WYOMISSING, Pa., May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a commencement
address that Jay S. Sidhu, Chairman and CEO of Sovereign Bancorp. Inc.,
will deliver today to more than 600 students who are graduating at Lock
Haven University's 129th spring commencement.
President Miller, Board of Trustees, members of the faculty,
distinguished guests, proud parents and most importantly, ladies and
gentlemen of the class of 2006. My heartfelt congratulations to you on
embarking on perhaps the most exciting part of your life's journey and
putting behind you four years of partying with other dudes, making 3-4 a.m.
your bedtime, cramming for your exams all night and learning the most from
faculty and your friends here at "Haven."
It is a great pleasure that I join you today on this historic occasion
in your lives. First of all, please join me in saluting and congratulating
your parents and others who have supported you, encouraged you, prayed for
you, and worked hard to pay your tuition and expenses. Please give them a
round of applause.
Also, the friendships you have developed here, the relationships you
have built, can be very meaningful throughout your life. Please
congratulate the person on your left and right. Better yet, give them a hug
and say "Congratulations and God bless you."
Like you, I feel fortunate and privileged to have gone to a small
school in Pennsylvania - Wilkes University, located just about 100 miles
from here. I was there when hurricane Agnes hit Pennsylvania and most of
the state was flooded. I'm sure your parents would remember that. I am
proud and privileged about that part of my life because I am still very
much affiliated with Wilkes and also get a pleasure of visiting the
librarian who was there 30 years ago.
I want to now briefly, in less than 10 minutes, share with you my
beliefs about the top four things that matter the most for a successful
professional life. These are simply based upon my life's experiences at
Wilkes and beyond and I hope many of you may find them of interest.
(1) First, to be successful in life, you must have a vision or a dream
and a plan to achieve that vision.
I believe that the future is not something we just enter. The future is
something, with God's help, we create. You must visualize and dream about
this future. If you don't know what you want, mediocrity is what you will
get.
When I graduated from high school in India, I had a dream about
traveling through most of Asia and Europe with an aim of promoting world
peace through understanding of people. I had no money. But in pursuit of
that dream, opportunities arose and my roommate and I were successful in
hitchhiking through Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, Italy,
Switzerland, France, England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria,
Yugoslavia, Albania, and back to India through Turkey, Iran and
Afghanistan. We found a way to do this over a three-month period on less
than $100 total between the two of us and had the best education of our
lives.
Then I had a vision of coming to the United States to study. We did not
have money to pay for the application fees. I applied to 42 universities
that had no application fee. Wilkes accepted me with a full scholarship. I
now feel so grateful for that good fortune and feel privileged to give back
to Wilkes.
Then we set a vision to create a nationally recognized bank based in
Reading, Pennsylvania. Fortunately, we are today becoming a global bank
dedicated to serving our local customers with the touch of a local bank.
There were numerous obstacles along the way. From time to time, life
looked hopeless and I'm sure you will experience that too. But persistence
and drive to achieve the vision fortunately prevails. Consider the story of
this visionary man:
- He failed in business two times
- He was defeated in local and statewide elections twice
- He lost two young sons
- He was defeated for a seat in Congress and the Senate five times
- He was defeated for Vice President
- Finally elected as one of the nation's most prominent presidents at
age 51
- Abraham Lincoln
So, I ask you to have a vision for your personal and professional life
and pursue that vision with a passion. Whatever is worth doing is worth
doing well and nothing ever is achieved without enthusiasm, persistence and
hard work.
Second, true success in life comes from being emotionally and
spiritually healthy or by being an authentic person.
I believe that you cannot be a great leader unless you are a great
human being first and you cannot be a great human being unless you are
authentic. The same principles that apply to emotionally healthy families,
to emotionally healthy and authentic friendships and relationships apply
also to teams and businesses. It does not matter whether you wish to pursue
a career in business, government, not-for-profit, education, law,
healthcare or entrepreneurialship. Your college education has only
developed your I.Q. skills. Your successes in life will be mostly dependent
upon your communication skills, listening skills, empathy, honesty,
integrity, being genuine, constantly seeking feedback, having values - or
being authentic.
Socrates and Aristotle, centuries ago, spoke about the importance of
self- awareness and knowing yourself. Learn to know yourself and you can
stop living with a stranger. Imagine for a moment the person in your life
you admire the most. Is it your parent, friend, faculty member, or a coach?
Ask yourself why. Is it because they are or were genuinely trusting, a
great listener, always there when you needed them, selfless, humble, and
yet confident? In other words, they had wisdom and maturity. Wisdom comes
from being authentic, knowing yourself, being truthful and most important,
listening to the life experiences of your parents, grandparents, and your
religious leaders.
So I urge you to continue to develop your emotional intelligence each
day.
The third point is to have a future full of opportunities tomorrow,
exceed expectations in whatever you are doing today.
People many times waste careers simply complaining about their bosses
or partners. Why not look inwardly? Why not commit to doing the best job
today? Be the best student in high school and you get the best
opportunities in colleges, best in college opens more doors for careers.
Similarly, in life, be the best you can be in whatever opportunity you have
in your professional life and you will get ahead. Finally, be the best
partner and you will have a terrific family life. Only working hard,
working smart, and having fun encourages a good future. So, always strive
to be the best you can be today and you will have a great opportunity
tomorrow.
(4) Lastly, become a constant life-long learner and commit to helping
others in need.
As Helen Keller said, "You do not simply want to spend the rest of your
life. You want to invest it." The more one learns, the more one realizes
how little one knows. Let's be passionate about our hobbies and our
professions. Let's read, watch, listen, see the world and learn. Let's open
our brains to limitless learning and expectations as long as we live. That
will give us happiness and success and peace. I ask the faculty and staff
to do the same and not just look at teaching students what they do not know
in different subjects. As noted philosopher John Ruskin said, "Education is
also about teaching people to behave as they do not behave." In other
words, let's help develop complete human beings to their fullest potential,
not just graduate them.
We are among the most fortunate in the world to have been given
citizenship in a country like no other on earth, providing possibilities
like no place else on earth. But nothing is handed to you. You have the
potential to get it, depending upon your commitment and hard work. Use your
education and your success in life, not just for yourself, but to help
those still trapped in cycles of poverty and violence. Above all, never
lose faith in America. Its faults are yours to fix, not to curse.
You have a great life ahead of you. Have a vision about your future, be
authentic, work hard, work smart, have fun and take full advantage of what
this wonderful world has to offer.
Thank you, good luck and God bless you all.
About Sovereign
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent
company of Sovereign Bank, a pro forma $83 billion financial institution
with nearly 800 community banking offices, over 2,000 ATMs and
approximately 12,000 team members with principal markets in the Northeast
United States after giving effect to the Independence acquisition and
recently announced branding agreement in which Sovereign ATMs will be
placed in CVS/pharmacy locations. Sovereign offers a broad array of
financial services and products including retail banking, business and
corporate banking, cash management, capital markets, wealth management and
insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest banking institution in the United
States. For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit
http://www.sovereignbank.com or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.
Sovereign Bank, its logo and lantern are service marks of Sovereign
Bank or its affiliates or subsidiaries in the United States and other
countries.
SOURCE Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.sovereignbank.com
CONTACT:
Carl Brown Jr., Sovereign Bancorp, Office:
+1-610-378-6162, or Cell: +1-610-334-8637,
cbrown6@sovereignbank.com
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