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DRAFT OF REMARKS FOR
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20 MINUTES
I enjoy speaking on college campuses. I’ve spoken to more than 80,000 students in past five years, from the East Coast to the West Coast. What I see with today’s young people is a new entrepreneurial spirit, a return to free market principles. You’re a new breed, the leaders of tomorrow. Frankly, what I see excites me for our country’s future.
The faculty and staff members in the audience today have played an important role in stimulating the new entrepreneurial spirit. Education is the key to success, and our educators must continue to ensure all students get a chance to obtain the key that opens the door they choose.
There is more opportunity to succeed today, than ever. Both the public and private sectors are cutting bureaucracy and downsizing for efficiency.
Young people often ask me how they can succeed the way I have. There are a few tips, a simple philosophy you can follow that will help in business, government and even family involvement.
First, learn to analyze well. Carefully assess the risks, making sure they are outweighed by the prospective awards. There’s no substitute for good research. Never become emotionally involved in career decisions, because emotions can cloud common sense and lead to poor decisions. But be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. Don’t fall victim to what I call the “Ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome.” You must be willing to fire.
Be a team player. As long as you work for someone, you owe them your allegiance and support. That doesn’t mean you should turn a blind eye to problems in the organization, but you should deal with them positively and constructively. If you find you’re constantly dissatisfied or frustrated with your work, it’s probably time to go somewhere else. If there are problems you’re uncomfortable with and you have no power to change them, you owe it to yourself and your family to move on.
Be patient. I constantly have to remind myself and our people at Mesa about the old adage “Patience is a virtue.” All too often we want results overnight and get tired of plugging away at it day after day. You have to build success, being careful all along the way. Taking short cuts can come back to haunt you.
Be realistic. Dream, yes, but don’t be caught as a day dreamer.
Learn from mistakes. This is not just a cliche. It could be the most important tip I give you today. You’ll never beat the competition if you don’t avoid the proven pitfalls.
Keep government out of business, except to ensure a free market. The market will determine the course of business. Too often our government has attempted to maintain the status quo in declining or restructuring industries at the expense of other industries. The steel industry is a good example. A study was done recently showing that every steel job saved through protectionism costs the economy $750,000. Government intervention and protectionism have proven time and again that they break down the free market system.
Especially avoid protecting business leaders from market forces, including shareholders. You can’t legislate competitiveness. ’The only way our corporations will become more competitive is by making managements accountable to the shareholders. We must reestablish that managements are employees, and shareholders are owners.
Practice moderation in all that you do. Be sure to leave time for your family. And don’t believe the myth that you have to slight your family to be successful. The key is organization. If you’re organized, you’ll find time for everything. I’ve seen people who can’t get 24 hours out of a week, and I’ve seen others who can get 40 hours out of a day. It’s a matter of establishing priorities and being organized.
Keep success as well as failure in perspective. Don’t ever get to the point where you can’t go back to eating hamburger. That’s a lesson we’re learning right now in Texas and other oil producing states. Enjoy your success, but don’t let yourself get so comfortable or complacent that you can’t do things just like everyone else.
And most important, always play by the rules. Never think you have to cheat to win; you don’t even need to bend your principles. Cheating to win is a hollow victory, at best. But worse than that, you won’t feel good about yourself.
There’s a lot of talk about an ethics crisis in America. I say there is no ethics crisis... it’s a leadership crisis. It all goes back to the top. You must lead by example.
In a nutshell, if you work hard, analyze well, and play by the rules, I promise you you’ll succeed and have a ball doing it.
Thank you and good luck.