{"51181":{"#nid":"51181","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Foley Talks to Summer Grads about Success","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Graduation Speech\u003Cbr \/\u003EJim Foley\u003Cbr \/\u003EAugust 1, 2008\u003C\/p\u003E\nOn Success\n\u003Cp\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPresident Schuster, thank you for that kind introduction.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHonored platform guests, colleagues, graduating students, families and guests.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI asked a friend \u201cWhat makes a good graduation talk?\u201d\u00a0 He said, only partly in jest: short, short, short. I would have preferred a different answer \u2013 memorable, memorable, memorable.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELet me give both a try.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI want to talk with you about \u2013 success.\u00a0 You probably have that on your minds right now \u2013 after all, you\u2019re graduating from Georgia Tech. You\u2019re getting out. You\u2019re a success.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019d like to address three questions:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHow might you define success for the rest of your lives?\u00a0 \u003Cbr \/\u003EWhat can we learn from how others view success?\u00a0\u00a0 \u003Cbr \/\u003EHow do I, Jim Foley, define success?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo learn how you, the graduating class, might define success, I asked students in my spring classes \u201cWhat does it mean to be successful?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETheir replies were thoughtful. Let me tell you what my students did and did not say. They did not say they wanted to have a fast expensive car. They did not say they wanted to be rich. In fact, quite a few explicitly rejected that as being successful.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYou Georgia Tech students are not just smart, you\u2019re wise.\u00a0 You knew, wisely, what the author Thomas Wolfe said: \u201cYou have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMy own philosophy is \u201cDon\u2019t seek out compliments and publicity \u2013 earn them, and they will come to you.\u201d\u00a0 There is a simpler version of this: \u201cmodesty is a virtue.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENow, what did my students say?\u00a0 Many said they wanted to be happy, have good friends and a loving family.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThey understood implicitly what the Nobel Prize winning medical missionary and philosopher Albert Schweitzer said a long time ago: \u201cSuccess is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents often ask me, \u201cShould I take this job, or that job?\u201d My standard advice is, \u201cGo where your heart takes you.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGo where your passion lies.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMost successful people truly love what they are doing. Take a job that doesn\u2019t excite you, and being successful will be really tough.\u00a0 Your lack of excitement and energy will be sensed by others and will likely defeat you, just as your passion for your work will help you.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI call this passion \u201cThe Fire in the Belly\u201d and often talk about it with my colleagues as we review faculty and graduate student applicants.\u00a0 A few years ago I was apparently using the phrase so much, that when a group of faculty colleagues and I were celebrating a success, they gave me pictures of an oriental fire-bellied toad, a European fire-bellied toad, a fire-bellied newt and a fire-bellied lizard.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI didn\u2019t realize there were so many fire-bellied creatures like me!\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMany of your fellow students simply talked about \u201cachieving goals.\u201d A few of the goals were specific:\u00a0 invent something important; be recognized in my profession.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt was as though they had heard J.C. Penney, founder of a large chain of variety stores, say: \u201cGive me a stock clerk with a goal, and I\u0027ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals, and I\u0027ll give you a stock clerk.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMany of my students\u2019 goals were much more about the kind of life they wanted to lead than about specific end results.\u00a0\u00a0 In some way, they recognized that success in life is more about the journey, about HOW you conduct yourself, about how you lead your life, no matter the final destination.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat about my own view of success? It has changed over the years.\u00a0 After reading Steven Covey\u2019s best selling Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, I was able to put my evolving notions of success into a context.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECovey talks about three stages we go through as we grow up: dependence, independence, interdependence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDependence \u2013 when I was a kid, I depended on my parents, as we all did.\u00a0 My goals were food, go swimming, play with my model trains, have fun.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIndependence \u2013 that\u2019s the \u201cknow it all\u201c stage, when we rebel, when we go off to college. We want to make our own way. My own independence stage lasted a long time. My goals were about me.\u00a0 Earn good grades. Graduate.\u00a0 Get a job.\u00a0 Get research funding. Write research papers. Publish research papers. Earn tenure. Be promoted. It was about me.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThen finally, there is interdependence \u2013 when we recognize and celebrate our mutual interdependencies \u2013 at work, in clubs, at home.\u00a0 When I finally got to this stage, probably in my late thirties, I began to say more and more to myself and to others:\u00a0 \u201cYour success is my success.\u201d If I can help you succeed, then I too will have succeeded.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI was saying it\u2019s no longer about me, it\u2019s about us; we\u2019re all in this together.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe sooner one gets to that stage, the better.\u00a0 I hope many of you are already there. At your age, I sure wasn\u2019t.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBy the way, the subtext here is that goals change over time, as we journey through life.\u00a0 That\u2019s O.K.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat I\u2019m saying is that the way I have chosen to define success for me, that is, the way I have chosen to lead my life, is by putting into practice \u201cyour success is my success.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOne way to think about \u201cYour success is my success\u201d is to recognize that we have all been mentored \u2013 by parents and friends, and in my case by my parents and wife and two daughters \u2013 and we have all been taught by teachers, coaches, and others \u2013 and they have all cheered us on to our successes.\u00a0 In fact, my wife is sitting right over there, rooting for me.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENo matter what our career, we can all cheer others on; we can all be mentors. In fact, we can all be teachers \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have to be in the classroom. It can be whenever a colleague or friend seeks help solving a problem.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn my case, having taught in the classroom, I can tell you that teaching helps not just the learner but also the teacher.\u00a0 Explaining a concept sharpens how well you understand it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf I had the privilege of teaching any of you who are graduating today, let me thank you right now for what you taught me with your questions in class, your test answers, your projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe logical conclusion to \u201cYour success is my success\u201d is to recognize that we did not get where we are without the help of others.\u00a0 Your success in graduating today comes not just from your own hard work but also from your teachers, mentors and parents. So I ask you now to take a moment to answer for yourself two questions:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHow will you thank those who helped you earn your Georgia Tech degree?\u003Cbr \/\u003EHow will you pay it forward to others?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThink about that for a moment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn closing, I\u2019d like to share with you two success lessons I learned from my Mom and Dad.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFrom Mom, I learned determination.\u00a0 Yes, you need to love what you are doing, you need that fire in the belly, but you also need determination to do what it is you have set out to do.\u00a0 Not a reckless \u201cdamn the torpedoes, full speed ahead\u201d but an inner strength and belief in yourself and your goals that keeps you going when times get tough.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s the same idea as the brick wall my friend Randy Pausch described in his \u201clast lecture\u201d \u2013 the brick wall is there to test your determination.\u00a0 To test how badly you want something.\u00a0 Determination can carry you a long way.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFrom Dad, I learned to be nice to everyone.\u00a0 He never talked about it with me, he just did it. For me, this means having a kind word for everyone \u2013 not just for President Schuster and my fellow deans and professors, but for the custodian, for the part time secretary, for the receptionist, and for the forlorn new student wandering around campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBe kind and thoughtful to others \u2013 it\u2019s one mark of the kind of person you are. It\u2019s one mark of the way you choose to lead your life.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESo, congratulations to each of you on your success in graduating from Georgia Tech. My hope for each of you is that your life will be a success in ways that matter most to you, just as mine has been and continues to be for me.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWell, that\u2019s it.\u00a0 I promised you this talk would be short \u2013 we can measure that right now by looking at our watches.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI also promised that I would do my best to make the talk memorable \u2013 that we can\u2019t measure right now.\u00a0 So I\u2019ll be at your 25th or 50th reunion with a pop quiz.\u00a0 See you then, graduates!\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInterim Dean Jim Foley gave the commencement address at the Summer 2008 Commencement before more than 500 graduates, their families and friends on August 1 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Click below to read the full text.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27154","created_gmt":"2010-02-09 21:40:49","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:33","author":"Louise Russo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2008-08-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2008-08-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}