Tomorrow is a big day in my journey.  Was voted by students as the distinguished educator of the year. Super winning. Speaking at the graduation celebration. This is the venue.

Here is the outline of my talk.

(My) Past: 

• Did not always know what I wanted to do
• The job titles changed, but the work did not: working with executives, breaking down problems, and training juniors to be great consultants.
• Cal Newport’s argues “Follow your passion is bad advice.” More important to get rare and valuable skills. The better you get at something, the more passionate you get.
• Flip it around: “Make your passion follow you.”

(Your) Past:

• Keep what makes your stronger; good or bad experiences – doesn’t matter.
• You need to be a fan of you; not as crazy at Kayne, but maybe 1/2 of Kayne
• Gratitude is the killer app; you feel good, they feel good, it’s a win-win
• So much to be grateful for. 1/2 of the worlds population lives on $900 a year
• Regret = terrible product, don’t buy it.

Present: 

• Emily Dickison: “Forever is composed of nows”
• This is an amazing moment; you’ve finish the race, you are surrounded by 400 winners, family / friends love, support, respect you.
• Hate FOMO – just makes you unhappy. Strategy is about competing differently.
• Let’s pause and enjoy this moment.  You don’t graduate from B school every day.

Future: What is (your) strategy? 

• Strategy is creating a sustainable competitive advantage – by being different, creating an economic moat through a system of activities
• Strategy is about trade-offs, and what you DO NOT DO
• In class exercise: What students said about strategy & their careers:

I will have to make decisions that take me down one path or another.  These decisions must be cohesive and compatible to create a strong system..  I have to avoid just copying the majority (herd behavior)and make individual decisions to my own career and story. 

Need to find new ways of doing my job, instead of following the textbook

These days the financial services industry is over-saturated with high-achieving applicants from across the world. . . I need to focus on bringing my own unique perspective to problem solving. 

Create my own competitive advantage through the strategy of building relationships.  That is my strategy

Be courageous and stick to my values.  Don’t become a “yes man” to anyone.

You can’t please everyone

You can’t be afraid to fail. Michael Jordan missed 1/2 of his game winning shots, and he is still the GOAT.

Stay curious.  Never settle.  Never stop asking why.

Create your own syllabus:

• Until now, professors have told you what to do, when to meet, what to read, who to work with, what the grading rubric would be.  No longer.
• Now you have to create your own syllabus.
• Want you to be 30% more curious, and 30% more confident
• All the simple problems have been solved – the type of work you want to do – pays you 100, 200K a year, work with smart people, make a difference.

I can do it. 

• Learning the Korean phrase “HAL SOO ITDA”, which means, “I can do it.”
• Doesn’t mean that it will be easy, convenient, or ackowledged.  It just means you can do it.
• Don’t be a business robot,
• “HAL OSO ITDA’ Korean expression which means “I can do it.”

Will do  great job tomorrow for the 400+ graduating seniors.