ll also have financial
responsibilities and a family to feed that may make it hard to do what you know
is right if it might jeopardize your job. However, I strongly encourage you to
stand up for what you believe.
I want to tell
you a short story about my father. He went to college for a semester and then
was drafted into World War II. When he returned to civilian life he got
married. A year later I was born and he went to work for his father in a dairy.
They pasteurized milk produced by local farmers. He did that for 25 some years,
but eventually the dairy was just too small to compete and they closed the
business. My father saw the end coming
and went back to
college when I was in ninth grade. Eight years later, when he was fifty years
old, he got his college degree.
He became an
English teacher in a community college and became a changed man. I had never
seen him so happy. It turned out that he had always wanted to be a teacher and
he was now fulfilling his life-long dream. I asked my father why he had spent
so much time working in the dairy when he really wanted to be a teacher. He
said, “Well I had mouths to feed, I had to take care of my family. I just
didn’t have any choice.”
WOW! I thought it was incredibly sad that someone
could spend a large part of their adult life doing something the person didn’t
want to do. I promised myself I would never get in a situation where I had to
do something just because of job security.
So I tried to go to good schools, take jobs with good companies that would
give me good, marketable experience and perform to the best of my ability. This gave me the confidence that I could
always find another job. In hindsight, I think having the conviction that I
could always resign and find another job made me a better business person.
This was because
it allowed me to express my point of view and make those tough decisions that
weren’t conventional thinking. It allowed me to argue with people and stand up
for what I believed. In some cases I
found myself recommending something that my boss didn’t support. Unless you have a lot of self-confidence
you’re likely to get in a situation where you’re afraid to express your opinion
or, even worse, be afraid to say “no, I won’t do that.” Self-confidence comes from knowing you have
other choices.
I had a professor
at Harvard who told students to always have “f___ you” money. That is, we
should always be able to walk away from a job if we disagreed with what we were
being asked to do. He encouraged us to start our careers with low fixed living
expenses and build a savings account so that we would have maximum flexibility.
So as you leave
Swarthmore, I encourage you be the best you can be. Try to build a strong
resume that will give you the freedom to find another job if you have to. Save
some “f___ you” money, as my professor said. This will give you the confidence
to challenge conventional thinking, to stand up for what you believe, to not
accept unethical behavior and to change jobs if you’re unhappy.
A word of caution
though. I’m not suggesting you quit a company because you don’t like your boss
or because your ideas aren’t accepted. We all have to learn to deal with people
we may not like – that’s part of life.
We also have to accept that our ideas may not always be the best idea.
All you can expect is that your idea should be given careful consideration.
I just ask you to
always do what’s right, and if that’s not possible, then have the confidence
you’ll find another job. Don’t work for an Enron if you see things happening
that are wrong. Stand up for what you believe. Maintain the integrity that is
so much respected by others. Have the
confidence to take the Crum to your job.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Swarthmore
students are committed to helping others. You’re filled with idealism. You want
to make the world a better place. You want to be an academic, or a doctor, or
perhaps a lawyer serving the downtrodden or maybe a public servant or a Peace
Corps
volunteer. You
want to make a difference. God forbid that a Swarthmore student should go into
business. Certainly in 1969 when I
graduated, you were almost ashamed to admit that you were going to business
school.
Trying to figure
out how to make a difference is scary though. After moving to New York City to
start my first job we lived in a one bedroom apartment on the 34th floor. I
remember very vividly looking out the window one night at the millions and
millions of
lights in the
apartments of millions and millions of people and realizing that I was just one
of those millions of people. I wondered how in the world I was going to make a
difference.
While one of you
may become another Jonas Salk or a Supreme Court justice or maybe even
President of the United States, most of you will have to accept that you won’t
be able to change the course of the world. However, you will find that you can
influence the people around you, your local community and perhaps an even
larger constituency.
Those of you who
go into business will find many ways to make a difference, particularly as you
move into higher levels of responsibility.
You can make sure that your company is ethical. You can strive to make
the products you sell perform as promised. You can help to make the work
environment safe and prevent accidents. You can insist that people treat other
people with dignity and respect. You can push for diversity and equal
opportunity.
As a manager you
can help your employees balance their work and personal lives. Suggest they get
involved in charitable activities. Allow them to take off to celebrate a
child’s birthday or attend a special school event.
You can create an
environment where employees can contribute with their mind as well as with
their hands, where they can experience personal and professional growth.
I’ve gotten
immense satisfaction from being in business. I believe I’ve changed the lives
of thousands of employees and their families by taking the Crum to the
boardroom.
All of you can
make a difference no matter what you do. You may not be able to change the
world, but you can change your community. You can change the organization where
you work. Perhaps most importantly, you
can change the lives of the people around you, even if it is only one person at
a time.
In summary, I
hope I’ve convinced you that the value system fostered by the Swarthmore
experience is exactly what is needed for businesses to be successful over the
long term. That, indeed, you can take the Crum to the boardroom. I also hope
that you leave here today believing that you can make a difference and that you
can do that even in the business world.
I’ll end by
telling you a story that has made a big difference in my life. It’s adapted
from “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eisely.
One day a man was walking along
the beach when he noticed
a figure in the distance. As
he got closer, he realized the figure was
that of a boy picking something
up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “ What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “ Throwing
a starfish into the ocean. The
sun is up and the tide is going out. I f I don’t throw
them back, they will die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize
there are miles and miles
of beach and hundreds of
starfish? You can’t possibly make a difference!’
After l listening politely, the boy bent down,
picked up another starfish and threw it into the surf. Then, smiling at the
man, he said, “ I made a difference for that one.”
Here’s your
starfish [which were passed out to all of
the students]. Now go make a difference.
Thank you. Are
there any questions?
