Graduates, Tom Steyer, honored guests, faculty, staff, families and friends, welcome to the 2015 Graduation Ceremony at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
What does your graduation signify? As you know, studying at the GSB means so much more than mastering the concepts of management; it is as much about personal transformation. As you sit before us eager to receive your diplomas, I encourage you to think about how you have changed and grown during your time here. Your graduation today celebrates all that you have done and become, and your readiness to have a dramatic and positive impact on the organizations you will lead, manage, or found, and through those organizations, the communities they serve.
What you have accomplished in your time at the GSB, you have not accomplished alone. You have learned and received help, guidance, mentorship and support from many quarters, all of which are represented here today.
First, you are sitting shoulder to shoulder with your classmates as you have throughout your time here. Think how much you have learned from one another, in squads, clubs, study trips, Talk, touchy feely, or just in quiet conversation together. You have forged bonds here that will become lifelong friendships, which will nurture and sustain you in the years ahead. Take a moment to show your appreciation for one another.
Sitting behind me on the stage is a group of faculty who represent the more than 200 tenure line faculty and practitioners who have been your teachers, coaches, mentors, study trip companions, career advisors, and so much more. I would ask the faculty to stand so that your students can express their appreciation.
And at various locations throughout the amphitheater are staff from the MBA, MSx, and PhD Programs. Without their tireless efforts on behalf of all of us, none of us would be celebrating here today. I ask the staff to stand if they are not already standing, wherever they are, and be recognized.
I have left the most important for last. Each of you has been supported by family and friends as you will be throughout your lives. They have provided encouragement, validation, love, and, yes, in many cases financial support too! While we will hand the diplomas to you, you know that in parentheses after your name belong the names of those who have nurtured you and supported you along the way. This is your opportunity to stand and say “thank you” to your friends and family who are celebrating your mutual accomplishment with you.
These days it is difficult to venture into the world of social media without encountering an article or discussion about whether Silicon Valley is in the midst of another bubble. Whatever your opinion on that matter, it is hard to dispute that the GSB is itself in a bit of a bubble.
It is a different kind of bubble of course. It is a bubble in which you have the space to learn and to explore, to discover incredible classmates and distant countries, to dream about the future and imagine your place within it, and not just to explore without but also within on a journey of self-discovery.
So it is a good bubble – but a bubble nonetheless. Today, alas, as you walk across the stage to receive your diplomas you leave the bubble and enter what during your time at the GSB you have referred to as “the real world”.
As I hand you your diploma and shake your hand, this is what I will be hoping for you in the years ahead:
First, that you will take with you the aspirational part of you that we have tried to nurture during your time at the GSB. The cornerstone of the GSB reads: “Dedicated to the things that haven’t happened yet and to the people who are about to dream them up.” You are those people. Dream big and hold onto those dreams. Change lives, organizations and the world.
Second, that you will live your own life. You only have one, and it is yours to live. You will encounter many people who will have opinions about what is right for you, about the path you “should” follow. You will be tempted by opportunities that will look good rather than be good. Ask yourself what YOU really want and have the courage to pursue it.
Third, and this may seem odd coming from a business school dean, but I hope you will keep your career in perspective. There were many great viewpoints in this year’s VFTT but I have to say I agree in particular with a point that Mitt Romney made. In the end we don’t have that much control over the world around us and how it impacts our lives. The vagaries of the global economy and politics will buffet you and, unfortunately, in the real world you will encounter ill-intentioned people who mean you harm. But your true friends and family will always be there for you and that is what will make the difference. Always remember what is really important.
Finally, I hope that you will stay connected to and support one another. I have the privilege of meeting with numerous alumni across many, many graduating classes all over the world. I am always so pleased that they have remained bonded over time and that they are always there for one another. Look to each other for confidence, courage, and strength, and stay connected to us as well.
Our graduation speaker today is an alumnus whose passion for business, social change, and family make him a quintessential GSBer.
Tom Steyer graduated from the Stanford GSB with an MBA in 1983. Tom was an Arjay Miller scholar and I am so pleased that at age 99, Arjay is with us today to recognize this year’s Arjay Miller scholars. Please join me in a round of applause for Arjay!
Tom went on to Goldman Sachs where he worked in the risk arbitrage department under Robert Rubin. In January 1986 he founded Farallon Capital Management, a pioneer in the practice of “absolute return” investing, a strategy that aims to produce a positive absolute return regardless of the directions of financial markets.
In 2010 Tom announced that he was turning his attention to having a broader social impact. He is actively engaged in climate politics through his NextGen Climate political organization, and works to promote economic development and environmental protection in California and across the country.
Tom is a former member of the GSB’s Advisory Council and a current member of the Stanford Board of Trustees. Together with his wife Kat Taylor who is a Stanford JD/MBA from the class of ’86, he was instrumental in the creation of the joint business and law school Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, which examines issues of funding and public policy surrounding alternative energy. Tom and Kat also funded the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy, which provides research grants for alternative energy innovations in wind, solar and advanced transmission technologies.
Tom and Kat joined Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates and other high-wealth Americans in the “Giving Pledge,” a promise to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable and nonprofit activities during their lifetimes. They created and funded the Oakland-based Beneficial State Bank and Foundation, which provides loans and banking services to underserved small businesses, communities and individuals in California and along the west coast.
It is a pleasure to have Tom with us today. Please join me in giving a warm GSB welcome to Tom Steyer!