A Look at Your Inner Mirror

Address to Certificate Recipients

by Stephen A. Greyser, Richard P. Chapman Professor
(Marketing/Communications), Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Stephen A. Greyser

Salvete omnes! Vos laudemus! (Greetings to all! Let us praise you!) As someone who first came to Harvard as a freshman more than 50 years ago, let me begin by extending greetings and congratulations to you all--and to your families and friends--on this very happy day. On this Commencement Day, you join the tens of thousands at Harvard who came before you to felicitous occasions such as this one. This is your day! And all who are sharing this day with you, from near and far, this is your day too.

I have great empathy for those who have earned their certificates today. Like you, I bridge the corporate and nonprofit worlds, as a member of two Harvard Business School (HBS) faculty groups--Marketing and Social Enterprise. You bridge profitmaking and nonprofit fields of study. At HBS we believe there is much to be learned--from both, by both. Some years ago I noted that "successful companies are market-driven, successful nonprofits are mission-driven, but the most successful nonprofits are mission-driven and market-sensitive." I trust you agree that this is a useful illustration of learning from both, for both.

As Dean Comeau mentioned, I have been fortunate to serve on corporate boards and also to be able to "give back" through board service to nonprofits. I have learned from both. A minor example: As someone who has worked with the top management of both the Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Red Sox, I know what a "homer" is at Fenway Park and also know what a "Homer" is at the Museum (Winslow Homer, that is).

Two Mirrors

A question: Did you look in the mirror this morning? Did you see a person about to receive a cherished engraved Harvard certificate of achievement? I hope so--because each of you is such a person.

Now a harder question. Have you taken this occasion to look at your inner mirror? Have you thought deeply about who you are? . . . where you've been? . . . and most important, where you're headed? Who you are. Where you've been. Where you are headed. And have you considered what your "Harvard experience" means to your responses to those questions. The inner mirror is my theme today.

Why? Because the symbol of achievement you have earned permits you, encourages you, and indeed even urges you to see that this day marks a true fork in the road of your lives. It is a time for serious reflection--about yourself.

Some of you (I know), many of you (I hope) have been to Boston's renowned Museum of Fine Arts. There you may have come across a famous painting by Paul Gauguin (whose death 100 years ago we commemorate this year). That painting is a metaphor for my questions. It is titled D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous? (Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?) It is an emotionally rich painting--made the more so for me some years ago when my Harvard undergraduate and MBA dual classmate, the late J. Carter Brown, then Director of Washington's National Gallery, interpreted it for me and thousands of others in his audio tour of a Gauguin retrospective exhibition.

Where Have You Come From?

First, "Where have you come from?" Look around you. You come from many lands (35 countries in fact), from diverse backgrounds, from different pre-Harvard experiences. You have pursued a variety of specialties here. Some of you have done your academic work full-time or close to it. Others have taken longer--juggling academic work with jobs. Some have had time to enjoy the Boston area, some not (or not yet). Today, however, you all have gathered together under a single tent.

A look at your inner mirror, however, may reveal a different answer to "Where have you come from?" These responses may be those of the heart . . . the mind . . . the soul. So where have you come from?

As I look out to you assembled here today, I am reminded of a little-known but poignant poem by Rolfe Humphries titled "Polo Grounds" (where the then-New York baseball Giants played before they moved to San Francisco). Let me quote a portion: "Time is of the essence . . . / The players [you] are the same age always, / But the man in the crowd [me] / is older every Season." That is one way I look at my own inner mirror--every Commencement Day since my first--before almost all of you were born.

What Are You Now?

"What are you now?" You are more than simply someone who now has an engraved certificate with "Harvard" at the top. Think about what you have learned. Let me suggest four areas of learning: information, analysis, decision-making ability, and professionalism.

• Information: You have been exposed to many facts and opinions, and have absorbed them (or most of them).
• Analysis: You have often put the information together and synthesized it to develop analytic frameworks and insights.
• Decision-Making Ability: You have learned how to blend facts and analysis in order to recommend and make more sensible decisions. Those who have studied cases know that improved and logical decision-making is an integral part of the process of role-playing and becoming better managers, whether in corporate or nonprofit settings.
• Professionalism: One of the core consequences of more information, better analysis, and improved decisionmaking is an attitude of professionalism in what you do. My hope is that this will be responsible professionalism--conducted with competence and with conscience.

You are all different from who and what you were when you embarked on the path of your Harvard studies. Think about this as again I invite you to look at your inner mirror, and find your authentic, deeper self.

In this respect, I ask you to look at your inner mirror and envision who and what you may yet be. Let me quote Buffy Sainte Marie: "You think I have visions [she said] / because I am an Indian. / I have visions because / there are visions to be seen."

I hope that in years to come you find time, and make time, to see and perhaps give voice to visions beyond your day-to-day activities.

Where Are You Going?

"Where are you going?" For many of you, the literal answer is "Back to the same place where you came from"--geographically or occupationally. For some it may be a new place. For all of you, however, what better time than now to look at your inner mirror and consider new directions, based on the new space that you and your mind now inhabit. This is a perfect time for reconsidering where you are going. If not tomorrow or Monday, soon. Let me hasten to say that I offer this as classic professorial advice: "Do as I say, not as I do." My own career can be characterized as "life in the same zip code" since I have been here at Harvard since I was a freshman and at HBS since I was an MBA student.

No matter where you are literally going, no matter what space you will now occupy, you will all be engaged in what I hope for you is an enhanced form of capital formation. For some it is economic capital, typically via business. For some, it is social capital, typically in the nonprofit or public sectors. For some, it is intellectual capital, typically in universities, but also in museums, as composers, as authors, and the like.

A great virtue of capital formation of all types is that it involves providing something for others. In business, that is goods and services. In the nonprofit sector, it is social service, or public enjoyment, or learning (such as in theaters or orchestral groups). In the academy it is knowledge for the present and future. I hope that each and all of you in your own ways will be able to contribute in the private and nonprofit sectors, and/or in the public sector.

Reflecting on Your Harvard Experience

On this special day, let me urge you to reflect again on what you have learned here, as well as from whom you learned it. What insightful classmate made an impact on you? What professor affected how you now think about part of your inner world? What course changed forever how you consider certain phenomena?

Beyond learning, what has been the nature of your Harvard experience? A few years ago, in an impressive Commencement morning speech, an undergraduate wise beyond his years spoke of four tribes, absorbing four kinds of experiences at Harvard.

The first group he considered confused: They don't know what they are doing or why they are doing it. Their motto: Veni, vidi, circumsteti (I came, I saw, I stood around).

He characterized a second tribe as seeking what they call "the good life" with a disregard for study and a high regard for fun. Their motto: Veni, vidi, bibi (I came, I saw, I drank).

A third group he described as having toiled hard, avoided excessive partying, and looked to a good life in the form of success tomorrow. Their motto: Veni, vidi, cepi (I came, I saw, I seized the opportunity).

A final tribe he saw as wanting to change people's lives, through reform or even revolution. (Remember, John Reed, a companion of the Russian Revolution, was a Harvard man.) Their motto: Veni, vidi, mutavi. (I came, I saw, I changed it.)

As you look at your inner mirror, I invite you to reflect on the mix of these four experiences--or conceptions of the Harvard experience. My wish for you in your future lives? No standing around, a generous measure of fun, lots of success, and some opportunity to change many lives for the better.

As you conclude your Harvard experience, I'd like to suggest something that is not hard to do. For those who often enter Harvard Yard from Mass. Ave. near Widener, you may have seen the famous Harvard gate over which is inscribed: "Enter, to grow in wisdom." I hope that has been true for you in your studies. Less frequently seen is the inscription as one exits from that gate (it's darker, there is ivy growing there). It says: "Depart, better to serve your country and your kind." A lofty inspiration, but a meaningful one.

Giving Thanks

When you looked in the mirror this morning, you actually saw only one person--yourself. But if you looked at your inner mirror today, you most likely saw many people--those who helped you get to this special day. Think of your parents, your siblings, your spouse, your closest friends. They too played a part in getting you to today. They may be as near as the person next to you, far away geographically, or even no longer in this world. Let me invite you to turn to those who are here, and thank them. And please pause to think of the others who are not here--or never will be with you again. And thank them in your hearts. And, may I say, think of those teachers and professors in your lives, who helped shape and influence your minds. Thank them, too. What better time, in the words of the Hebrew "she-he-cho-yonu" prayer, to thank all those who gave you life, who nurtured and sustained you, and who brought you to this day.

In closing, let me invoke the words of the legendary hero Aeneas, words provided by the Latin poet Virgil in the Aeneid. As you enjoy this day, and reflect on your Harvard experience, "Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit" (Perhaps it will be a pleasure to remember these things)--your times together here.

Now I leave you to the other pleasures of this day--and evening. I earnestly hope you will take some time--tomorrow and this weekend--to look at your inner mirror. As you disperse to many places, I hope each of you will ask yourself, as Gauguin did, in a very personal way: "Where have I come from? What am I? Where am I going?" In your answers, I hope you find some keys to proving that your Harvard experience has yielded more than simply an engraved piece of paper.

Pax vobiscum, and again, congratulations.

Stephen A. Greyser, Commencement Certificate Speaker