|
Dean of Wharton School
Speech of Thomas Robertson, Dean, Wharton School to the Graduating Class of 2008.
I want to begin by thanking Dean Rao and Rajat for inviting me here today. It is very much an honour and a great pleasure to say a few words here. I am also very pleased to share the stage with our honoured guest, Mr K P Singh.
Years ago, in a similar ceremony, it was outdoors, in the course of the event the wind picked up and blew the speaker’s notes away and that’s when he received the loudest applause. What that made me realise was that perhaps the speeches should be short. I will try to abide by that.
First of all I would like to congratulate the graduates. That’s the obvious thing to do. You have your letters signed by the Deans but I wanted to be here in person and congratulate you. Congratulations! Now it’s up to the graduates to turn around and congratulate their parents and grandparents, siblings, children, friends, spouses, partners, relatives, and mentors who put faith in you, who lent you encouragement and support. You should thank them.
The Wharton school is very proud of partnering with the ISB and I bring the best wishes. First of all from Professor Raju who is here with us on the stage and who is our main contact with the ISB, who came with me from far away, arriving this morning. We have had about 21 faculties here in the last year. In Philadelphia they are all very delighted to be doing research and teaching with members of the faculty at ISB and to be associated with the ISB students.
It’s been five years since I have been in India and its wonderful to see how things have changed. India is expected to gain prominence in the world, GDP is now about six percent of the world’s GDP, and is expected to grow to 16 or 18 percent, the ISB is part of that transition and it may be leading the country in increasing its students from 120 to 400.We have heard from one of the speakers that it is already 421, congratulations again!
This is the day of triumph. You are among the best and brightest. I had the pleasure of working with American President Jimmy Carter; his view of the world is that one of the greatest challenges of the world is the mal-distribution of income in the world. One half of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. Foreign aid is necessarily not an answer as the aid is not used properly. Countries which get foreign aid do not use it effectively because they lack the management talent, capability, systems, and the sense of entrepreneurship to be able to use those funds. I found working with President Carter, that you can help the worlds’ poor by applying the concepts of management you have learnt at the ISB. You combine your natural talents with the education you have gained, I am confident that you will achieve economic advancement. You might wonder how you will define your success in your career, I think you should do it not by economic fulfillment but also by the extent you will help the poor and others who are less fortunate.
Opportunity comes with obligation. You have fantastic opportunities ahead of you. We look to you as among the best and the brightest MBAs throughout the world. We know you are going to succeed at a personal level, I think there is a major role in enhancing the world economy. You are too talented and too full of promise to achieve anything less.
We look to the graduates of the ISB to provide leadership for economic and social enterprise, top paid jobs, to deliver shareholder value, to fulfill consumer needs and to nurture human capital in all of its diversity. We look to you to reflect business not the way it is today but the way it’s going to be. You must embrace change and constantly reinvent yourself. Reinvent the world of business that lies ahead.
30 years ago Mohammad Younus looked at the conditions in Bangladesh and when everyone saw despair, he saw hope. He developed a unique marvel of micro finance which is such a powerful force in developing not only Bangladesh but notions of micro finance around the whole world, in bringing about economic growth. The Nobel Prize followed much later. Professor Younus saw the chance for creativity and imagination. In the Professor’s words “my experience of working in Grameen Bank has given me faith, an unshakable faith in the creativity of human beings.” You leave this superb school, with an unsurpassed education, you leave with the energy that changes lives. Dr Younus’ words can apply to each of you. In course you will take time to consider the creativity that lies within you, you may be the one to see opportunity not only in Bangladesh but throughout the world to make this a better place, the ISB faculty has confidence in you. Great things are expected of you. It’s my sincerest hope that you nurture the talent that you have and accept the manner of leadership given to you and the responsibilities that go with that for the economic and social leadership in the world.
My best wishes to you and thank you.
|
