Congratulations to Robin Weekley Bruce, Acton Scholar 2010, as a recipient of a Texas Business Hall of Fame scholarship!

Robin, along with 18 other outstanding students, will be accepting a $10,000 scholarship on Nov. 8, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio. Recipients come from higher education institutions across Texas. She also was one of the 2010 Acton Student of the Year Awards.

“These 2010 scholarship recipients represent the best of the young men and women of Texas. They have an entrepreneurial spirit, high integrity and a strong personal drive,” stated Foundation Chairman Amy Chronis. “We congratulate them on their success and expect them to compete, contribute and thrive in this highly connected world, making their communities better places to live.”

Past Acton Scholars who also received the TBHF scholarship include Scott Donnell, Class of 2009.

The Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation is a non-profit organization of 70 directors who are business leaders from cities throughout the state. The Organization’s mission is to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of Texas business leaders, to perpetuate and inspire the values of entrepreneurial spirit, personal integrity and community leadership in all generations of Texans. This mission is achieved by inducting honorees at an annual dinner, publicizing their accomplishments throughout the state and providing financial support for higher education in Texas. For additional information, contact the TBHF office at 713.993.9433 or visit www.texasbusiness.org.

Want entrepreneurial wisdom in bite-sized pieces? Red McCombs, Muhammad Yunus, George Foreman, and more gave some great tips in their graduation speeches.

Now that it’s June, graduation season is almost over (our Acton MBA students graduated on May 2). For the past several weekends, happy grads everywhere have been throwing their caps in the air and popping open the champagne. Every commencement ceremony needs a keynote speaker and this year, hundreds of entrepreneurs filled the role.

Since graduation speeches tend to be filled with life lessons and practical advice, we thought it’d be interesting to see all the wisdom these entrepreneurs had to offer the Class of 2010. And since graduation speeches tend to be a bit long [or boring] we’ve only posted the highlights. (Jeff Sandefer’s was an exception, so read the transcript here. It was really inspiring.)

Everybody who is anybody has a somebody.”

- Red McCombs (quoting Darrell K. Royal), co-founder of Clear Channel Communications, car dealership owner, and real estate developer. Speech at the University of Texas.

We all have dreams and nightmares – my mother knew that whichever you feed will grow. Dwelling on the dream, and not the nightmare, is the spirit behind entrepreneurship….Everyone makes mistakes – and that’s okay. In fact, that’s how you’re going to learn your most important lessons. Don’t be afraid of your mistakes – just be sure, despite the pain and embarrassment,  you pay attention to them. They are gold….At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not your stumble.”

- John Hickenlooper, Mayor of Denver and geologist turned restaurant owner. Speech at Wesleyan University.

1) You will have both good luck and bad luck in your life and career, but it is your reaction to each type of luck that will determine which variety you encounter most frequently. 2) The business world is often unstable, even chaotic, but that instability often provides great opportunities for careers and investments. 3) Taking risks, like parachuting, is scary, but very often rewarding.”

- J. Marc Myers, co-founder of Myers & Crow Company. Speech at the University of Texas.

They said, ‘we have education, but what about jobs?’ So I started telling them…’You should be taking a pledge and the pledge should be: I’m not a job seeker, I’m a job giver. And prepare yourself to be a job giver. So change your mentality.’”

- Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, banker, economist, and founder of the Grameen Bank. Speech at Duke University.

If you believe in what you’re saying, if you believe in what you’re doing, you’ll be more effective, more passionate, and more authentic in everything you do.”

- Seth Goldman, co-founder, president, and TeaEO of Honest Tea. Speech at American University Kogod School of Business.

I was heavyweight champion of the world. I also started business ventures. I put my name on the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. I told people how to eat right and I never told a lie about it….you don’t have to compromise….I stood the test. I went toe to toe. I got knocked down. I kept gettin’ up….I know that a lot of you sitting there today have had your visions blurred, too…We need you. We need your ethics.”

- George Foreman, boxing champion, philanthropist, and entrepreneur known for his eponymous grill. Speech at the University of St Thomas.

There’s one thing other commencement speakers forget when they advise everyone to follow their bliss. Bliss often doesn’t start out as bliss; passion often doesn’t start out as passion. It’s more likely to begin as a quirk or nagging awareness, nagging idea coming in from left field.”

- John Hickenlooper, Mayor of Denver

Sometimes a bridge isn’t the best way to cross a river….Instead of taking the obvious way, sometimes there’s a different way. With business, and with society, so much of what we do is the usual solution….but you create a whole different set of problems….There will be bridges along the way for you. A friend may offer you a job. You may be presented with some great opportunities. I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t take many of the bridges that were put in front of me. But I also know I wouldn’t be here if I only crossed the bridges that were set in front of me.”

- Seth Goldman, Honest Tea

I wish I could tell you the secret to being forever young, but no one’s figured that out yet. But if you see the glass half full, simplify your life, and give yourself to a worthy cause, you will be forever happy.”

- Bert Jacobs, co-founder and “chief executive optimist” for The Life is Good Company. Speech at the University of New Hampshire.

Photo courtesy of josephpetepickle.

Well, you made it. Today is the end of a long hard road. And we accept that you have to leave and we accept that you are going to go on this hero’s journey where you’re going to change the world. But I have to tell you it’s not easy on all of us or any of us because we’re going to miss you.

So what does it mean to lead a hero’s journey? To choose a hero’s journey? It means living every moment of your life as if it mattered because it does. It means to live as if you have an important mission. Because you do.

And like Harry Potter and Voldemort or Sir Lancelot and the Holy Grail, it means to realize that no matter how noble the quest, no matter how special the grail, the only thing that matters in the end is how the hero is changed by the journey. As you stand at the beginning of yet another glorious adventure, Steven is right, it is a good day to celebrate and to look back and see just how far you have come. To celebrate that first day right back there, that first day you walked downstairs in silence, and I told you how hard it was going to be and I gave you the choice of turning left and going back into the normal world or turning right. I warned you that the road ahead would be difficult, but each of you made the hard choice and turned right. And we were all forever changed. It is a day to celebrate as Steven said. Those who have walked beside you, Steven’s mentioned your parents, aunts and uncles, husbands and wives, significant others, family and friends who sacrificed so you could learn and grow. And he was so right to honor them.

Now I’d like to honor the teachers and staff who walked beside you the last nine months. Would you stand as I call your name and please remain standing: Jack Long, Jamie Matthews, Steven Tomlinson, Phil Siegel, Ted Beasley, Bill Jones, Jeff Serra, Kimberly Watson-Hemphill, Ellen Fleming, Jeff Connally, Tracy Balboa, Ed Perry, Susie Hall, Oscar Giaverini, and Jean Cornett. I cannot tell you how much this group sacrifices. The sacrifices they make. They could be playing golf or making more money or spending time with their families but instead they choose to walk beside you because each and every one of us believes that each of you are going to change the world in a profound way. The men and women standing before you are Acton. It means nothing without them. And I am grateful and proud to serve beside them.

Finally, today I want to celebrate each one of you because in the end, while we walked beside you, you paid the high price to grow. The bonds of deep friendship forged in hundred hour work weeks, sleepless nights and the terrifying prospect of selling door-to-door will last for the rest of your lives as will the memories, as well they should. Extraordinary family, extraordinary teachers and staff, lifelong friends… that’s quite a bit to celebrate. But let me tell you a little secret about entrepreneurs, we only pause and look back and celebrate for a few moments on days like this because soon our attentions shifts, looking forward to new peaks in the distance, magnificent peaks, businesses to be built. Perhaps even business empires, skills to be mastered, some that might even make us rich. Children and grandchildren to be born. To move from happiness to satisfaction, to fulfillment. You finished the apprenticeship, now you’re off into the real world as journeymen. For you see the last nine months have just been a warm-up, it’s really just been a training mission, now you’re ready for the struggles, the challenges and the battles that will transform you into master entrepreneurs. So I have to ask you what are you going to take with you on this journey because it’s time to start packing. What will you cherish from these last nine months? What will protect and serve you well? Will it be Acton’s theory of learning? That the right analysis and clear thinking lead to good decisions and good decisions become habits and habits turn into character and character turns into destiny. Will it be the questions and the frameworks? Will that be what you take away? Or will it be the lessons about making money? The tools and skills and pattern recognition that 350 cases that are so deeply embedded in your subconscious, so you are almost sure to recognize that extraordinary opportunity. One that will change your life. Or perhaps the most valuable lesson will be much simpler – simply the confidence that when someone is faced with a terrible dilemma or difficult challenge, that your name will be called. That you’ll be the one asked to deliver that message to Garcia. That you will be in the arena and that your place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. All of these will serve you well as you move from a place where everyone has loved you into a world where that is much less safe, much harsher and less forgiving. But you’re ready. You’re ready to move from learning and practicing, to take your place in that great game of entrepreneurship.

Now it’s time for two final gifts. The first is a diploma. As Ed Perry would remind you, an Acton degree is like a black belt in the martial arts, it’s not an end in itself but simply a license to keep learning. For every hero does know that the most important part of the quest isn’t finding the grail, but how a hero is changed in the process.

The second gift is a book. A book with eleven chapters about eleven words. That symbolize where you have been, where you stand now and where you’re going. We’ll return to those eleven words in a moment but now it’s time for each of us to celebrate each of you with a diploma.

The book you have in your hand is titled Aspire. It focuses on eleven words and eleven chapters. The first five words in the first five chapters focus on the challenges of becoming a principled entrepreneur. The last five words in the last five chapters focus on how you can use your gifts to change the world by lifting up and leading others. The word in the middle of that five and five is the most fragile gift we deliver at Acton, a word that keeps your gifts and accomplishments from devouring and destroying you. The word that equips you to lead others on a worthy quest. That word is “humility.” Not the weak, passive sort of humility or the false modesty that C.S. Lewis rightly singles out as the worst form of pride. But the strong quiet form of humility where the master strives to be a curious, life-long learner. You have earned the right to this word. For the character has been etched by the hard work you’ve performed here, by the fact that you never gave up, that you had the courage to look at yourselves in the mirror over and over again. A belief in the power of personal character, forged by difficult decisions, in serious reflection is what separates Acton from business schools that believe ethics can be delivered through lectures or enforced by some sort of MBA oath. It is what separates you from traditional MBAs who long to be masters of the universe or financial speculators. It’s what will separate you as principled entrepreneurs from the charlatans on Wall Street or power-seeking parasitic politicians that threaten our way of life because we know character is earned, not taught. And what really matters is what you do when no one is watching. There is however one drawback to this humility, this special essence of character, and that is it’s so ephemeral, it’s so easily lost. And once transformed by poison or power, it easily can become a fire that consumes you. We’ll turn to that subject in a few moments when it’s time to say our last goodbyes.

Well now it’s time to say our last goodbyes. I’ll leave you with one thought, a warning actually, a glimpse of your future from someone who has been where you’re going. As you sit here today, all warm, with a glow of such an amazing accomplishment – such a well-earned accomplishment – I know that each of you are a little worried about what you’ll do next, concerned about that next job, wondering you have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. I’m here to tell you that you’re worried about the wrong thing. You will be successful. You’ll make more money then you’ll need. You’ll learn that being rich is not about how much you make but spending less than that so that your time belongs to you. You’ll find that failures aren’t about setbacks or making mistakes because those only make you stronger. Increasingly you’ll find yourselves with more and more power at your command. That is when you will be at the most dangerous moment of the journey. When you approach that point where absolute power can corrupt absolutely, when you reach that point I hope you will remember Ed Perry, Steven Tomlinson, and Ted Beasley and all the rest of us because what you do next will reflect on every person who ever has or ever will walk across this Acton stage.

I’ll close with this. We all started nine months when you decided to turn right and not left, you accepted the challenge and I told you that Acton exists because each person here believes that you can and will change the world in a profound way. You are some of the best and brightest people I have ever met, living in the freest country on the face of the earth, at a time when those freedoms are facing some of their greatest challenges. If you aren’t going to go out and make a difference, then who will? And if you’re not going to start now, like Sid, then when?

My final wish and this is a personal one, if you believe as I do, I hope that when you step through that final door and stand before your maker, you will hear those words we all long to hear. Those beautiful words in Matthew: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

God bless you, Godspeed and know that we will never forget you. Thank you.

For more information on the Acton School of Business’ Class of 2010, watch this video or check out the Acton MBA website at www.actonmba.org.

For some more of our teachers’ thoughts on becoming a principled entrepreneur, you might read this speech by Master Teacher Steven Tomlinson or this post.

Thanks to everyone who made Acton’s 2009-2010 school year such a stellar year. Five people particularly stood out:

This year’s Case Teacher of the Year was awarded to Jeff Sandefer. Case Teacher of the Year is the teacher students believe used the Socratic Method to its full capabilities to increase their learning and understanding.

Ed Perry was named the Highest Rated Teacher. Each week, students rate the week’s curriculum, classes, teachers, and Acton staff in a detailed survey. Perry received the highest score overall.

For the first time in Acton MBA’s history, we celebrated two Students of the Year: Robin Weekley and Joshua Epstein.  Student of the Year is awarded to the student with the highest GPA at the end of the two semesters.

Finally, the 2009 – 2010 Acton Scholar Award went to Eleanor Burkett.  The recipient is chosen by the Acton teachers and is for the student who they believe made the most remarkable progress in making the tools and spirit of Acton their own.

Photo courtesy of Bill Hornstein.

Congratulations to the Class of 2010! We’re so proud of the hard work all of you put in this year.

For more pictures, visit our Facebook Fan Page.

Photography by Brian Fitzsimmons

Listen to students from the Acton MBA Class of 2010 talk about their third month in the program. After sharing a bit of their backgrounds and why they came to Acton, the students discuss their greatest challenges, what it’s like learning from real entrepreneurs, and the kinds of real-world lessons they have experienced so far.

Want to keep up with the Acton MBA Class of 2010? Be sure to subscribe to the Acton’s YouTube channel to hear from them each month.

Last week, the incoming class went through Boot Camp, a rigorous week that brings all the students together for the first time and is the final push toward the first week of class. Students attended demonstrations of the case-study method, team-building exercises, quantative sessions and Life of Meaning exercises.

This year, our 38 students gave their overall Boot Camp experience a 4.95 out of 5 rating! Thank you to the students for their great feedback and hard work and a big thank you to the Acton staff who worked hard to make the Boot Camp a very educational and enjoyable experience!

The Class of 2010 started attending classes this past Monday. We wish the new students good luck on their continued journey through their Acton experience.

Image courtesy of seaviewcards.

We have just finalized the Acton MBA Class of 2010 and couldn’t be more excited about the extraordinary group of 38 entrepreneurs joining us in Austin this fall! This dynamic group of men and women will be Acton’s largest class yet.

The numbers:

Of these talented men and women….

• 29% come to us with other advanced degrees
• 18% have experience starting or running their own business
• 8% are international (2 from Mexico and 1 from the UK)