Well, that was fast.
Wharton graduation is this weekend and, as with many things in life, it felt ages away until it suddenly was tomorrow. I’ve got a lot of things to say about the past two years, the MBA experience in general, and what is next for me. There’ll be a time and a place for those kinds of posts (especially as I want to get back into a better writing habit as I re-enter the real world.) For now, I thought I would sign off from the Wharton experience with a short letter to my fellow graduates.
To my fellow Graduates,
There’s an inside joke in my family that I didn’t know where I wanted to go for undergrad but that I always knew where I wanted to go for grad school. My dad graduated from Wharton in 1991 and my whole life has been spent hearing stories about my parents’ time at Wharton. Growing up I saw the massive impact Wharton had on his career. He started a company with one of his classmates, his grad school buddies became my mentors, and we even would regularly go on family vacations with their respective families.
For me, Wharton was always a goal unto itself. I’ve always had a plan in life and Wharton is where that plan culminated. It was where the sidewalk ended.
Achieving a big goal like that is always a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Excitement to have reached the mountaintop and trepidation as you find yourself staring at the even larger mountain that is now in your path.
This trepidation was exacerbated by the state of the world two years ago. My classmates and I were getting acceptance letters and making big life decisions from within the confines of quarantines caused by an unprecedented global pandemic.
Our classes’ experience wasn’t a given. With the cloud of COVID looming, we didn’t really know what we were signing ourselves up for. I remember being nervous. I remember talking with my wife about whether this was an intelligent investment given all the uncertainty. I also remember believing that the sort of people who would be willing to make such a big life adjustment in the face of such uncertainty were EXACTLY the kind of people that I wanted to build relationships with. The kind of people who knew that there would be unknown challenges presented by the pandemic and who chose to take it upon themselves to make the most out of the situation anyways.
And make the most out of it we did. We learned a lot and laughed even more. We’ve traveled the world and built friendships that will last a lifetime, all while of course adhering to all the health guidelines of the University of Pennsylvania.
When I look back on where I was two years ago, the biggest surprise isn’t the things we did against the backdrop of a global pandemic. We all knew we would make this an amazing experience. The biggest surprise was that the true value of a Wharton MBA isn’t the things you do, but the people you become along the way.
I really believe that is true. Yes, there’s the golden stamp of approval on the resume, and the cushy post-graduation job, and the confidence of saying you went to one of the best schools in the world.
But so rarely in life do you get the opportunity to take a step back and to ask yourself the big questions. What do you want to do? Where do you want to do it? Who do you want to do it with? And most importantly, who do you want to be while you are doing it?
The reality is that if you’ve navigated your way to a school like Wharton you will likely achieve some baseline level of success (whatever that means to you). Does that mean we should feel entitled to our success? Absolutely not. But it does mean that questions about whether or not we will be successful aren’t especially interesting.
The far more interesting questions are how we will be successful? Doing what? And most importantly what kind of person we will be in the midst of that success?
That opportunity for self-reflection presents itself as a challenge for us going forward. To not think of our MBA experience as a self-enclosed moment in time. A perfect little snowglobe of memories and intellectual stimulation. The challenge instead is to think of it as a stepping stone.
Over the past two years, I’ve realized Wharton isn’t where the sidewalk ends. It’s not a destination unto itself, but simply a part of the journey.
I’ve also realized that if you spend your life chasing accolades and jobs and money, every mountaintop attained will simply leave you staring up at the next rung on the ladder.
I hope that you have experienced tremendous growth over the past two years.
Even more than that I hope that your growth won’t end when you collect your diploma.
Wharton has taught us that experiences are what we make of them.
But even more than that, Wharton has taught us that we are what we make of ourselves.
And that the journey of becoming the best version of ourselves is far more important than anything we may achieve along the way.
Good luck to you class of 2022.
Thanks for the memories.
Thanks for saying yes to a challenge in the face of so many unknowns.
And thanks for being a part of the most transformative two years of my life.
Ok, that was a bit cheesy. But just because it is cheesy doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Motivational graduation speeches are one of my favorite genres so I couldn’t help but try a hand at what I would say if given the chance. If you too are a fan of the genre, here are 1, 2, and 3 of my favorite all-time commencement speeches.
Until next time.
Journey before destination.