May 2014 Leadership Reflection

A GRADUATION EXHORTATION

       This month, thousands of students will be graduating from the University of Illinois, Parkland College, and local high schools. There will be celebrations and congratulations all around for academic accomplishments and honors well deserved. There will also be a lot of questions and wonderings about the future. What will students do after their graduation? Will they enter the job market in the “real world,” or will they continue their education, either here in Champaign-Urbana or elsewhere? Even more importantly, what kind of world will these intrepid young scholars build for us – and for their inheritors? What kinds of leaders will they become, and what kind of advice would I give them for their journey?

       As I was reflecting on these questions, I recalled a poem based on Greek mythology that I recited back in 2005, during the farewell luncheon for our then Associate Dean, Dr. Kirby Barrick. The poem deals with the wanderings of Odysseus (a/k/a Ulysses), a Greek warrior-hero who returned from the Trojan War by a very circuitous route on the high seas that lasted a decade. He encountered cannibals, enchantments, monsters, and a hostile Poseidon (the Olympian ruler of the oceans) along the way, but he survived (and thrived) through exercising his leadership skills and keeping calm under pressure. When Odysseus finally arrived at Ithaca, his island kingdom, he was indeed a very weary but also a wiser man, based on all that he had learned from his far-flung adventures.

       So here’s my advice to the Class of 2014 – and to all leaders-in-the-making – as you chart your course for adventure in this great big wonderful world of ours.

“Ithaca” (1911)

By Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933)

When you set sail for Ithaca,

Wish for the road to be long,

Full of adventures, full of knowledge.

The cannibals and the Cyclops,

An angry Poseidon — do not fear.

You will never find such on your path,

If your thoughts remain lofty, and your spirit

And body are touched by a fine emotion.

The cannibals and the Cyclops,

A savage Poseidon you will not encounter,

If you do not carry them within your spirit,

If your spirit does not place them before you.

Wish for the road to be long.

Many the summer mornings to be when,

With what pleasure, what joy,

You will enter ports seen for the first time.

Stop at Phoenician markets,

And purchase the fine goods,

Mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

And exquisite perfumes of all sorts,

The most delicate fragrances you can find.

To many Egyptian cities you must go,

To learn and learn from the cultivated.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.

To arrive there is your final destination.

But do not hurry the voyage at all.

It is better for it to last many years,

And when old to rest in the island,

Rich with all you have gained on the way,

Not expecting Ithaca to offer you wealth.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful journey.

Without her, you would not have set out on the road.

Nothing more does she have to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.

Wise as you have become, with so much experience,

You must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

P.S. My leadership column for May 2014 is dedicated to my youngest cousin, who is graduating from high school this month. Live long and prosper, Sunshine! :)