Release date: May 20, 2008
Contact: Beverly Cox Clark at 404-712-8780 or beverly.clark@emory.edu

Transcript: Bernie Marcus Addresses Emory 2008 Graduates

President Wagner, members of the Emory University faculty, alumni, family and friends and, especially, to you, the graduating class:

It is a great honor to be here with you today.

You know, for a 79-year-old man whose claim to fame is that I am a marketer of hammers, I am humbled to have the responsibility of speaking to you. By the way, today is my birthday. And, frankly, I can’t think of a better way to spend it. Well, that’s not really true, but it’s not bad being here in front of all of you and celebrating this day with you.

I’d like to tell you a story first. There was another university, you know, Dr. Wagner, and the president of the university was showing a very distinguished group around this university. He was showing the buildings and as they came to the engineering building -- and it was a lovely building -- and people were saying "Gee, what a great building; it’s really wonderful. "

"No, this is nothing," the president said, "Wait’ll you see the Ed White School of Literature."

And they said "fine." They got to the medical school, and the medical school was very impressive. And he said, "No, this is nothing. Wait’ll you see the Ed White School of Literature."

And as they went school by school, every one, he said "The Ed White School of Literature."

Well, by the time they got to the Ed White School of Literature, it was a magnificent building. Granite, glass, marble and the name Ed White School of Literature right up front.

And one of the people said, "Who is Ed White?"

And he said, "Oh, he’s one of the great writers of all time."

And they looked at him and said "Ed White? A great writer? Of all time?"

And one of them said "By the way, I’ve been a professor of literature for years. I've never heard the name Ed White. What did he write?"

And he looked in his eye and said, ‘You don’t know what he wrote?! This man wrote a check.’

Ladies and gentlemen: That’s what I do. I write checks.

(PAUSE)

Now, they call me a philanthropist, but the truth is, I am just really giving back. I’m giving back to this great country, which really gave me the opportunity to achieve the success that I’ve had. I have had a great life!

Now, how did I get here? How did I get to the point where I’m a check writer? Did my family have money? No. Did I inherit money? No.

Giving your money away is a long way from how I began my life. Mine is truly the story of America, and the reality of living the American dream.

I am a first generation American who started my life in a fourth-floor, walk-up tenement in Newark, N.J. My mother and father were Russian immigrants. They came to America with no money. They didn’t read, write or speak English. They came with nothing. They had nothing, but to them, that tenement was a paradise -- a penthouse -- compared to what they had in Russia.

My mother believed that America was the golden land, and whatever you put your mind to, you could achieve. She told me there were four things you had to do to be successful: Number one was work hard. Number two was believe in yourself. Number 3 was get an education, and number four is don’t let disappointments discourage you.

(PAUSE)

Just like many in this audience, I decided at a very early age what I was going to be when I grow up. We were poor, and no one else in my family had a college education. But at the age of 12, I knew I was going to be a doctor. (Little did I know it was going to happen today.) But I was gonna be a doctor. That was my dream.

By 13, I had studied all the medical books in my doctor’s office and I knew the anatomy of the body. By 15, I was doing my own diagnosis when I went to the doctor. And, by the way, I was more right than he was most of the time.

After high school I started my pre-med studies and was a pretty good student. In fact, I was so good that I qualified and was accepted to Harvard Medical School, but because of quotas – and in those days there were quotas for Jewish students, it was 10% for the medical school – I couldn’t get in unless I donated $10,000 to the school. Ha, what a joke. We certainly couldn’t afford that.

If you took my entire family and you held them upside down, you couldn’t raise $10,000! So, medical school was out. I was discouraged, disheartened. My dreams were shattered.

(PAUSE)

Frankly, for a time I gave up. But with the urging of my Mother and my family I realized it was time to get back on “the train to success” and take advantage of the great things this country offered. I enrolled in pharmacy school and earned my pharmacy degree. It was as close to being a doctor as I was ever going to get, except for today.

So how did I go from pharmacy school (from doing drugs… no no,no not doing drugs… I prescribed drugs) How did I get from there to selling hammers? That’s a pretty long story, but it is interesting because when you think you know where your career will take you…it can turn out totally different.

(PAUSE)

Let me mention here, that in my years of meeting executives and successful people around the world, I’ve been fascinated by where these people started and where they ended.

I know doctors who are real estate developers. I know real estate developers who are running medical companies and, in fact, one real estate developer who ended up a U.S. Senator right here in Georgia. I know educators who are running big businesses. I know business leaders who are now teaching what they’ve learned to students in classrooms. Maybe social work, politics – perhaps we may even have a future President in this group, it’s a possibility.

Many of you are going to excel, I’m sure, and many of you will succeed in a field far from where your studies have taken you. Now what’s the moral to all this?

(PAUSE)

The message to be learned here is that there are many options in life. While you may be convinced there is only one way to fulfill a dream, you are going to find out that there are many roads that lead you to your dreams, and those dreams may find you when and where you least expect it. Wouldn’t it be fascinating, if we had a crystal ball, and we could read the future of all of you, where you will be, 10 to 15 years from now?

So, my advice to you is keep your eyes, ears and minds open. Opportunities pop up at the most unexpected times and places. Are you going to recognize it? If you do, take it.

(PAUSE)

I hope, when you finish this ceremony and get on with your busy day, maybe, you’ll walk away with a single grain of advice that will have an impact on you. I hope so.

(PAUSE)

Let me get back to the road I took from pharmacy to hammers. Obviously, the route I took to find my way was really filled with trial and error. But, I was very successful as I climbed the ladder in retailing — the ladder in retailing, Home Depot… hardware…. Are you sure you’re all graduating today? Is this the brightest class you have?

Ok, anyway, climbing that ladder. You’ve got to be sharp. One other thing my mother said, "Be sharp."

On that road I learned a number of other things I’d like to share with you: the first one really is the importance of being happy. The second is recognizing opportunities. The next is the benefit of the free enterprise system. And finally, personal desires and dedication, and the role they play in success.

Now working as a pharmacist soon led me to people who gave me a great opportunity in marketing and selling. And I found that this was truly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be in a marking business. And from that day forward, it was then that I realized that this and dealing with customers was what I truly loved. And I can’t tell you strongly enough how important that is. And because I loved what I did, I was good at it. And because

I was good at it, I was successful.

(PAUSE)

What is success going to mean for you? And how are you going to measure it? Is it going to be sheer economics, or will you consider yourself successful when you truly enjoy what you do? And is that going to make you look forward to going to work each day?

(PAUSE)

Now, not long after I found my niche in retailing, I became CEO of a major chain of home improvement stores in California and it grew to be one of the most successful and largest chains in the U.S. at that time.

And then, at the age of 49, POW! I was fired. Fired.

That had never happened to me before -- 49 years old, I had a family, I had obligations and all of a sudden my world came to an end. A shocking end. And it was not anticipated. I was caught up in one of those corporate intrigues and it ended up that I was the odd guy out. Think about it. I was finished.

So here I was, for the second time in my life, with what was a career ending experience. The first time, of course, was when I wanted to be a doctor. I had two choices: sit around and feel sorry for myself and complain that once again I got a raw deal. Or I could move forward.

From my experience early on of not getting into medical school, I learned that the way you handle and deal with life’s setbacks really creates the basis of what you will accomplish in the future.

I said to myself -- I used to talk to myself a lot -- “Bernie, do the soul searching and blaming, bitch and moan, and then get on with your life.”

(PAUSE)

Disappointment. I want to reiterate to every single one of you that you will, in your life, I promise this will happen to you, be disappointed in something or someone. Whether it is the reaction of others toward you or a circumstance that just didn’t work out. Let me stress that your ability to deal with those situations will be a defining factor in your own career.

How you handle difficulties, setbacks and disappointments will form the basis of your own personal inner strength and character. Many of the people I’ve met in my life, who’ve been successful, have had at least one major setback that could have been career ending and career changing.

The ones who’ve succeeded are those who are able to overcome. Rather than being consumed with self pity and blaming others for their failures, they’ve learned to discover why their failures happened and they used that as a stepping stone to a more successful career in life.

I know that many times when something bad happens, we have a tendency to want to blame somebody. We live in an age where people don’t want to take responsibility for anything, especially their own lives.

My hypothesis is: taking responsibility for your own actions makes it easier to move on and create something substantive for yourself and your career.

(PAUSE)

So here I was, ready to get on with my life. I had to come to some conclusions: Who am I? Do I have talent, strength, courage, foresight and business acumen to keep going? Well, my mother said I did, and I found it.

So when the answers came up positive, I decided I’d better move on and do something for myself. Deep in my heart, I realized that I was an entrepreneur.

And it was time to build a company of my own. I was confident with the right people working alongside me, I could once again be successful.

I already had the idea for The Home Depot. It would be a brand new concept in home improvement stores that would carry everything that anybody would ever need in order to build, maintain or remodel a house at prices and with service you’d never seen before.

And I hope you all remember that. Home Depot. Remember the name. Please don’t ever shop anywhere else. If you shop anywhere else, may your toilet run forever. That’s a curse. And it’s a serious one.

I began to recruit people in the industry and wound up working alongside some of the greatest people I’ve had the privilege to have been around.

Along with my partner, Arthur Blank, we created The Home Depot, which today has more than 2200 stores, sales of over $80 billion, and employs more than 300,000 people.

Remember, this happened because of our free enterprise system where, in fact, you can create Home Depots,. You can be successful. I was.

(PAUSE)

Again, I ask… What will success mean to you?

Success doesn’t come with easy handouts. Believe me; it’s tough. You have to put your brains, your heart and your soul into it and you have to make sacrifices.

(PAUSE)

I began this conversation with you today saying I have a great life. Mine is far from being the first Cinderella American success story. You can have yours, too.

Each of you, as you graduate, has the opportunity to have a successful life, in your own field, whatever it may be -- business, research, professional, or whatever -- your success doesn’t have to be in billions of dollars or millions of dollars, but it should be something that gives you your own sense of personal fulfillment.

(PAUSE)

As Emory students, you have had the opportunity to experience and understand the benefits that giving back can mean to you.

You have all benefited from the generous contributions of people like Robert Woodruff, whose business successes helped bring to fruition the university you see. He’s helped to build this place, and has helped bring Emory to national prominence.

Universities, hospitals and museums all over the United States have essentially been built by entrepreneurs -- their names are on the buildings around here -- who created their wealth because of our free enterprise system and who, in turn, gave back.

Public philanthropy is a characteristic of American life. It has been said for generations that our desire to give back is what makes America unique. Studies have shown that U.S. citizens are the most philanthropic in the world.

I know that some of you are not native to the United States. According to articles I have read, Americans privately give at least $34 billion annually overseas, and the leading source of philanthropy to other countries comes from people who move to the United States and send money back home, and that accounts for approximately $18 billion.

I hope that one of the things you learned while attending Emory was the importance of creating and disseminating wealth into institutions and facilities (faculties sic) that benefit others around the world.

I read that Emory University's mission statement is to create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity. I was thrilled to read that, because the most important contribution you will make in your lifetime is helping your fellow human beings. I assure you it will be the most gratifying experience you will ever have.

Believe me, I know -- doing something good in this world is better than the best Earnings Quarter report you ever had in business. When your profit line is measured by the lives you have saved, or the children you have helped or the needs you have met, you can never have red ink!

My advice to all of you about giving back is do it in any way that you can. Whether it is personal involvement or through contributions, just be involved with something -- helping a child to learn to read, or assisting a family at a time of disaster, supporting the rebuilding of a community when a hurricane or tornado strikes, or simply holding the hand of a person who is ill, or old, or lonely. Your life will be so much fuller. It will expand your heart.

My family’s involvement in today’s society is far from the hammers I used to sell. We’re involved with autism, a terrible plague that is diagnosed in 1 out of 150 children here in the United States and around the world. And it has increased tenfold in the last decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called autism a national public health crisis and the cause and cure remain unknown today.

We support programs that deal with the health and welfare of children with disabilities. We are involved in medical research, nanotechnology, and many other areas.

Our focus right now is on our military, whether they are active or veterans, to help get them treatments for catastrophic, combat-related injuries or paralysis or brain trauma. Hopefully, hundreds of men and women who were wounded in the service of their country, and their families will get the medical and rehabilitation care they need – and deserve.

(PAUSE)

I cannot impress upon you enough -- [response to applause] thank you. They certainly do and we forget about them, don’t we? How critically important it is in my own personal life when I know that I’ve touched a life. When I go to The Marcus Institute and I see an autistic child who may not have been functioning at all — those of you who know or who are associated with people who have autism, you know when I say nonfunctioning how serious that is -- and after months at the Marcus Institute they begin to smile, they begin to communicate, and they even begin to laugh, they begin to laugh, The profound effect that has had on my own personal psyche is unbelievable, but the effect it has on the family is much so greater.

(PAUSE)

As college graduates, you have so many new days ahead of you. Enjoy them and learn something new from every one of them. For you U.S. citizens, don’t ever forget how fortunate you are to live in this country. This is a country where you can thrive and do great things. For those of you who are citizens of other countries, think of how you can contribute to the prosperity and well being of those around you.

Start getting involved now. Start giving back today. Whether you share knowledge, or money, or time …our world needs your passion, your risk taking, your enthusiasm, your courage, your wisdom. and your leadership!

I hope the lesson that you learn today is that you-can-do-some-good, and perhaps, one day, you’ll be able to experience the good fortune and personal reward … of standing in front of an audience like this – as a check writer or as a contributor in some other way – then you’ll know the incredible happiness and fulfillment you get from being somebody who makes a difference.

So, good luck to all of you and may you find success and happiness in your future.

Thank you.

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