These are piling up, aren’t they? Shocking, yes, that is a picture of me in my college days but who you are and what you know today is not who you will be and what you will know in the future. I think this picture almost says it all. That is my dog, Sherman. He had quite a hat collection. That was one of his hats there. I’m not sure what I’m wearing. I’d rather not go into it.
This is important, I think. The point that I want to make here is that you may think, “I don’t know enough to go in a certain direction.” You may think that, “I never had exposure to this or that so how can I possibly make the leap?” Let me give you an example. I talked a little bit about our schools. I started – decided we needed to start a school for under-resourced kids because they’re not getting great education in South Carolina. Heck, I barely went to school. I didn’t like school that much. Me, start a school? It was crazy.
But you just sort of do it and you find good people and you learn as you go and today I know a decent amount about education. I’m on a panel of leading philanthropists in a couple of weeks talking about how to reform education in this country. Ten years ago, I didn’t know a darn thing about it so what I would suggest is that keep that in mind. There is so much that you can learn. There is so much that you can take in and grow and make yourself a different person than the one that you are today. And don’t wear those shorts, ever.
Check your ego at the door. It’s a big issue for me. I think there’s a lot of intellectual elitism around. I frankly hate it and I don’t tolerate it and I suggest that you shouldn’t tolerate it either. Understand the workplace is a community. Celebrate family and kids. This is crucial. It’s crucial for an employer to understand this but I think for an employee too, that when you’re looking at places you might work, is that the place you want to be a part of? Is that a culture you want to be a part of? If the answer is yes and you go work in a place, contribute to that culture. I’ve actually found in our organization, it’s the younger people that do more of this than anyone else and it makes for a great workplace so it’s a hugely positive way to contribute.
All right, we’re going to talk about culture a little bit, moving from people to culture. Conservatism in all things – what do I mean by that? In an age of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and bigger is better and louder is better, I’m richer and I’m prettier and you’re ugly and you’re fat and I’m this. I reject all of that. I reject all of it and it’s nonsense.
So what I’m suggesting is that certainly in our company – and I think you as a young person getting ready to go out into the workplace, you ought to think about rejecting it too. You ought to be about hard work. You ought to be about putting the time in. You ought to be about being the good partner. That’s what I mean by conservatism in all things.
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