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Speech at Darden Graduation

Dean Robert F. Bruner

Welcome to everyone, especially to the friends and guests of our graduating students. Some of you have come from the other side of town; some from the other side of the world. You all bring warmth and gravity to this event. It is thrilling to look out on our vibrant and colorful Darden community, full of talent and enthusiasm, buzzing with the excitement of friendships and futures.

This is always a special time for those of us on the faculty and staff, as we pause to recognize the accomplishments of another class of MBAs. You are each individual and special, and teaching you – or more appropriately – helping you develop yourselves, is not just our institutional mission. For many of us, it is our personal mission and great pleasure. Thank you for spending this time with us.

Given the depth of relationships we have built in this short time, our pride in your accomplishments is mixed with the poignancy of separation. Were this event designed for the benefit of faculty and staff who work here, it would be held in the fall, with color bursting out after a summer of growth and richness, marking the completion of nature’s cycle.

But this is an event for you and your families. Like so much at Mr Jefferson’s university, we have a special name for it, ‘Final Exercises’. I find this an unsatisfying label, as if today were one last test. The more conventional term, ‘Graduation’, is equally unsatisfying, coming from the Latin for step, as if your time at Darden were simply another hurdle. I prefer the phrase ‘Commencement’, a starting. So it is appropriate that we hold it in the spring with all the variety and beauty of nature promising a bright next stage in your careers.

This has certainly been a bright year in the life of the Darden School.

In virtually every dimension, admissions, placements, research, teaching, innovation, and satisfaction, we have improved—not merely by a little, but by a lot. We believe we are making a difference in the world of ideas and the world of management.

I daresay that it has been a bright two years for you as well. Many of you have found partners; a number of you have married. And as the ceremony we are about to have will demonstrate, some of you have made babies, demonstrating the truth in the slogan of the Commonwealth of Virginia, “Virginia is for lovers.” Many of you came to Darden for professional advancement. On this score, you have fared well too: 88 percent of you have received job offers and, if the pattern follows previous years, all who want jobs with corporations (that is, those other than pursuing entrepreneurial projects or on maternity leave) will have them within 90 days—last year, Darden ranked at the top of all business schools in placement and seems poised to do so again this year. And the preliminary evidence is that the average of your annual compensation has increased by an average of 81 percent, compared to what you were earning before you came to Darden. That’s value creation.

Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election by asking, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” You are demonstrably better off than you were when you applied to Darden in the fall of 2003.

The more important question is, are you better? To be better is to be a deeper person, more nuanced, more agile in the face of adversity, more effective as a leader, a richer communicator, a finer analyst, more action-oriented, more adept at negotiating the moral traps of professional life, and so on. In large measure, the entire Darden MBA program has been oriented to making you better, not just better off.

But this is a commencement, not a final exercise. Our real goal is to send you on with greater momentum to continue your development as a leader and as a person: passionate, open, responsive, committed to change, and aspiring for greatness. Better today, and even better tomorrow.

I believe that all great work starts from the heart. Graduate school may seem like it has a very great deal to do with the head: with analysis, critical thinking, careful expression, and so on. This is necessary but not a sufficient condition for great work. All great work starts from the heart. And we have a lot of heart here at Darden. We see it all around us, especially as we celebrate your accomplishments and anticipate your futures.

Joining me on the stage are some prime examples of the heart of Darden. We have some of the senior leaders of the school:

  • Ronald T. Wilcox is the Chair of the Academic Standards Committee that vets the progress of our students and certifies their readiness to receive the MBA degree.
  • James R. Freeland is Associate Dean for Faculty and Sponsors Professor of Business Administration.
  • Patricia H. Werhane is Ruffin Professor of Business Ethics and Chair of the Doctoral Program Operating Committee.

Also joining me are the Class Marshalls of the Class of 2006, Matthew McBrady and Peter Rodriguez. They were elected by a vote of the class that signifies the esteem that this class holds for these colleagues. This is one means by which students recognize teaching excellence at Darden.

With them is the honorary Faculty Marshall of the Class of 2006, R. Jack Weber. Professor Weber has retired this year after 34 years on the Darden faculty. He has been an extraordinary contributor to the success of the Darden enterprise. His teaching, often in concert with his wife, Carol, has unlocked the spirit of leadership and the human potential for thousands of executives.

These Faculty Marshalls are prime examples of what heart adds. It adds passion for the point of view of the learner, and enthusiasm for the subject and the classroom experience. And heart adds warmth. Carl Jung said,

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.

These Faculty Marshalls are rare and wonderful examples of the heart of Darden. In earlier commencements a number of faculty members have sat where these colleagues now sit and have harbored a sentiment that they probably feel: the heart of this professional community makes this kind of performance possible: it includes long teaching group meetings and late nights to prepare for teaching; it includes extended outreach to students here at the Darden grounds and elsewhere; it includes the zeal to get the latest idea worked into the course; and it includes the focus on the learner and the joy in his or her success. And it includes dogged stamina: I note that some of our staff arose at 3:00 a.m. this morning to prepare for our celebrations. The high touch, high tone, and high octane experience we offer is not possible without a great deal of heart. As your Dean, I celebrate today’s showing of heart, and I pledge to work relentlessly to grow the heart of Darden.

As you leave these grounds, I urge you to focus on continuing to become better, not merely becoming better off. To be better requires you to start your work from the heart, from your values, passions, and enthusiasms. Know where your heart is as you approach your work. If your heart is not in your work, get out, move on until you find it in your work. Link your head and your heart. The learning you started during these past two years will become a powerful resource when harnessed in the service of your values, passions, and enthusiasms.

With pride, the faculty and staff of the Darden School gather here to bestow degrees and honors in recognition of the great qualities of the Class of 2006. Carry those qualities into the world beyond. Continue the work we have commenced together.

May 2006, The Darden School