Four bold and courageous lessons for 2018 graduates

Graduation season is upon us again. This year, however, it’s very personal for me. My oldest child is graduating high school and will be off to college in the fall. Across the country and in my own house, it’s a time to celebrate success and look back on so many accomplishments.

But it’s also a time to look forward for every graduate — whether from high school, college or graduate programs. Young people everywhere are asking themselves questions like, “What are the keys to future success?” and “How can I achieve my goals?” As an EY leader and as a father (with three other younger kids at home), I have the privilege of guiding some fantastic people as they strive to achieve their ambitions.

In honor of all the graduates out there, I’d like to share four lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Explore your purpose: young people are surrounded by older folks asking them what they want to do with their careers. I suggest you instead start with your Why. Everybody has a Why: the purpose that truly inspires them to do what they do. My team in the EY Financial Services Organization (FSO) and I worked with best-selling author/visionary Simon Sinek to identify our personal Whys. The exercise was so powerful that we also decided to pinpoint the FSO’s purpose: to rally together to solve the most complex challenges. Knowing our personal and collective Whys helps us make critical decisions on a daily basis. I encourage you to check out Simon’s site to learn more about the role of purpose and understand your Why.

Nurture your relationships: when it comes to professional relationships, there’s an adage I love: the best time to plant a tree was 100 years ago; the second-best time is today. It’s a reminder to be diligent and thoughtful in creating and managing relationships through your college years and career. Seek out mentors at every stage, but also keep in mind that relationships are a two-way street. Consider what insights or energy you can offer someone with more experience than you. It’s important to cultivate these connections, just like you would a growing tree, as you move from one opportunity to another; be sure to proactively keep in touch.

Hone your entrepreneurial spirit: one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my undergraduate studies at Babson College and throughout my career is to make your own breaks. Don’t wait for opportunity to come to you. Instead, be willing to take calculated risks, try new things and challenge your own status quo. As I wrote in a post in 2016, I made my own break in 2002 when I chose to relocate from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, to grow the footprint of the EY FSO. It was risky because, at that point, the EY organization was structured geographically. We didn’t have every answer to how to build a business by market sector, so it was new for us. On top of that, my family and I had no connections in North Carolina. But the risk paid off for us, and I’ve had an amazing experience.

Be decisive but flexible: just as I experienced in Charlotte, you’re not likely to have every piece of information you’ll need to make key decisions in your studies or your career. But don’t let that stop you. Work on building a team of trusted advisors — mentors, educators, colleagues, family, friends — that can be your sounding board for ideas and opportunities and help fill in missing information. But also keep in mind the decision is ultimately yours to make. Rely on your past experiences and your personal Why to help guide you.

And what if your decision was the wrong one? Don’t be discouraged. It’s important to learn to fail quickly, grow from the experience and pivot toward the next step forward. When you take risks, you are inevitably going to trip sometimes. But as the great hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

So to all the graduates out there: whatever your next step might be, take it with boldness and courage. You won’t regret it.