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Dean Douglas Anderson, Faculty, Graduates, Students, Alumni, and Distinguished Guests:
It is a great pleasure and honor for me to be here with you today for your commencement
from one of the finest business schools in the world. As an alumna who has been to serving
others throughout my career for over forty years, I am here to ensure you of the best
education you have received from this school, the Jon. M. Huntsman School of Business. I
am fully aware that all of you may have heard the four strategic pillars which were beautifully
written be the main focuses of the School and understand the meanings and values of
these pillars fairly well. However, I would like to emphasize and share my views on them
based on my experiences as a teaching faculty, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and presently
President of Bangkok University in Thailand. Let me start with �global vision.� I affirm
that education with global vision is topnotch because it technically allows you to understand
and become practical and adaptable to changes and differences in the world. This first pillar
will relatively free you from any conflicts arising from prejudice or pettiness. You know
to be respected one needs to give respect to others. You also fully understand the transcendental
truth the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson has put in his famous poem, �Each and All�:
All are needed by each one/Nothing is fair or good alone. With a global vision at the
core, you are more competent as global citizens in learning and gaining new experiences. The
sky is indeed the limit. �Analytical Rigor� is another strategic
pillar of our School that fosters reflection on the multitude of knowledge available under
the sky. Analytical thinking skills will enable you to choose and apply knowledge appropriately,
according to situations or circumstances. This strategic pillar empowers you as thinking
individuals who will be wise and careful in the whirlpool of attitudes and ideas and will
prevent you from being credulous and vulnerable to fraud and deception.
Next is �entrepreneurial spirit� which truly makes your education here phenomenal.
This pillar strategically transforms you from within. Once fully internalized, this kind
of spirit readily encourages you to give your best to everything you are committed to. You
will never take anything for granted, and your motto at work will be �there are no
gains without pains.� As a matter of fact, no one can fare well if he or she does not
have any sense of ownership succinctly articulated in this strategic pillar. Therefore, I am
positive that all of you who hold this spirit dear to your heart will be successful and
happy in your future career. In addition to other three pillars I have
already mentioned, I believe �ethical leadership� is the most precious gem embedded in the education
at our School. Leadership is not always the same thing as leader, and we all know that
anyone can have �leadership� although they may not have a position. �To lead is
to serve,� as wise men say. Leadership thus entails a sense of self-relation. �I-for-others
and others-for me� is, in other words, making a leader in you.
It is good to emphasize that the management team of School of Business has done their
best in stretching out this self-relation image further to cover the ethical side of
it. The team shares a Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin�s triad which is composed
of True/Ought/Act. Simply put, this triad works in such a way that we act only when
we fully understand that our actions will yield the best benefits to all involved. Otherwise,
we ought not or should not act. True/Ought/Act is therefore the very triad that ethical leadership
requires. Finally, I would like to congratulate all
of you on your success today. I am assured that the education you have from this school
will make each and every one of you liberal with global vision, life-long learner with
analytical rigor, successful individual with strong entrepreneurial spirit, and happy �leader�
with morality and ethics. The message embedded in the four strategic pillars mentioned is
of the best quality universities worldwide try to instill into their students. We at
Bangkok University also recognize the significance and necessity of making our students have
global mind and complete with entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. We share the same vision
as School of Business; that is, to allow students to explore their interests in this wide world,
transform their life, and customize their education to reach their academic and career
goals. Now it is the time for all of you to choose or maybe change your career and set
your goals. Congratulations and good luck. Thank you very much for your kind attention.