Written on May 18, 2025
Ladies and Gentlemen – congratulations for reaching this day. Following 13 years of education – Kindergarten to now – you have reached a very important milestone. A result that took a lot of work; moments of brilliance, and probably moments of shame. Today is the result of all the moments.
Therefore, I want to talk about the importance of results.
There is a very strong statement relating to process and result. One of my very favorite leadership authors, Dr. John C. Maxwell puts it this way, “We overestimate the event and underestimate the process. Every fulfilled dream occurred because of dedication to the process.” Powerful.
I agree with Dr. Maxwell and – results matter. Teams that lose more games than win don’t last very long in the league. People do not want to be on losing teams. Results matter.
We want to be operated by a doctor who has a “winning record.” Results matter.
I cannot overestimate the importance of today’s event. Can you? Thirteen years. Well over half your life. You spent countless hours in a classroom with many, many different teachers. Learning how to work with all those different teachers. Countless hours of doing homework. You know what it took for you to get to today’s event and therefore, I am not going to downplay or underestimate today’s event.
Begin with the end in mind. The end is the result. You need to backward-map planning the result. And yes, that means process is as important as the end. The result.
If you want to have a successful result, list what it will take to get the result you want.
Let’s take the role of parent. In my case, father. At your funeral – literally the end – what do you want that part of the eulogy to be for your role as a father. “My dad was always there for me.” BE THERE. “My dad was a great listener.” LISTEN. “I loved the way that my dad would coach baseball to me and my buddies.” COACH YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER BASEBALL / SOFTBALL. What you want said about you, you gotta do. You couldn’t have any of those wonderful statements be said about you as a father if you didn’t do what it took for someone to say those things about you!
I leave you with this – I like to make my commence speeches brief – RESULTS MATTER AND SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED. If you want to win, have a winning plan and put it into process. Never let someone tell you / teach you, “just make sure you have fun.” Nah. What I am going to teach you today and if you choose to learn it – good for you – winning IS fun, do all you can to win and understand that lessons are to be learned from the losses. RESULTS MATTER.
May you have many more wins than losses, continue to understand that a loss is only a failure when you don’t learn from it and DO NOT make the loss a bigger deal than a win, and, may God bless you as you continue strive to be better today than you were yesterday. Our nation needs winners. GO WIN