|
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Guynn Speaks
at Oglethorpe Commencement
ATLANTA – Jack Guynn, president and chief executive officer of
the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, spoke at Oglethorpe
University's 2005 commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 7, 2005, on
the Academic Quadrangle. Degrees were awarded to 222 students.
Guynn delivered the commencement address, "Make a Difference,"
and was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Named one of the “Most Influential Atlantans” by the Atlanta
Business Chronicle in 2003, Guynn has been president and CEO of the
Federal Reserve and a member of Oglethorpe’s Board of Trustees since
1996. Guynn, who completed the Harvard Business School’s Program for
Management Development, holds a master’s in Industrial Management
from Georgia Tech and a bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering from
Virginia Tech. He has been with the Federal Reserve since 1964,
having responsibility for monetary policy, bank supervision and
regulation over a six-state area.
Oglethorpe University Commencement
May 7, 2005
"Make a Difference"
Delivered by Jack Guynn
Let me say how honored I am to speak to all of you on this very
special occasion. And I also want to add that I am extremely
grateful to receive an honorary degree from this great institution.
Thank you for your generosity.
As I begin, I want to join others in acknowledging everything
Larry Large has done for this institution in his nearly six years as
president. As a leader, Larry has been tireless and visionary, and
he leaves Oglethorpe stronger and even better positioned for the
future. Thanks, Larry, for all you’ve meant to us.
This morning we are here in this beautiful setting to salute the
members of Oglethorpe University’s Class of 2005. And to all of you
who are receiving undergraduate or graduate degrees today, I want to
offer my personal congratulations. You have very good reason to
celebrate.
In thinking about what I wanted to say to you this morning, I
kept reflecting on your Oglethorpe motto. You know how it goes:
“Make a life. Make a living. Make a difference.” I am confident
you’ll be successful at the first two of those as you each choose
different paths for making a life and making a living. But I would
like to share some of my thoughts about the third part of that
motto—a phrase I’m told President Large suggested adding—the idea of
truly making a difference.
There are countless ways to make a difference, both big and
small. Parents, grandparents and friends of today’s graduates have
made an enormous difference in the lives of the students receiving
diplomas. I’m sure you’ll savor this moment, knowing that, in the
years ahead, these students will reap many dividends from the
investments that you have made in their lives and in their
education.
There are others who also have made a profound difference in the
lives of these new graduates. I especially want to recognize the
faculty—the heart and soul of this great institution—for leaving
today’s graduates with a vast endowment by teaching them to think,
to challenge, and to ask tough questions.
And—most importantly—to the students, as you leave this sanctuary
and go about your lives and your careers, I can’t tell you what
twists and turns lie ahead. But recent experience suggests that you
should prepare yourselves for almost anything. When many of you
began your studies as freshmen four years ago, we had not yet seen
the horror of September 11, 2001. And during your time here, the
United States has fought two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition to geopolitical instability, today’s graduates also
face an economy that is undergoing profound change. In the past few
years, we have seen a recession followed by an economic recovery
along with wave after wave of business scandals. And we have seen
China, India and other economies become powerful competitors in
fields such as software development and manufacturing.
Despite recent setbacks and the emergence of new competitive
pressures, our economy is incredibly adaptive and resilient. And I
am confident that as individuals you too will adjust to the job
market’s constantly shifting matrix of challenges and opportunities.
If you want an idea of how quickly trends change in our job
market, look at the technology boom and bust of the past decade.
After about five years of rapid growth during the late 1990s, many
high-paying technology jobs disappeared. But in recent years we have
seen the emergence of new employment opportunities, especially in
booming fields such as health care, education, residential
construction and professional services.
From the outside, I can imagine this turbulent job market can
look pretty daunting. The good news for today’s graduates is that
you have chosen wisely by pursuing higher education. The vast
majority of quality jobs in the future will place a premium on
knowledge and creativity, attributes that you have strengthened
during your years at Oglethorpe.
Whatever options you choose, you have a solid foundation for
making a difference. And as someone who has walked a most unlikely
career path, I want to encourage you to embrace unforeseen
opportunities. Some 40 years ago, I was a gung-ho, green-as-grass
industrial engineer coming out of Virginia Tech. Instead of going to
work for a manufacturing business like many of my classmates, I
accepted a job with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, excited by
the prospect of working as a technology pioneer on the banking
frontier. Now, after a series of very different jobs within the Fed,
I find myself sitting at the Fed’s Open Market Committee
policymaking table with Alan Greenspan and others, who are, for the
most part, career Ph.D. economists.
One of the most interesting parts of my job as a central banker
is the chance to interact regularly with leaders from across our
region to discover from a grassroots perspective what’s really going
on in our economy. And in doing so, I often find myself reflecting
on what distinguishes those leaders I admire most—not necessarily
those who’ve amassed fortunes or garnered fancy titles—but those who
really make a difference. I want to describe to you four fundamental
characteristics that I associate with these men and women who have
risen above the crowd:
• The first characteristic is hard work. You already have
demonstrated that you know how to apply yourself because you have
made it to graduation—and that’s great. But to make a difference in
our changing world, you will need to continue to sweat the details.
As I mentioned earlier, evidence suggests that jobs in the future
will continue to change and will become more demanding—not less—as
new technologies evolve and our global economy becomes even more
competitive. Related to this idea of hard work, I want to take this
opportunity to shoot down one of my least favorite sayings, and that
is: “It’s not how hard you work; it’s who you know.” Whoever offers
you that trite expression as advice is doing you a real disservice.
Maybe you can open doors by dropping the right name. But you can’t
get one step toward the top by coasting or taking short cuts. I
can’t name anyone who has been successful over the long run just
because of personal or family connections. The cold, hard truth
always has been and remains: there is no substitute for hard work.
• Second, truly successful men and women are committed to
learning. They made their college graduation the end of the
beginning of their education, not the end. Lawyers and school
teachers are required to go back for continuing education credits.
And I sure hope my doctor is continuing to learn about new
treatments. Today’s employees at all levels are pleading for
training opportunities—on both company and personal time. If you
want to really make a difference in your workplace, make it a habit
to hone your skill and find new ways to contribute.
Before I was promoted into my current job as the president of the
Atlanta Fed, Chairman Greenspan and the other six Fed Governors in
Washington had to approve my selection. Well, I’ve told you about my
background in engineering, so you can imagine that I was pretty
intimidated when I sat down for a formal interview with this group
of distinguished PhD. economists. I’ll never forget my hour with
Janet Yellen, a Fed Governor at that time and one of the most
renowned economists in America. Janet said, “Jack, my advice to you
is, buy a good book on macroeconomics and read it cover to cover.”
She was right. I faced a steep learning curve. But years later I got
to return the favor when Janet was named president of the San
Francisco Fed, with a chance to use her economics training as a
monetary policy maker but with some very new and unfamiliar
responsibilities for managing a large, complex organization. When I
heard about her new job, I called her and said, “Janet, my advice to
you is, buy a good book on management and read it cover to cover.”
Janet and I enjoy joking with each other, but the message is that,
no matter how far you go, you never get to a point where you’ve
learned all you need to know.
• The third point I want to stress is that your chances of
success increase significantly when you show a genuine interest in,
and respect for, the contributions of others. Leaders who make a
difference understand that the higher you go in your chosen
profession, the more you realize that your success and the success
of your colleagues are intertwined. Real leaders aren’t afraid to
hire others who are smarter or more talented than they are, and they
freely delegate responsibility and share credit. The bottom line: If
you genuinely care about the people around you and invest yourself
in their careers, they in turn will help you along the way.
• Fourth, I can’t say enough about ethics. Our market economy is
driven by self-interest, which is a powerful and constructive force.
But in recent years we have seen reports—one after another—of
business leaders who manipulated financial statements, who deceived
investors or who abused their authority for personal gain. Tragedies
such as Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia impose huge costs on our
economy while eroding the very foundation of our marketplace, which
is trust. What does this mean for today’s graduates? Let me say that
a successful career in any field requires you to weave ethics into
the fabric of who you are. Ethics is about more than just following
rules. It’s about doing the right thing, even when nobody’s looking.
Shortly after his first inauguration, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
spoke to the 1932 graduating class at Oglethorpe. That speech to
your predecessors took place during the Great Depression, and the
new president delivered a call to change that resonates across the
decades. He said that day, and I quote: “Yours is not the task of
making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world
which you will find before you.”
Fortunately, today’s graduates face an economy that is nothing
like it was in Roosevelt’s first term. Our economic outlook is
solid. We live in the most dynamic economy in the world, and your
possibilities are limited only by your imagination. But regardless
of unexpected events that are surely ahead, and regardless of the
particular path you chose, you will advance your own cause
immeasurably if you demonstrate the characteristics of success that
I just mentioned—hard work; dedication to lifelong learning; respect
for others; and commitment to ethics.
And as you make your life and make your living, be sure that your
ultimate goal is to make a difference. More than ever, we need you
to share your intelligence and your imagination, your talent and
your enthusiasm. And as you apply your newly honed powers of
reasoning, be skeptical, not cynical. It’s easy to stand back and
criticize, but I want to call on you to step forward and respond to
the world’s many problems. If something is broken, show us how to
fix it. If something works, show us how to make it better.
In closing, I want to echo President Roosevelt’s message from
many years ago by challenging today’s graduates to really “make a
difference” by helping to remake the world. You’ll know when you’ve
succeeded in this endeavor, and I can assure you there is no greater
satisfaction. Again, my congratulations.
###
|
