Supply Chain

Your Views Aren't That Important

May 1, 2011

As a university professor, I have the unique privilege to work with intelligent and motivated young people; several each year who take one of their final college courses with me.

I have tried for a long time to provide a bit of lasting advice, or a piece of profound wisdom, as they depart for the next journey of their lives.

It hasn't been easy. How do you boil down life into a few sentences? You probably can't.

Still, with the annual arrival of commencement speeches upon us, I thought I'd share what I've come up; fully aware that it is ultimately a futile attempt.

"Your "views" and those of others don't really matter that much.

What carries the day is not what you think, but how you think; and things like your politics are not nearly as important as your principles.

In the end, it is your "how" that endures; and writes your legacy."

Congratulations to all of the graduates of 2011!

About the Author

Andrew R. Thomas Blog | Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business

Andrew R. Thomas, Ph.D., is associate professor of marketing and international business at the University of Akron; and, a member of the core faculty at the International School of Management in Paris, France.

He is a bestselling business author/editor, whose 23 books include, most recently, American Shale Energy and the Global Economy: Business and Geopolitical Implications of the Fracking Revolution, The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business, Global Supply Chain Security, The Final Journey of the Saturn V, and Soft Landing: Airline Industry Strategy, Service and Safety.

His book The Distribution Trap was awarded the Berry-American Marketing Association Prize for the Best Marketing Book of 2010. Another work, Direct Marketing in Action, was a finalist for the same award in 2008.

Andrew is founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Security and a regularly featured analyst for media outlets around the world.

He has traveled to and conducted business in 120 countries on all seven continents.