An Axed Commencement Speech

August 8, 2013  |  Uncategorized

Here at Babson, we love to use the word Entrepreneurship.  Entrepreneurship can be a hard concept to convey, and that makes it all the more difficult when we need to describe ourselves or what we do to those unfamiliar with the term.

I have a much easier way to describe all of us here at Babson:
We are all artists.  Some of us are artists in the traditional sense, whether it is with a microphone or with a brush.  But for a majority of us, we are artists in the way that it is our passion to create.  Whether that creation is an innovative product, or a new way to solve an old problem, we have this unquenchable thirst to leave our fingerprints on something new, something fresh.

Somewhere along the line the artist in many of us was confined by rules or circumstance, but once we stepped on the grass of Babson College, it was as if our inner artist was set free.  I knew I belonged at Babson, because the culture of Babson is one of creativity, and uniqueness, and I am a pretty creative guy in a weird unique way.  Today, I wish to share with you one final take away in the subject that I am most qualified: Oil Painting.

An oil painting is rarely completed in one shot.  The true beauty of a painting emerges only after a series of layers are painted, one on top of the other.  A painter might have a vision of what the end product is going to look like, but the path there is about discovery, a process of trial and error.  If we as artists approached painting like most people approach the ideas that pop in their heads every day, we would never pick up the brush because we would be afraid of the perceived permanency of each brush stroke.  But we are not most people, we are Babson and we creAct.

In a painting, most would believe that you only see the last layer, but when light hits an oil painting, it actually captures all of the layers beneath as well.  What you end up seeing is not just the final layer, but a culmination of all of the artist’s efforts.  Approach life the same way and all of a sudden taking a chance and making a mistake is okay, because eventually you will cover it with success, and your failures will only make your success that much more stunning.

The masterpiece we have been painting since the day our parents gave us the brushes is crafted from our values, with the canvas stretched tight by our integrity.  Lose our values and our painting has no meaning.  Lose our integrity and our masterpiece will not stand the test of time.  There will come many moments in all of our careers and lives, when we will be faced with difficult decisions.  If we can all agree that our masterpiece, our legacy, will live longer than every shareholder and every dollar earned, at least those decisions are not so difficult anymore.

Lastly, I am going to leave you with a quote from a person who we have all had the honor and privilege to have had as our president during our time at Babson.  He is of course President Len Schlesinger, and he once wrote:

“Unless you truly want to make something happen, the odds are nothing will. Without desire, nothing else matters . . . or occurs.” And so, the starting point is this: Class of 2013, what masterpiece do we want to create?

Thank you and congratulations to the Class of 2013.


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