Making a Difference in the World by Aligning Yourself with the Poor
Michael Hoffman's commencement speech at Molloy College's 2009 Graduation
Michael Hoffman's commencement speech at Molloy College's 2009 Graduation
Making a Difference in the World by Aligning Yourself with the Poor
Delivered on:
May 16, 2009
By Mike Hoffman
Good morning and welcome to the 2009 graduating class; future graduates; parents, grandparents and other family members, President Drew Bogner, Vice President of Development, Ed Thompson, alumni, faculty, staff, my colleagues from Changing Our World, the board of trustees, friends, officials, and Michael and Angela.
It is an honor to speak to you today. President Barack Obama is giving the commencement address tomorrow at the 2nd best Catholic College in the country after Molloy, Notre Dame. One thing I can promise you is that, in his speech, President Obama will not quote, as his main source, from the New York Post, as I will. Nor will he predict the winner of the Preakness, the second leg of horseracing’s Triple Crown which goes off tonight at 6:15PM. I will predict the winner later in today’s speech.
For the next 18 minutes, I am going to address myself directly to today’s graduates. In the 2008 Annual Report, your visionary President, Drew Bogner, wrote that, over the last 50 plus years, Molloy has graduated over 15,300 students who make a difference in the world. He also challenged and encouraged all of us to be agents of transformation. Today, I will share a little of my personal story. More importantly, I want to leave you with three core principles that I believe can empower the Class of 2009 to truly make a difference in this beautiful and wonderful world. You leave Molloy today at a time in our history like no other -- with a world that is craving authentic, global leadership. The title of my address is “Making a difference in the world by aligning yourself with the poor”. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a person who is interested in theory. My goal is to give you some information you can actually use as you go out and make your way in the world.
There are 3 principles I want to talk about.
- Always treat everyone the way you want to be treated.
- Be reflective and read the official paper of record in the world, the New York Post every day, not online but hard copy if possible.
- Be authentic and align yourself globally with the poor.
Before we begin, let me give you some context. To understand my remarks, you need to understand something about me. Most fundamentally, I believe that anything is possible. It is a hard belief to hold onto sometimes, but when I am tempted to question that fundamental view, I turn to the experiences of others.
At the time of the twin towers tragedy, We worked, pro bono, very closely with Mayor Giuliani and his wife Judith, who was one of our employees. Changing Our World was asked to help manage the Twin Towers Fund which raised and distributed over $200 million for the families of police officers and firefighters who died on September 11th, 2001. Mayor Giuliani said many times that Winston Churchill gave him the strength to get through September 11th and its aftermath.
Winston Churchill said: “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give”... a sense of what is possible is also the hallmark of the best of American business. One of our clients is The Case Foundation, founded by Steve and Jean Case. Steve, of course, is the founder of AOL. Steve Case said:
“Always trust your instincts”
So, belief that anything is possible must be an important core platform for your lives. Crisis, tragedy, sheer personal stupidity can raise huge barriers to that belief.
Professor Nancy Koehn, who is in my opinion one of, if not the most passionate leaders I have ever met, teaches at the Harvard Business School and Omnicom University. Nancy wrote a case study on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War that we studied this past summer. The case touched me in a very deep way and I wanted to share a piece of the case with you today as a way to begin to tell you about myself.
Nancy wrote -“Lincoln’s private experience as president what he felt, what motivated him, how he endured personal as well as public challenges has not been widely studied or discussed.[i]
In mid-December, in the third year of the civil war, Confederate forces had soundly defeated Union troops at Fredericksburg, Virginia. More than 13,000 federal soldiers had been killed, wounded, or were missing in a loss that many attributed to poor Union generalship. The president again became the focus of collective anger and frustration at the course of the war. “If there is a worse place than Hell,” Lincoln said on hearing of the defeat at Fredericksburg, “I am in it.”
In my life, there have been a few times when I have been in the reflective place that Lincoln describes here. I have hurt myself and others through sheer stupidity and lack of discipline. but these mistakes have all made me look deep inside myself and my soul so I could be humbled to the core of my being and learn from my mistakes and make the world a better place and actually fall deeply in love with God.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said something I love which truly reflects the beautiful spirit of Molloy College: “the only true gift is a portion of yourself”. So let me share a little about myself.
I know what it is to be a part of a family like yours and like the one you have formed among yourselves here at Molloy. I am one of five children from incredibly loving parents. My, father who died of colon cancer, was an elementary school teacher and then principal, actually my principal. His best friend was the janitor at the school. He told me many, many times while I was growing up to treat everyone the way you want to be treated. He would be very proud that I am talking today at a school that, among other great callings, is graduating future teachers. My soulful loving mother is also a school teacher.
I am married to a beautiful woman, Maggie, a registered nurse who is extremely proud that I am speaking at a great school that is graduating nurses. As Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker said to her biographer, “the greatest calling in this world is that of a nurse.” I have three sensational children: Siobhan 13, Michael 11, and Shannon -- 7. I also own and breed thoroughbred race horses and wish I had a horse in the Preakness today, the 2nd leg of the horseracing’s Triple Crown. It is now time for my pick. My pick today for the Preakness is #5, Friesan Fire and I have put a significant bet on this horse with all of the proceeds going to Molloy College. Prior to this speech, I don’t believe Dr. Bogner included thoroughbred racehorses as agents of transformation. He might now.
So, I know the good of life. But I also know some things that are difficult.
I know what it is to serve. I went to West Point and did five years of service to our great country, including an assignment on a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai. While in the military, I learned the key to leadership is to always take care of your fellow team members first in the military, the senior officer in charge always eats last.
I know what it is to search for meaning. After my service, I spent a year and a half in the Catholic Seminary reflecting and studying, trying to determine if I was called to be a Catholic priest. I was not -- however, that time in the seminary changed my entire life. I wanted to totally dedicate my life to making the world a better place. While in the Seminary, I worked in the public showers over the summer at the Holy Name Center for Homeless Men. This was in the heyday of the Bowery when drugs and alcohol were very present. I lived on the corner of Bleecker and the Bowery actually a great place for a 28 year old crazy person like me to find himself. Father Ahern, one of my personal heroes, ran the shelter and Bill Shepherd was my supervisor at the public showers. Bill told me on day one that I had two jobs every day. To bring him coffee, and most importantly treat every man who walked into the public showers with the respect and dignity they deserved just as he or I would want to be treated. He also told me to never turn my back on anyone in the public showers as they might kill me!
I know what it is to lose a job. After leaving the Seminary, I went back to the homeless shelter for a year, and then worked with the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in their international healthcare ministry for 12 Years. I would still be in that role if the Sisters had not sold their billion dollar healthcare system.
I know what it is to be overwhelmed by the enormity of what lies in front of you. I spent a lot of time at the Franciscan missions in the United States, Africa, Brazil, Italy, Poland and Croatia. It was through the Sisters and their work in Africa that I came to deeply love the poor, and to believe that, however huge the task seemed, there was a path to self-reliance and dignity for every human being.
And I know what it is to finally hit upon your life’s calling. After losing my job with the Franciscans, I started my current company, Changing Our World, with one of my best friends of 22 years, Chris Watson, with a single goal: to take what I had learned in my life and change the world through the power of philanthropy. Now in our 10th year, we are fortunate enough to be part of the Omnicom Group, a Fortune 200, New York Stock Exchange Company, who acquired us 4 years ago. Today we have over 100 incredibly passionate employees globally, working with our wonderful, philanthropic clients and partners, all trying to make our world a better place through philanthropy.
Now let me turn to the first of the three principles I want to leave you with today. I have learned that to be successful you have to treat everyone the way you want to be treated. It is the key to global understanding and world peace. The Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding has published a document that highlights the centrality of that golden rule in virtually every faith around the world. I will highlight just a few with direct quotes from the sacred texts which govern these religions.
Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways you yourself would find hurtful.”[ii]
Christianity: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” [iii]
Confucianism: “Do not unto others what you do not want them to do to you.”[iv]
Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty; do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.” [v]
Islam: “Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”[vi]
Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole of the Torah; all the rest of it is commentary.”[vii]
To our graduates today, I’m sure you already do live this universal value every day. You must use it as the basis for your personal leadership to make our world a better place and more peaceful place.
Now for the second principle around which you must orient your life. If you are not already doing so, read the official paper of record in the world every day. That paper is, of course, the New York Post, with the mandatory reading of the best gossip page in the world, PAGE 6, an excellent business section and a very good sports section, especially for horseracing. This is not just my opinion. We worked with Senator Bradley on a project. Arguably, he is one of the most intelligent men in the world. It was very early in the morning and we were doing all of the morning TV broadcasts around the country. He yelled to me: “Mike do we have a paper out there?” I said, “Sir, we have the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times and the NY Post.” Senator Bradley said: “Give me the Post.” Clearly, if Newsday had been one of the options, the Senator would have selected Newsday.
Perhaps unlike many of your habits, your parents will approve of adhering to this principle. On March 8th of this year, the New York Post announced, and I quote, “Despite Biz Cuts, Grads getting Jobs” and went on to note that “the brighter than expected jobs report is welcome news to students and placement officers alike” and I would add your parents.
Treating others as you want to be treated and becoming a daily reader of the New York Post prepares you for the last, most complex principle: Align yourself with the poor.
Again we turn, where else, to the Post which pointed out on March 9th that, however much the rest of us face this recession with fear, the world’s poor bear the brunt of the crisis. World Bank President Robert Zeollnick remarked in that article that “we need to react in real time to a growing crisis that is hurting people in developing countries” and that action is needed by everyone including governments and multilateral institutions “to avoid social and political unrest.”
Action. But what action?
My personal commitment to philanthropy is to change the world. So, is “action” money? Yes, money is important you do not feed people, vaccinate babies, educate children, create jobs and prosperity with good wishes. But, aligning with the poor means more than money.
I believe aligning with the poor means supporting them and empowering them not just in their poverty, but with the real means to aid their progress. We all, every one of us, wants to create a better life. We all strive to become more than we are now. Therefore, I use the words “align with the poor” intentionally. By aligning ourselves with the poor, we see their progress as essential to our own. This is not a matter of giving a dollar and walking away feeling better about yourself. It is about identifying with the poor and being satisfied with nothing less than their betterment, because nothing less is acceptable to us in our own lives.
Now that we have established and confirmed our hypothesis that to be successful in your careers and be global leaders, you have to treat everyone the way you want to be treated. And now that you will be reflecting on and reading the New York Post on a daily basis as well as carrying it around so people underestimate you every day, (I love it when people underestimate me) we have learned we must align ourselves with the poor as partners. Let me now give you five real world examples of leaders who believe that in order to be successful you must understand and care deeply about the poor.
The first one is Katherine Nesbeda who joined Changing Our World right after her graduation from NYU. Katherine is a beautiful, incredibly smart, very spiritual and religious woman who wanted to work at Changing Our World on international accounts to make a difference in the world. Many times she gave me great spiritual advice to keep me close to God. After four years, she told me she had to leave Changing Our World because God had called her to work among the poor, with Doctors Without Borders, in one of the most dangerous places in the world, the Congo.
The second is Frederic de Narp, the President and CEO of Cartier North America, the number 1 luxury brand in the world of the rich and famous. Frederic is a great friend of mine. At one point in his career, Frederic left Cartier and went to work in Haiti with his wife to understand and serve the poor and then returned to Cartier as he felt he could do more to help the poor as a global leader. At Cartier, he created the LOVE program which aligns Cartier’s Love collection with celebrities and their charities around the world. As of today, the Love Program has given close to $4 million to charities. Frederic has told me on many occasions to understand the rich you must be authentic and be equally as comfortable and respectful with the poor.
“The third example is Pattie Sellers, Editor at Large at Fortune and arguably one of the most influential women in the world. She would die if she heard me say that but, I believe it to be true. Pattie wrote the Fortune cover story about Melinda Gates, titled: the $100 Billion Woman”.
Pattie chairs the annual FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit (the top women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia and the arts) and has started the Fortune/U.S. State Department Mentoring Program, which partners young women leaders from around the world with the top American women leaders, including Fortune 500 CEOs. Pattie knows that to make our world a better place, you must align yourself, understand and partner with the future leaders in our world.”
My fourth example returns us to Haiti. Susie Krabacher, a former Playboy centerfold who lived a self-described wild life and has given her life to the poor in Haiti. Many of the wealthiest and most influential leader’s right here in Long Island have aligned themselves with Susie because they believe in her and, like her, believe you must align yourself with the poor.
Susie and her husband Joe started Mercy & Sharing in 1995 after Susie went on a trip to Haiti with a friend from her church. Mercy & Sharing is not a means of providing charity, but is a means of providing opportunity to thousands of abandoned and orphaned children in Haiti. For 14 years, they have tirelessly given their own money and raised funds and awareness for Mercy & Sharing’s orphanages, schools, medical clinic and feeding programs in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, often themselves spending 2 of every 8 weeks in Haiti.
My final example is a project that proves that every one of us, no matter how young or how hold, no matter whether we graduated 40 years ago or 40 minutes ago, every one of us can find a practical, immediate, and meaningful way to align with the poor.
This past January in Davos, Switzerland where Bill and Melinda Gates invited all of us in this room to partner with them to wipe out Neglected Tropical Diseases around the world in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Even though my company works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, I was fortunate enough to be at the announcement with Bill and Melinda Gates as a donor through the Hoffman Fund established in honor of my father from Hillburn, NY.
Melinda Gates, who is just an unbelievable passionate leader, said in Davos : “For governments, corporations, NGO’s and individuals, there is little else during this global economic crisis that provides such a significant return on investment while also reducing suffering and saving lives.”
Bill Gates said “Our work together to help the world’s poor is more important in the face of this global financial crisis.”
At Davos, “…The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases announced that it had received $34 million through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to step up the global effort to prevent and treat neglected tropical disease that affect 1.4 billion people worldwide who live on less than $1.25 per day. For approximately 50 cents per person per year, the seven most common neglected tropical diseases can be effectively treated. … I would encourage everyone to look at (http://www.just50cents.org/) that educates users about the impact NTDs can have on children and communities and illustrates the incredible difference that even a 50 cent donation can make. … Kari Stoever, Managing Director of the Global Network, another incredibly, passionate and brilliant leader said “ We are guided by the principle: never underestimate what you can do when you know what can be done.”
How great is it that the wealthiest people in the world have provided a way for all of us in this arena to partner with them in aligning ourselves with the poor. Bill & Melinda Gates have invited all of us to be their partners in wiping out neglected tropical diseases in the world. For just 50 cents you can partner with Bill and Melinda Gates and save a life. How incredible is that? For the same cost as a New York Post, you can save a life.
Now that you are graduates, please remember that, for the rest of your lives, you will represent Molloy College. Your achievements, the diploma in your hand today, bestows on you the honor of that role. For the rest of your lives, you represent not just your families but the larger family of Molloy itself. Live true to President Bogner’s words. Make a difference in the world. Make a difference by always keeping at the center of your lives three principles:
- Always treat everyone the way you want to be treated
- Be reflective and read the official paper of record in the world, the New York post every day, hard copy if possible.
- Be authentic and align yourself globally with the poor.
God bless all of you and God bless our beautiful world that is crying out for all of the Molloy College graduates today to join the other 15,300 Molloy graduates and make a significant impact in making a difference in the world and make our world a more beautiful and peaceful place.
Thank you for the honor and privilege of speaking to you today. And congratulations to you all.
References
[i] “LETTER TO JAMES C. CONKLING”, EXCERPTED FROM LINCOLN, THE COLLECTED WORKS, VOL. 6
[ii] UDANA-VARGA, 5:18
[iii] Matthew, 7:12
[iv] ANALECTS, 15.13
[v] THE MAHABHARATA, 5:1517
[vi] Fortieth Hadith of an-Nawawi, 13