[This is an excerpt of my remarks at today's graduation ceremony at Darden--somewhat augmented with notes and a definition.]
Wisdom 1.a.Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends; sometimes, less strictly, sound sense, esp. in practical affairs; opposite to folly.[1]
I will always carry a special affection for the Class of 2008. You are the first class admitted on my watch as Dean. Together we have seen a dramatic rise in the school—very positive developments in curriculum, placement, recruiting of faculty, admissions, research, and the capital campaign. You have made important contributions to the good momentum that the school now feels. Many of you have shown unusual leadership in respect to the five major initiatives in which the Darden community is now engaged: selectivity, diversity, sustainability, research, and globalization. You are activists. You have brought energy and new ideas to important issues facing our community. Compared to the preceding two graduating classes, you have spent more time engaging with the several deans at Darden, more time on my doorstep, in my office, and at my home. Someone said to a Dean, “It must be pretty lonely at the top,” to which the Dean replied, “Not as lonely as I thought.”
So, what have you learned from all of this? After two years of hard work (and a lot of money), what do you know? What does it mean to be a master of business administration? You’ve sure changed. Maybe it has been a change of perspective. Mark Twain said, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.”
I think that what you have learned and what mastery you have attained are ultimately about wisdom. As your Dean, my parting message to you today is that you have more wisdom to get—you’ve acquired some wisdom at Darden, but don’t stop.
Virtually every course offered some wisdom. Some courses, such as Hot Topics in Finance, or General Managers Taking Action are nothing but alumni telling you their wisdom—these courses are about street smarts, how to get things done effectively and efficiently. But you have to be present in a special way to get the wisdom. Indeed, one of the great early teachers of business administration argued that wisdom can’t be told—it can only be learned[2]. I have met some exceptionally wise 28-year olds, but generally, wisdom comes with age and experience.[3] This is not an appeal for just punching the clock and putting in your time—you must actually work at gaining wisdom. How should you do this?
The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, ranked “practical wisdom” as one of the four cardinal virtues, along with justice, fortitude, and temperance. While the other virtues help you choose the right ends, practical wisdom helps you choose the right means. The other virtues can’t exist without practical wisdom, and vice versa. Aristotle said that the person with practical wisdom is like an expert archer who hits the mark exactly. He said that the person who has practical wisdom is effective, acts in the right way, at the right time, with the right emphasis, with regard to the right persons, and with keen appreciation for the circumstances.[4] Learning how to act like this is very hard. Most people get it wrong—they blunder; they act mindlessly, they give up too easily, they start coasting once they’ve gotten close to the mark. Aristotle argued that practical wisdom cannot be learned just from general rules, concepts or books. You acquire it through practice. So Aristotle offered various points of advice toward gaining practical wisdom—two of these are most relevant to you today.
First, he said that you must acquire a vision of the sort of person you wish to be by the end of your life. He argued that growth in practical wisdom depends on recognizing the qualities of an exemplar and then adopting his or her habits. In this postmodern American culture[5], it is not popular to talk about exemplars and heroes. But they are vitally important to defining who you are, what you stand for, and what will be your direction. The saying is that “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
Second, Aristotle said that you must live the habits of your exemplar consistently to try to fulfill that vision. The issue here is consistency. Repetition is the first principle of all learning. Aristotle’s famous maxim was, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Getting practical wisdom, getting street smarts, then, is a matter of habits and exemplars.
So, what do you know? You know something; but you don’t know enough. To be a master of business administration is to understand this, to carry your classroom learning out into the world and augment it with street smarts or practical wisdom.
You don’t know it all. You must be humble. This is a tough message. But hey, if you’ve graduated from Darden, you must be tough people. Of that you can be proud.
I wish you Godspeed and great success. Go forward and grow in wisdom.
[1] Definition in Oxford English Dictionary, 1989.
[3] Aristotle wrote, “Whereas young people become accomplished in geometry and mathematics, and wise within these limits, prudent young people do not seem to be found. The reason is that prudence is concerned with particulars as well as universals, and particulars become known from experience, but a young person lacks experience, since some length of time is needed to produce it.” Nichomachean Ethics 1142.
[4] These points are paraphrased from Michael Novak, Business as a Calling: Work and the Examined Life (Free Press, 1996).
[5] Postmodernism is associated with irony, criticism, re-evaluation of the entire Western value system, and moral relativism.