HAT COMMENCEMENT REMARKS
I want to start by thanking you for the invitation and the
honor of speaking to you today. I’m not sure what I did to deserve it, but I
also have really bad tennis elbow and I didn’t deserve that either - so I guess
that these things eventually even out.
I’d also like to thank my friends JB and MK Pritzker for
their amazing generosity and for anchoring the Law School’s future for decades
to come. Our city and our school are beyond fortunate to have them.
Finally, I want to assure you that the investment you’ve made
in your legal education is a wise one. In the last 45 years since I graduated,
I don’t think there’s been a single day when I haven’t put the analytical,
organization, and presentation skills I first learned at the Law School to
exceedingly good use.
Lincoln Hall changes the way you look at the world – mostly
in a good way – and the rigor, the arguments, the grit and the perseverance
that it takes to excel in this special place have prepared you, have
distinguished you, and will set you apart going forward in whatever you choose
to do with your lives. Your most important and first job is to choose wisely.
These are powerful skills – not to be wasted – not to be
withheld for fear of failing - and, mostly importantly, not to be frittered
away. In my world, failure is an everyday occurrence and an accepted part of
the landscape. The best entrepreneurs aren’t afraid of failing – their greatest
fear is spending a significant part of their lives doing something insignificant
that doesn’t really matter or make a difference to much of anyone.
Every one of you is better than that – you shouldn’t settle
for anything less. There’s always a best seat in the house – a best row at the
show – and while you may not always get it – shame on you if you don’t go for it.
It pays to aim high. Feasibility will compromise you soon enough.
Now here are a few things that I’ve learned and unlearned
in the last half century which I hope will help you as you head out into the
real world.
(1)
Not Everything Worth Doing is Worth
Doing Well
Striving for Excellence is Stimulating and Rewarding – It’s a
Good Goal
Shooting for Perfection is Neurotic and Will Simply Drive You
Crazy
No One
Can Afford to Be Perfect Even If It Were Possible
In
Most Things Today, Good Enough is Enough to Get Started – Then You Can Grow
Nothing
Matters More than Focus – You Want to Do a Few Things Really Well - You Can Do
Anything You Want, But Not Everything
You Have
to Become a Great Editor – You Need to Quickly Learn How to Say “No”. Not “Maybe”.
Not “Later”. A Simple and
Complete “No”
Great
Strategy is About What You Say “No” to.
The
Rest of your Lives will be all about Triage and Choices – too many
opportunities – too little time.
(2)
Successive Approximation Beats
Postponed Perfection
Iteration in our World is Everything
and An Unending Process
You Get Better by Getting A Little Better
– Every Day
It’s Like Ironing (I Think) – You Go
Over & Over Again – Until It’s Done
…..But, Of Course, It’s Never Done
There’s No Finish Line Today – Only
the Next Mountain
(3) The Name of the Game is to Win, Not
to be Right All the Time
Growth
is Inherently Embarrassingly – Mistakes are Inevitable
You’ll
Never Have All the Data You Need for Certain Decisions
You’ll
Learn to Draw Sufficient Conclusions from Insufficient Premises and Try to Make
the Best Decisions You Can
There
May Be Better Answers, But There’s Rarely Only One Right Answer and Any Answer
is Better than Waiting
Being Consistent Above All Requires
You to Be as Ignorant Today as You Were a Year Ago – Or as I Like to Say: Stare Decisis Sucks
(4)
No One Does Anything Important Today
All By Themselves
This
Seems to Me to Be One of All Law Schools’ Greatest Failings
Even
the Business Schools and New Medical Schools Appreciate that You Need to Be a
Team Player to Succeed. Law Schools –
Not So Much
We’re Still Promoting the Litigator/Gladiator
Model and the World is Looking for Collaborators.
And While Technologies Quickly Become
Commodities; Dedicated, Motivated and Passionate People are the Only Long Term,
Sustainable Competitive Advantage Any Business Can Really Have
Teambuilding, Collaboration and
Listening Skills Trump Talent Today
The Only Thing More Important than
Teamwork is A Willingness and A Desire to Do the Hard Work
Hope is Not a Strategy – In Today’s
Hyper-Competitive World, You Get What You Work For, Not What You Wish For.
(5)
You Don’t Have to Be an Entrepreneur,
But You’ll Have to Be Entrepreneurial
Everything
is Changing at An Accelerating Pace – Autocatalytic Rate
Today
is the Slowest Rate of Technological Change That You Will Experience for the
Rest of Your Life
The Future
Won’t Be Incremental or a Little Different – It Will be Radically Changed
You
Are Going to Have to Define and Manage Your Career in a Much More
Aggressive and Active Fashion than Anyone in the Past and You Will Need New
Tools and New Skills to Do That Successfully
(6)
It’s Not Enough to be The Department
of “No”
There Are
a Million People Today Who Will Tell You What You Can’t Do and Why. We Don’t Need Any More of Those Folks.
What We Need Are People You Can Count
On to Add Real Value.
How Do You Add Value?
It Couldn’t Be Simpler.
Save Me Time
Save Me
Money
Make Me More
Productive
Help Me Make
Better Decisions
Get Stuff
Done
Easy to say – hard to do
(7)
Clients Want Ritz-Carlton Results at
Arby’s Prices
And They Want It All Right Now. Some
Things Will Never Change.
There’s No Simple Answer, But You
Can’t Let It Get You Down.
Here’s How We Define Success:
Love Yourself
Love What You’re Doing
Love How
You’re Doing It
If You Can Get to That Place – You’re
Golden.
If You Can’t Get the Resources, Time
and Support You Need to Do Things Right, Go Do Something Else.
(8)
A Final Thought
We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life,
when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic
about.
At 1871, we are lucky enough to go to work surrounded by excited,
energetic and enthusiastic people who are setting out every day to change the
world in important ways.
My fondest hope for each of you is that you can find a similar place and
similar challenges. There’s no better way to spend your days.
So now it’s up to you – go forth – go always forward – and go make us and
your parents proud.
5-13-16
