PerceptIS CEO Gives ITT Commencement Speech

On March 18, 2008 PerceptIS CEO and Founder Bill Bradfield delivered the commencement address at ITT Technical Institute. His speech follows:

Don't Stop

Opening
Thank you Gary for the kind introduction. There is an old adage, generally applied to aging athletes, and it goes something like this: “The older you get, the better you were.” Gary made me sound so good that I didn’t recognize me.

It is my pleasure to be able to address this wonderful class of graduates, their families and the staff of this great school. You should collectively and individually be proud of what you have accomplished. Today is a day of pride and celebration.
• For the Faculty and Staff it is a validation of your great work.
• For you Mom’s and Dad’s and spouses, it is a moment of pride that your hard work has succeeded… at least to some extent
• Mostly, for you Graduates it is a moment of accomplishment at having completed what you set out to do and a moment of anticipation of what the future will bring as you leverage your skills and degrees.

Message
Well let me give you a word of advice from a guy who, as Gary has enumerated, has been around. Don’t stop. You cannot learn enough. You cannot know too much. If there is anything you take home from my address tonight should be the following: You need to make a lifelong commitment to learning. As you celebrate tonight, enjoy the moment but also take a moment to make a pact with yourself. And the mantra you should use is DON’T STOP!

Way back in 1967, I went off to college. I was the 2nd oldest of 10 and the first male in my extended family ever to go to college. I was pretty full of myself. Football player… Joe College. My Dad took me aside and said, “this is only a ticket on the bus.” Four years later at my graduation, he said exactly the same thing, “this is only a ticket on the bus”.

On both occasions, I had the same reaction. “Say what?” But down deep inside he was telling me what I am telling you. Don’t Stop. It’s a great lesson and it was free! Now I am passing it on to you. It took me forty years to fully understand what he meant. I can save you that delay.

Context
The lesson of Don’t Stop can be learned from a simple traverse through human history, and I am going to drag you through it at about 100,000 feet:

• When man first came down out of the trees, or emerged from the Garden of Eden (your choice) the number one priority was survival. Enough food, sufficient shelter and procreation. Communications were simple and the technology was easier. Something like, “Hey, I just killed a squirrel with my rock. Wanna come back to my cave?”

• After thousands of years, society became more complex as groups banded together for security, sharing and again, survival. With it came agriculture, religion and yes, government. The new complexities required more complex communications and technologies. Technologies like the alphabet, numbers and record keeping became societal foundations.

• The next thing you knew somebody invented paper and then the printing press. Pretty soon most people were literate and along came Martin Luther, then the Civil War and then Martin Luther King and then Civil Rights and then the Internet and suddenly everyone was equal and everyone was expressive and everyone could be heard!!!

• I won’t bore you with detailing the rest of human history, but I will take a moment to comment on the common thread…. Most technological changes and most changes in communications, took thousands or hundreds of years to develop. AND, the constant theme is that development time has been compressing. It still is, but not in hundreds of years, but now in days and weeks. DON’T STOP!!!

• When I began my career in technology, ALL input to computers was done via a paper card that could hold 80 characters. I ran an entire billing cycle for 2 million telephone customers on a machine with 4K of memory! I today have 1000x more than that in my watch.

• The 1970 through 1990’s saw unprecedented change in the evolution, design and growth of technology. So rapid was it that pundits postulated Moore’s Law which states that technology obsoletes itself every 18 months!! Today in 2008, 18 months would be a luxury. I think in terms of weeks for technology to be turnover!

• Who would have thought that these statements would be true:
o Microsoft is saddled with an old economy business model
o Facebook is so yesterday
o We are developing in WEB 2.0, but need to move to Web 3.0
o My kids never talk on the cellphone, they text 24x7!
o All real innovation comes from the open source community.
What an exciting career you have chosen for your selves. What a great and invigorating future you have. But, Don’t Stop learning!

The careers in technology you have chosen and prepared for are the future of our region and our country. The management and transport of information is the foundation of the new economy. In the old days, Cleveland and our nation prided itself on the three pillars of the industrial revolution: mining, manufacturing and transportation. Those days are sadly over and have been replaced by the new pillars of the 21st century economy: healthcare, education and information technology. While Northeast Ohio is a leader in Healthcare and Higher Education, those industries are to a great extent tax exempt.

For us to survive as an economically viable State and nation, we need to retool our economy and embrace information technology as an essential, even dominant portion of our revival. We have no choice but to both develop and grow our competency and leadership in information technology. That burden is on all of us in this room… Old Guys like myself, and young people like you. Our future, Your future depends on your ability to continue to learn and grow this region to a position of leadership in Information Technology . The operative word here is CONTINUE… just another way of saying Don’t Stop.

Personalization
Four years ago, I came to the Cleveland Area for the first time. My intention was to visit some old friends and go back home to Philadelphia. What I found was a great community that was struggling to find its economic identity. In fact everyone was talking about a brain drain.. smart young talent leaving the area for the glamour of New York or Chicago… or even LA!!

I believe that “brain drain” is over rated and overstated. What I have found is a community that instills a loyalty to itself and offers a quality of life beyond most other communities, if we remain loyal to that community. I know hundreds of people in Northeast Ohio who left, but have returned because of the quality of life. You, they, we and I need to commit to the economic viability of this community so that the quality of life can be protected and enjoyed. We can do that by leadership in information technology. And tomorrow morning you become foot soldiers in that effort. You are well prepared, and need to stay well prepared. Don’t stop!

Just a quick, story about the Brain Drain. When I first came to Cleveland in 2004, the Plain Dealer wrote an article about me and said I was a “Brain Gain” for Northeast Ohio. Little did they know that the Philadelphia Inquirer, said exactly the same thing about me leaving Philadelphia.

My Company, PerceptIS was built with two key objectives:

The First was to provide world class customer service to students, faculty and staff in Higher Education.

The Second was to create well paying information technology jobs in the communities in which we work and live. Pretty lofty goals.

We are committed to the community and Northeast Ohio specifically. And we recognize that despite our lofty statements about growth and community, the success we have will depend on folks like you. Your commitment to growing technology and growing your skills, over the sum of your lifetimes and careers are far more important to our community than anything any one company like mine could hope to do.

Closing
The challenge is on you, the bright young faces who recognize that information technology is the industry of our future. Don’t Ever stop learning and growing. Don’t stop

I am now going to break the rule I have been expounding for the past 10 minutes and I am going to stop.

Let me finish by once again congratulating you all, and for being so kind as to listen to me rant. I will say one more time, You cannot learn to much. And you cannot know enough! Keep it up. Good luck to you all. Thank you and congratulations.