Brett Loubert - Winter 2006 Graduation Speech (M.B.A.)
Good afternoon, my name is Brett Loubert, but I'm better known by the Smith school as the admittedly lesser half of "the married couple" in the part time MBA program. I was told I had 3-5 minutes to address the Smith school, and despite my attempts to not write a typical graduation speech, I ended up writing one. So I went back to the drawing board a little bit, but before I get into it, let me start with a little bit of history.
Six years ago, just across campus, I walked out of the Armory after receiving my
Engineering degree, took a deep breath, and declared "I will NEVER go back to school again!" I'm sure most of the undergrads are thinking this right now. Fast forward to today.
Well, here I am, alongside my fellow MBAs and PhDs who all presumably said the same thing years ago, probably twice in the case of the PhDs!
Why did we do this to ourselves? We sacrificed money... I'm still trying to figure out my bill from semesters ago. Luckily, I now know that the unknown fees we paid will feed the caffeine addictions of the part timers with the newly installed coffee and tea machines.
More importantly, we sacrificed time: not just personal time, but time with our coworkers, time with our friends, and most importantly, time with our loved ones.
So, again, why did we do this to ourselves? In my case, the engineer that walked out of the Armory years ago might have had more hair, but he had NO idea what a balance sheet was or how to manage people, or what it meant to be "global". That breadth of knowledge is what makes the Smith MBA program so valuable. We've learned an incredible amount about all aspects of business. We've learned the fundamental, underlying aspects in areas such as accounting, finance, and supply chain management.
We've learned how to manage any company's most critical assets: its people. We've learned how business is conducted in other countries and how we must adapt our past and present business models to meet the needs of the global marketplace. Personally, I can attest to how the tools and knowledge I've gained in this program have already had a significant impact in my career and the opportunities I've been presented.
That’s all well and good, but most MBA programs can teach you these things. What really separates the Smith School in my mind? What will I remember the most about this

whole experience? When asked this question, one memory stands out among many. A little over two years ago, I started my Managing Human Capital course with Professor
Kudisch, or Dr. K as we call him. I wondered how the class would be, what did
Managing Human Capital even mean? Over the next 7 weeks, we learned about human resources policies, legal standards, and general management practices including interviewing potential employees. I did well in the class, I studied hard, I paid attention, which was easy because Dr. K was incredibly engaging and an excellent professor as anyone that knows him can attest. Well, about 2-3 weeks after I had finished the class, my manager came to me on a Friday afternoon and told me that he needed me to interview some candidates the following Monday for a position that I would be responsible for overseeing. I thought to myself: no problem, great timing, I’ve never done it before, but I just finished the course. I sat down, a little bit of time went by… and stared at blank piece of paper for several minutes. I quickly realized: I have no idea what to ask this person.
In the beginning stages of panic, I sent an e-mail to Dr. K asking for advice. Not 10 minutes went by and the phone rang, it was Dr. K. He spent the next hour going through my interview, step-by-step, question by question. When the interview came around, I nailed it. I guarantee this type of one on one support is not an isolated incident. In that moment, I knew I had made the right choice and I understand what really made the Smith
School special. Besides telling the story, I wanted to take a minute and thank Dr. K publicly for his support and generosity with his time.
I’m looking forward to moving ahead in my career and life with the knowledge and experiences I’ve gained from the MBA program. I’m also looking forward to spending time with the friends and family that I pretty much ignored for the past few years. I wanted to a moment and thank all of the people in the audience for your support for the graduates.
In conclusion, congratulations to all grads on your outstanding accomplishments in a top business school. I wish you best of luck in your future endeavors and I know that you will make the Smith school proud with your future success. Congratulations!