Jorge M. Pérez - Audio Version

Good morning to all you graduating students, faculty, alumni, family and friends. I am really overwhelmed by this honor. Being on campus makes it feel like yesterday when I graduated from this wonderful institution and, all the extraordinary memories that took place almost forty years ago have so pleasantly been reawakened.

First let me promise you I will be very brief and let you get on with your celebration in this festive day. Secondly, I really want to thank your president, Dr. David Steinberg and the university board for selecting me for this incredible honor. C.W. Post was a very important part of my life and my maturing process; as such, this honorary degree is of great significance to me.

In 1972 when I was close to graduating, I was fortunate to be asked to serve as Valedictorian. I came up with some excuse that my parents had already bought me tickets to an important family trip in Europe that could not be cancelled. In reality, I was petrified of speaking in public. I remember then, that even for a simple class presentation, I would be drenched in perspiration. While I still dislike public speaking and it is definitely not one of my strengths, I have, after 40 years, somewhat conquered that fear and thus you have me here today.

Dr. Steinberg asked me to think about what I would have said then and how would it differ from today. I thought about it and, in truth, I have no idea what I would have said then. Not knowing much about the life that awaited me and remembering my then proclivity to existential philosophy, I would have probably embarked on a boring speech about our future as graduates and our responsibility to make this a better world. And all those great liberal ideals and desire for social equality and change still hold true and are of extreme importance and I hope that all of you assume serious social responsibility, without which no person can be truly successful.

But as I thought about all of you graduating today and how my life experience as a successful businessman and community leader could assist you, I decided it was best to speak of something more concrete: basically, I thought of what are the two most important things that have led to my success and how they apply to what you will be doing in the future.

President Calvin Coolidge once said: "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

I quote this to my employees continually. While education gives you a great base and talent and luck surely help, I have met few individuals who have achieved success in any field that are not totally dedicated to the pursuit of their goals. I can assure you that in life you will be faced with innumerable problems. You can’t let them get you down. Phrases like “impossible” or “can’t be done” are usually not acceptable answers to the roadblocks that we constantly face. In our company, we view difficult situations as challenging opportunities where we, and not others, can succeed by applying creativity, persistence and hard work. In our rapid-pace world, constant change is a given and it must be embraced and not shied away from. Companies and people that are not willing to continually reinvent themselves through dedication and hard work will quickly become obsolete.

In our company, for example, there tends to be an attitude of complacency after we design, build and successfully market one of our buildings. The tendency is to say: “Let’s get the same great architect and interior designer, copy the same floor plans and amenities that were so well liked in the market.” Basically, we are being lazy and really saying “Let’s repeat ourselves.” To this I always reply that I have no interest in doing cookie-cutter buildings. It is OK to learn from our success in the past but for our next project we need to always do better. We have to go back and research our market and find what people want, study the newest products, visit other successful projects in other areas, and discover new talent in architecture and design. If we don’t, a more aggressive, hungrier and dedicated competitor will become better than us.

This constant re-evaluation implies an immense amount of hard work. As a company, we do not know what “9 to 5” and “not working on weekends” mean. But, to be able to maintain this pace and yet lead a happy and rewarding life, you will need to have passion and love what you do. It is of extreme importance as you make your employment decisions that you find something that is meaningfully and satisfying to you. If not, hard work becomes unrewarding and real success will never be achieved. I think it would be impossible for me to devote the time I do to real estate development if I did not passionately love what I do. And thus comes my second important ingredient to success: passion. For me hard work and passion always go together. I can’t be the best by just working hard. I need to have the passion that is necessary to transcend the common place. The combination of passion and hard work are what enable you to move from good to great. From these two qualities come perseverance, persistence, dedication, creative change and, most importantly, self-esteem and success.

So, as my company has grown and people see the effort that it has taken, they always ask: How do you do it and not go nuts?? Where do you get the energy?? The answer is simple: I really love what I do. I feel like a professional basketball player that I saw being interviewed in television recently that stated with great passion "I still can’t believe they pay me so much money to do what I love to do!".

So, to all of you going out to make your future: pick something that you really love and fulfills you, then set your goals high and pursue them with passionate hard work.

Thank you very much again for allowing me to come back here in such a wonderful and rewarding way.