Transcript, Commencement speech
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
Erskine Bowles, White House Chief of Staff 
May 11, 1997, Kenan Stadium

Listening to that introduction, I can promise you this is one fellow who has had a lot of jobs and is not 
going to get a big head. I can remember when I took my first job in Washington with the Small Business 
Administration. One of the things I did was travel around the country, and I had a chance to talk to small 
business owners. I always gave my telephone number and said, “Call me if you've got a problem.” Well, one 
night it was a real late night and I had these two huge stacks of papers in front of me. This irate small 
business owner called my office. She had a problem. We had given her some pretty poor service, and she had a 
right to be mad. She started to complain. She went on and on. Finally, after about 30 minutes, as these 
stacks of papers in front of me grew higher and higher, she finally said, ... “Now, listen here sonny boy.” 
She said, “It's been nice talking to you. ... Next time I call I don't want to talk to anybody lower than the 
administrator.” I said, “Ma'am, I've got some good news for you. There is nobody lower than the 
administrator.” That was, of course, before I found out that there was a job called Chief of Staff at the 
White House.

Now, as many of you know, my son Sam is a member of your class, the class of 1997. Each of you have two large 
things to thank him for. First of all, he told me to keep this speech short. And then he said, “Dad, I'm 
going to shoot you if you don't keep this speech short.” This is his day and your day. I promise you, I'm not 
going to let you down.

I cannot begin to tell you how proud you have made me by asking me to be your graduation speaker. Now don't 
think for a minute I believe you're going to remember a word I say. Shoot, I not only can't remember what the 
graduating speaker said at my commencement, I can't even remember who the graduation speaker was. In truth, I 
can't even remember if I went to graduation. ...

But I am glad that you all came today. I'm particularly glad Sam is here. Just like every one of your 
parents, I am so proud of him I am about to bust. All of your parents and all of your friends here are proud 
of you because we know just how very, very hard each and every one of you have worked to earn, and I want to 
stress that word earn, your degree at Chapel Hill. Your graduation from Chapel Hill is something that each of 
you are going to be able to be proud of for the rest of your life. Today Chapel Hill is truly one of the most 
highly selective and respected universities in this country. And there is no question in my mind that your 
total experience here at Carolina has prepared each of you to take that next giant step out there into the 
real world. I am truly honored that you have asked me to deliver this one last final lecture to you before 
you are officially on your way.

Now I thought long and hard about the message that I wanted to leave with you today. At first I thought I 
would talk about two widely acknowledged forces of change that are taking place in the American economy. Of 
course, those are globalization and technology. These forces are justifiably credited with expanding the 
economy's exposure to trade, unifying the world's capital markets, increasing the radius of global 
communication, and making information both ubiquitous and cheap, if not free. Rest easy, I decided not to. 
Then I thought I might talk to you about why I believe it is so important to each of you here for my 
generation to have the courage to make the cuts in spending to balance the federal budget and, at the same 
time, to address the long-term problems created by stagnating wages of American folks over the last 20 years. 
But that's an hour-long speech, and I know Sam would surely shoot me.

So the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted to talk to you the way that graduation 
speaker, whoever he or she was, talked to me 30 years ago when I sat right where you are today, for I believe 
that many of the challenges that I have faced during the last 30 years are quite similar to the ones many of 
you will encounter after your graduation from UNC. I'm talking about the challenges of getting married and 
raising a family, the challenge of finding a new job, the challenge of starting and beginning a business, the 
challenge of adapting to changing working conditions due to dynamic markets and proven technology, and the 
challenge of finding the time, and the energy, and, yes, the money needed to support the causes in which you 
believe. Therefore, I decided that today I would share with you several simplistic principles that have 
helped me throughout my career in both the public and private sectors of the economy. While I've known these 
things for a long time, carrying them with me wherever I've gone, I had never written them down until a few 
short years ago. They're all short and sweet, simple and even trite, but they've helped me enormously along 
the way, and I hope that you will take home at least a few of them and perhaps find them useful in the 
exciting days you have ahead of you.

The first is don't overpromise. I see this all the time -- people promising to submit a memorandum to the 
president on Tuesday only to finish it early Wednesday morning. People committing to deliver a completed 
action plan and instead offering only a solution to one aspect of the problem. People in the business world 
promising to deliver a product to the market this year only to run into production problems and having to 
delay until next year. People forecasting earnings of X only to deliver X minus 5 percent.

My advice is simple: Do the opposite. Be that person who underpromises, and for God's sake, never 
overpromise.

It's like when I get home at 7:30. If I tell my wife I'll be home at 8 and I get home at 7:30, I'm a hero. 
But if I tell her I'll be home at 7 and I get home at the exact same 7:30, I'm in the doghouse. Either way, I 
got home at 7:30. But one way, I'm a hero; the other way, I'm a dog. My experience has been that if you 
produce beyond the expectations of the American people or beyond the expectations of your boss or client, 
you'll have a hard time not being given more and more responsibility, or, in the case of that politician, 
seeing your popularity rise among your fellow citizens.

Second, do the little things right. Always be that person that makes sure the little things, the simple 
things, get done and done right. No typos in your reports. Check and double-check your facts. Make sure your 
numbers add up.

Let me give you an example. When we're working on putting together a bipartisan deal with the Congress, every 
single man's vote counts. The difference in one senator or one representative voting with the president can 
sometimes mean the difference in the passage or failure of a budget deal that will have enormous 
ramifications on your life for years to come. Now, think just for a second how awful it would be, at least 
for me, if I assured the president that victory was ours only to lose because I assumed I had a vote I hadn't 
verified. Pay attention to detail. You'll find that if you do the little things right, the big things will 
often take care of themselves.

Third, always do quality. You've heard it a zillion times here in Chapel Hill, and I guess it can't hurt to 
hear it once more, but it's true. There is absolutely no substitute for quality. If you're going to do it, do 
it right, do it perfect, no defects. My experience has been that a job well done is the best advertising you 
can have. The opposite, of course, is also true. It's like this friend of mine in the movie business once 
said. He said, “Erskine, if you make a bad movie the people will not come, and you cannot stop them.” ... 
It's kind of reverse logic, but if you think about it, he got it right.

Fourth, you simply can't say thanks too much. Recognize the people who help you and thank them profusely. 
I've never met a single person who minded being praised or thanked, even when they didn't deserve it. Gain 
the reputation for appreciating the work of others, and I'm not just talking about those that are above you, 
or those that are at your own level, but more importantly, those who work for you. You'll find that a simple 
thank you to an assistant will carry you a long, long way.

When I first went to work for Morgan Stanley in New York, others used to wonder how quickly I got my work 
processed by others. They never could quite grasp that a simple thank you or word of encouragement often made 
the difference in getting your job out on time or seeing it languish in the in-basket. Take time to show you 
are grateful, and you'll find that other folks will absolutely bust their buttons to make you look good.

The corollary to this is always give credit where credit is due. This year at the White House we got a lot of 
high praise for the State of the Union address. It was written on time. The president had plenty of time to 
practice. The press had advance copies. And, most importantly, the vision of the address was backed up by 
sound policy, which was reflected in our balanced budget. A lot of people complimented me for that success, 
but I quickly set them right because I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I had delegated that 
responsibility to Sylvia Mathews (correct spelling), the deputy chief of staff, and she's the one who made it 
happen. She made me look good, but more importantly, she made the President look good. She did the hard work, 
she did the heavy lifting, and she's the one who got the credit and I'm proud of her.

Which brings me to my fifth rule, and I don't have many more. My fifth rule is encourage creativity and 
embrace change. Encourage people to look for better ways to get the job done. I believe this principle goes 
hand-in-glove with surrounding yourself with really good people and then listening to them. If you are going 
to be successful, you can't ever believe that you have found the answer, that the way you are doing it today 
is as good as it can be done. My experience is, your product is never as good as it can be. You can always 
find ways to improve your products or your process.

Let me give you an example of how important I think encouraging creativity can be.

When I first arrived in the Small Business Administration, the president encouraged me to hold that series of 
town hall meetings, where I would travel through the country and listen to the concerns and ideas of small 
business owners. And as I traveled around the country, I heard those small business owners complain over and 
over again about the nightmare of forms and the bureaucracy you had to go through in order to get an SBA 
loan. I heard many of them say, “Erskine, I'd rather throw up than have to borrow money from the SBA.”

Well, we listened to our customers, and I asked our district directors, long-term career employees at the SPA 
from around the country, to come forward with their ideas as to how we could make our programs more 
user-friendly. Believe it or not, these front-line providers of service had never been asked in their careers 
their opinion as to how we could do our job and do it better. Well they responded immediately. And let me 
show you the results. In this hand I hold what was the application for an $18,000 loan from the SPA 
(displaying a thick application). It is enough to make you want to throw up. ... And in this hand I hold the 
new application (displaying a few sheets of paper). So you can make substantive change. You can improve your 
products, even in the government, but you have to create the kind of atmosphere that encourages change. You 
have to have the courage to change. As the president always says, you must embrace change and treat it as 
your friend.

I have never believed that the acceptance of the status quo is the way to go -- not while I was in the 
business world, not in my civic activities, not at the SBA, or the White House. I have always believed that 
you should set high standards, that you must establish goals, objectives and timelines and hold people 
accountable. And if you do, people will perform beyond your, and more importantly, even their own 
expectations. Never believe you've got it right. Always look for people who believe you can make it better.

Six, take time to add to the woodpile. My dad used to say that all of us had the responsibility to add to the 
woodpile. He instilled in his kids a belief that everyone needs to take time to help their fellow citizens. 
He stressed that ... anyone can help someone when they're up, it's a really good person who helps somebody 
when they're down. I have always found that it's the busiest people who somehow or another find the time to 
help someone or to do something significant for their community. Whether you're to the right of my friend 
Jesse Helms or to the left of Gore Vidal, it simply doesn't matter. You can find the time to try, in your own 
way, to make sure this world is a better place. That's exactly the point that President Clinton, President 
Ford, President Bush and President Carter and former General Colin Powell made at this April's service 
summit. They challenged all of us to engage in service to others. Believe me, the demands on your time will 
be enormous. And there will be no dearth of opportunities for you to do something productive for your church 
or your synagogue or your community or your school or just another human being. And the more successful you 
become at work, the more your community will ask of you.

My experience has been that if you organize your ... efforts in the same disciplined manner you do your work, 
and don't overpromise, but simply do what you say you're going to do, when you say you're going to get it 
done, and do it right, before you know it, you'll be the one in charge, and you'll really have the 
opportunity to make a difference for others. And you know what else? You'll do a good job of it, you'll feel 
good about it, for you will have added to the proverbial woodpile.

My last, and most important piece of advice, is save time for your family. There is nothing in my life that 
has been more important to me than my wife and three children. I don't think anyone knows what love is until 
you have a family. When you look for a job, look for a family-friendly place to work -- one that encourages 
you to spend time with your family. Then do it. Spend time with your spouse. Spend time with your kids. Build 
up those memories. One recent Father's Day, my daughter drew me a picture, and on that picture were drawings 
of all the trips we had taken together. Those are her memories; those are my memories. These memories are 
what sustain you in the good times and the bad.

So in summary, as each of you leaves Chapel Hill, and moves on to the challenges that await you in the great 
big world, I hope that you will take some of these simple principles with you. I have found these lessons to 
be very useful to me throughout my career, and I believe they have helped me realize what success I have had.

But above all, you should recognize that there is no recipe for success. The very definition of success is 
different for all of us. In the grand game of life, I think you will find that true success is simply being 
happy -- happy at home, happy at work and happy in the community. Set goals for yourself, develop career 
passions, find people that you care about, and search for outside interests and activities that will 
challenge you. Stay in touch with your classmates that are around you today. Remain a support group for each 
other. Do these things and I guarantee you that success and happiness will come much easier. I wish each of 
you my heartfelt congratulations on this, your big day, and I thank you for letting me share with you and my 
son, Sam. Thank you very much.