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At the risk of telling a personal story on a day that was meant for you all, let me briefly tell you about my maternal grandmother. She was one of 13 children in a western Kentucky farming family. She had an eighth-grade education in a one-room schoolhouse, heated by chunks of coal in an iron stove in the winter. That schoolhouse, and the crossroads where it stood, are long gone. 

My grandmother never learned to drive and never flew on an airplane. She never smoked, drank whiskey, played cards or bet on the horses. Despite this, she was one of the wisest people I’ve ever known. This time of year back in Kentucky and Tennessee is a glorious time, with the dogwoods and redbuds in bloom and the wild blueberries and blackberries getting ready to grow on the old fence rows and barn sides. 

When I was boy, whenever I was absolutely sure I was right about something—or furious with someone else, whose opinion I knew was wrong—my grandmother would say, “Now, Matthew, always remember: When blackberries is green, they’z red.”

When blackberries is green, they’z red. And she was right. A green, unripe blackberry is as red as any apple. 

Of course, what my grandmother was trying to tell me was, don’t be so sure you’re always right. The other person could see the world very differently from you and still be just as right as you are. Remembering this in these overly contentious times is one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned—and a critical one for you all as future leaders.

When my family and I first arrived at è����Ƶapp eight years ago, I became fascinated with the history and traditions of this institution. One of the more impressive lessons I learned was something I didn’t know a lot about before arriving here, and that was the history of service of our graduates. 

From the wars in the Pacific, Europe and Middle East to the philanthropic efforts that have become such a part of our culture in Dallas and the heart of Texas, Cox graduates have always stepped up when asked and sacrificed when others wouldn’t. It is that spirit I’d like our graduates to take with them. 

For you graduates, it’s time to understand that, once you walk out of here today, the rest of your lives will be measured by your willingness to accept duty and responsibility. It is now your time to answer that call.

We speak quite a bit at è����Ƶapp about respect and integrity. One of the things that most attracted me to the Cox School was the feeling of fairness, of honest discourse and the value placed on all people and perspectives—in understanding that “when blackberries is green, they’z red.” That’s RESPECT. 

Graduates, you’ve also had many conversations about INTEGRITY. We all know that, simply, if you have integrity, nothing else matters. And if you don’t have integrity—say it with me—nothing else matters. 

Duty calls on you to see societies as recipients of the fruits of your own successes and the benefactors of your future growth.

Today I’d like to speak to you about the third side of the Holy Trinity: RESPONSIBILITY, or as I’ve always thought about it, duty. Let me stress the importance to you, the graduates, in understanding your duty in engaging your companies, businesses and organizations in the growth of our societies. Too often, business leaders see people and markets as nothing more than profits and PE ratios, cost structures and dividends. Instead, duty calls on you to see societies as recipients of the fruits of your own successes and the benefactors of your future growth.

It is undeniable that the future of our country depends on the actions of business leaders, and our society depends on the next generation of leaders—you all sitting here today—to understand that you have a duty to nourish our society with the actions of your decisions.

You have a duty to nourish our society.

Today we run the risk of our business leaders becoming a distinct class within our society, followed around by C-suite paparazzi and protected by their successes from the economic and societal roadblocks everyday people face. This can be attributed to technology, college costs, challenges in our K–12 system, the pressures to generate short-term gains or any number of issues, but the fact remains that there is a growing divide between business leaders and the average citizen—not simply in income but in understanding the most basic of challenges to our communities. 

To address this, as the future leaders of business, you must possess two very important aspects of the human condition: compassion, because helping those in need is the right thing to do, and enlightened self-interest, because unless business leaders understand they must nourish the societies in which they live, those societies will no longer function in a manner that allows businesses to thrive—or this country to survive.

Think about this for a moment. We are living in world where a billion people live below the poverty line, where natural resources are under tremendous stress, where in developed nations like this one, the middle class is shrinking, and where increasingly we are seeing a greater percentage of the world’s wealth being held by a smaller percentage of the world’s populace. 

Like it or not, the smaller percentage that controls most of the future world’s wealth comprises people like those sitting here today. That’s OK, as long as we learn to give back.
So, what do you do? What is your duty as a Cox graduate?

Your duty is to make business an integral part of the fabric of our society. Not through the payment of corporate taxes, but through the action of entrepreneurial behavior that brings new jobs and opportunities to your communities, and through the philanthropic activities of your organizations that reinvest resources back into those communities when schools, cities and politicians fail. It’s not about wealth redistribution. It’s about creating opportunities and exhibiting global stewardship. 

Your duty is in understanding the difference between making something cool versus making something of worth. 

It’s being confident with a personal introspection by asking yourself, “Do I create value or simply shift money from one pocket to another?”

It’s in asking yourself, your employees and your board, “What are we doing to help the sick, the poor and the underrepresented, and how is this building a foundation for future generations?”

Because life already is naturally hard, and in nature there are no rewards nor punishments, only consequences. And we must be there to help those who cannot help themselves. 

It is about understanding that sustainability is more than just a trendy buzzword, and that you’ll be remembered for your care of your employees and your stewardship of our natural resources, not for your stock price. 

You as business leaders must stay above today’s political, partisan fray and understand that if businesses don’t proactively step in to address so many of these societal challenges, governments and regulators will—and often in ways that are counterproductive to the free-market premise we find so important. 

Thus not only is the spirit of service and giving back the right thing to do, but this philosophy also exhibits an enlightenment by understanding it’s the best thing for businesses to be actively involved.

The concept of duty is important here at the Cox School. During your time here, you have learned the Cox School doesn’t give—it gives back, and that this is a wonderful place to begin exploring how giving back pays forward. Duty and responsibility are nuanced topics, ones that every business and business leader must address individually. The good news is, there are so many ways for you to give back that there is really no limit to what you can do or how your organizations can be involved. 

Not only is the spirit of service and giving back the right thing to do, but this philosophy also exhibits an enlightenment by understanding it’s the best thing for businesses to be actively involved.

I encourage you to think long and hard about how you and your companies can give back to those in need, whether schools, neighborhoods, hospitals, environmental causes, or the underprivileged and disenfranchised. Not only is it your duty to do so, but the personal rewards are enormous. You should see your duty as a business leader as one of the greatest opportunities of your life. It can be rewarding beyond measure. 

We all have long careers with many successes and many more failures, and their accompanying quarter-life and mid-life crises. There will be times when you wonder, “Is what I’m doing worth it, and what will be my legacy after my career is done?” 

There is that old saying that goes, millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

But you’ll know what to do.

Because you know that nothing could be more personally rewarding than using your professional success to give back to the communities and causes that are important to you. This should be a great personal motivator that provides you with an inspiration to succeed, every day. 

And your faculty here? They expect this of you. They expect each of you to come back to Cox in five or 10 years and tell our future students how you have made an impact on the environment, on your towns and on your communities. We will hold you to that. 

And remember: As Cox School graduates, your actions and behaviors will always reflect on this institution. It will be your duty to fight for those with less, to fight for those in need of more. All the success in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you won’t step up when asked and sacrifice when others won’t.

Thank you very much, and congratulations to you all.

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