这是我今天上午在长江商学院MBA08班毕业典礼上的演讲。这个演讲使得我错过了北京的第一场雪，并且用了将近10个小时才回到雪后的北京。

 

非常抱歉，他们要求用英文演讲，因此只有英文版。我实在没有时间把这么长的文字翻译成中文了。

 

虽然有稿，但我上午绝大多数时间里是脱稿状态，所以—如果和录音比较的话—实际讲的和这里刊出的文本会有一些出入。

 

按照惯例，前面两段都是玩笑，仅仅为了活跃气氛。我对长江、北大、中欧的学习氛围没有质疑。

 

因为篇幅较长，新浪对文本字数又有限制，因此可能需要分几次登出。对给您带来的阅读不便表示歉意。

 

本来没有题目，但学校那边非要让我起个题目，所以就有了《欢迎回到地球》。

 

 

Dear Class of 2009, Parents, and Friends:

 

It is always an honor to be invited to speak at the commencement of a prestigious school like Cheung Kong (Changjiang).  To invite an investment banker to give the commencement address this year after what happened on Wall Street last year is like inviting Bin Laden to your Halloween party.  So now I know you have guts…or maybe you just don’t know better. 

 

Actually what’s more scary than inviting Bin Laden to your Halloween party is to buy those shares listed on ChiNext at 1 p.m. last Friday…and I hope you weren’t part of that.

 

Today is a big day for all of you.  Because after today, you won't have to pretend that you are actually trying to learn something while networking with your classmates.  Well, the good news is that those folks at Beida or ZhongOu are not doing much learning OR networking, so you still come out alright.

 

When I wrote this address, I had to save it into a folder on my computer.  First, I thought about creating a new folder with a title of something like “Future” but decided it was too much of a cliché.  I also thought about saving the file in my “Marketing” folder.  But that wouldn’t be appropriate either since the only thing I am trying to sell to you is a reason to spend the next 20 minutes in this room as opposed to getting drunk ahead of your peers. 

 

Finally, I decided to place the document under a folder entitled “Personal”.  I want to send each of you a “personal” message, a message that is so “personal” that it has to do with your bodies.

 

…Well, for both female and male.

 

Eyes

 

Let’s start with your eyes.

 

Yes, you need to use your eyes to look into the future, seeing hopefully just a few miles farther than most of your peers.  You need to use them to discover opportunities and uncover danger.  You also need to use them identify issues and problems that you will hopefully become a part of their solutions.

 

But most importantly, I want to encourage you to use your eyes to see the positive side of life. 

 

The world as we know sucks in many, many ways.  There is poverty and major inequity in many places; the environment is getting worse; the job market is as tough as it could be; and guess what, your future boss may be the biggest idiot on earth…

 

However, every coin has two sides.  Look at the bright and the positive side.  The journey of life is like a bumpy flight, and being positive and genuinely optimistic is the best gift your can give to yourself.  It will not only help enhance your chance of success, but will also make you a happier person, which—at least in my view—is the ultimate success for each one of us.

 

I still remember the day when I received a rejection letter from Harvard College while I was still going through my senior year at Punahou School in Hawaii.  Prior to that I had been admitted to Macalester College in Minnesota with full scholarship, but Harvard of course held more prestige and appeal in name. 

 

When I brought the bad news to my host Mother, who had been taking care of me, she did not look upset for a second.  “Well, this IS good news for you,” she said, “because you can always go to Harvard for graduate school, but this is probably the only chance for you to experience a truly liberal arts education.  Plus, if you can survive the brutal winter in Minnesota, you can survive America!”

 

Two years later, I transferred to Harvard from Macalester after my sophomore year in college, and to this day, I have zero regret over spending the prior two years at Macalester.  Steve Jobs, in his commencement address a few years back, said that life is about connecting all the dots.  Well, Minnesota was an important dot for me.  But more importantly, from my conversation with my host mother, I learned how to deal with setbacks and failures and cast them into a positive light.

 

 

Mouths

 

Now let’s talk about your mouths. 

 

Yes, you may use them to express and articulate your views and perspectives.  You may use them to support a rightful course such as environment and rights to individuals.  You may use them to admit and take responsibility for a mistake. You may even use them to crack a joke to lighten up a conversation.

 

But there are two things I want to mention in particular.  First, use them to state a promise…and make sure to keep it.

 

Just two days ago, Huayi Brothers went public with a resounding success, hitting a total market cap of an unbelievable RMB 12 billion.  Three years ago, I was representing a buy-side client to acquire the majority stake in Huayi Brothers Music.  At a lunch with the buyer, Wang Zhongjun agreed in principle to the deal we helped crafted.  Subsequently, however, we learned that he took a lot of beating from his board members including people like Ma Yun for agreeing to relinquishing control on the music business.  For a few days, I thought the deal was in jeopardy.  Finally, at a meeting with the CEO of the buyer, Zhongjun said—“The thing I hate most now is my hand.  I should not have shaken hands with you on this deal.  But since I did, I am going to stand by my promise, and let’s move forward.”

 

To this day, every time I hear negative comments on Zhongjun, I talked about his commitment to keeping his promise.  I think it is no coincidence that Huayi Brothers became the first privately held entertainment companies in China to have snapped a successful IPO in the A-share market.

 

Second, you should always remember to use your mouths and words—and more importantly, your actions—to encourage and support others around you.

 

I don’t know if you have heard this story about the frogs—

 

A group of frogs were hopping through the woods, when two of them fell into a deep pit. All of the other frogs gathered around the pit to see what could be done. When they saw how deep the pit was, they agreed that it was hopeless and told the two frogs in the pit that they should prepare themselves for their fate.

 

Unwilling to accept this, the two frogs began to jump with all of their energy. Some of the frogs shouted into the pit that it was hopeless. The two frogs continued jumping as hard as they could.

 

Finally, after a couple hours, one of the frogs took message from his fellows. Tired and disheartened, he quietly gave up the effort, laid down at the bottom of the pit, and died as the others looked on in helpless grief. The other frog continued to jump with every ounce of energy he had…And Bang! He finally made it out of the pit. 

 

Amazed, the other frogs celebrated his miraculous freedom and then gathering around him asked, "Why did you continue jumping when we told you it was impossible?" Reading their lips, the frog explained to them that he was deaf, and that when he saw their gestures and shouting, he thought they were cheering him on. What he had perceived as encouragement inspired him to try harder and to succeed against all odds.

 

Class of 2009, I am in full belief that many of you will become leaders in your organizations someday.  As leaders, the most daunting challenge is to inspire and motivate your people so that they can make even greater efforts and contribution. I hope you will remember this story about the frogs.  A few cheerful words, an encouraging look, and a pat on the back can go a very long way and make a big difference.

 

Just last night, we learned the sad news about Chen Lin, a well-known singer, who jumped to her death.  It was speculated that she had some problems with her relationships.  Well, if people around her had given her a little more care and encouragement, perhaps the tragedy could have been averted.

  

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