Have you taken an honest look at yourself in the mirror lately and evaluated your progress towards your calling? Do you even have criteria for self-evaluation? What does success mean to you?

Jeff Brenzel, the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale, wrote an imaginary commencement address (Bill Clinton gave the real one) for the Huffington Post, where he started a great discussion about the criteria with which we judge our successes. Whether you’re just graduating, still a student, or decades into your career, his suggested exercise is an excellent starting point for personal reflection:

What matters…is not how I might assess what you have done, or how your professors graded you, or what your friends and family might say, or even how a professional school or employer is going to view you, but rather how you would now evaluate yourself.

I wonder if you have thought to do this as yet, to measure yourself by standards that you would have to justify and explain, not to us, but only to the man or woman in the mirror. Not only are you the only one in a position to make a full and candid assessment, but you are the one to whom the assessment ultimately matters.

So what criteria will you use for self-assessment? Actually, this is one of the questions we most hoped that you would learn to ask in new ways while you were here. If part of your task is to develop your own standards, then by the nature of the case I cannot provide you with the right measuring tool. I can only tell you that there are few things more important than learning how to rely less on how others see you and more on courageous self-examination.

That said, I cannot resist making a few suggestions about some possible questions, just to flesh out the kind of assessment I have in mind:

To what degree have you learned how to lead by subordinating your own ambition to the common good, rather than vice versa?

Have you mastered a mode of inquiry, or developed anything that could constitute a permanent and fertile source of intellectual interest?

How much more did you contribute to classes and organizations and jobs than you took from them?

Have you as yet loved anyone or anything beyond reason?

Have you learned how and why to risk a serious, public failure?

How well can you sustain a determined, focused and disciplined attempt to solve an important problem?

How much more inclined and more able are you to recognize and appreciate real genius, whatever its mode of expression?

What have you become willing to do without getting paid, graded or recognized?

How much room have you been able to leave for the inconvenient exercise of compassion, kindness and generosity?

….But at the risk of disappointing those of us who knew you here, and above all yourself, you are not free to avoid the daunting task rendering yourself an accounting. I recommend taking a shot at doing this now, before you sail away to the next challenge. The exercise could be most revealing.”

Great food for thought. As you answer these questions and your own, you might also think about how you’ve “learned how to learn” (to listen, question, analyze, and continuously grow as a person and as an entrepreneur) and how you’re moving towards your calling (the job that supersedes all other jobs becuase it integrates what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about, and a need in the world). Following your calling is more than just making a plan and sticking to it; the process is a journey, steeped in personal discovery (like finding a skill to master or acquiring a steppingstone job). Having a personal evaluation that you can return to periodically can really help you stay on track and make the most of your discoveries.

This was an excerpt of Jeff Brenzel’s speech. You can read it in its entirety over on Huffington Post. If you haven’t had your fill of inspirational graduation speeches yet, we highly recommend Master Teacher Jeff Sandefer’s address to the 2010 Acton Scholars and this compilation of entrepreneurs’ speeches.

Photo courtesy of an untrained eye.

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.

Acton provides a curriculum that is designed to help students find their “calling.” This process includes the difficult, but rewarding, journey of personal transformation.

You need to look deeply and honestly – and enlist the help of others – to find your extraordinary innate gifts. We believe that in these gifts, given in service to others, you will find your true personality, a dependable source of inspiration and a long-term vision for your life. If you want to find a calling, you’ve got to be willing to look deep inside yourself – to face questions about what matters most to you and what’s kept you from getting it, questions you may have neglected or avoided. We find that many students have a good idea what they’d really like to do; they are simply afraid they can’t do it and, therefore, are afraid to try.

To overcome these obstacles, you’ll have to confront limiting beliefs and face fears you may have carried for as long as you can remember. This introspection takes brutal honesty and extraordinary hard work on your part. If you’re not inspired, if you haven’t set a goal and reckoned the cost and decided it’s worth it, you won’t do it. Unless you commit to the task, you can’t expect to achieve the freedom to which you aspire.

So here is the big question: what is your calling? And here is the even bigger question: do you have the courage to pursue it?

Life is a journey, not a destination. But this does not mean that life should be an aimless journey. The most successful and fulfilled entrepreneurs are always advancing toward a vision that gives meaning to their lives. It is this relentless pursuit where persistence transforms ideals into a lifelong mission.

Life is more than just changing the world. How will your mission involve your personal life and your family? Will the difficult choices be worth the inevitable trade offs? If not, you may not have found your calling yet.

Visualize yourself at age seventy (or one hundred if you are an optimist). The setting can be an awards dinner, or if your tastes are slightly more morbid, your own funeral. Which role from your life do you want the speaker to mention first? Second? Third? What do you want them to say? How do you feel about the areas that have been left out? In this exercise are the sparks of a calling.

A frequent response to the above is: “I just don’t know. I wish I were one of those people who had my entire life planned, but I just don’t work that way.” This is a cop-out, an avoidance of the realities and responsibilities of life.

Beginning with the end in mind is not about planning every detail of your life. In fact, the entrepreneurial philosophy is based on dealing with uncertainty, not certainty. Beginning with the end in mind is about examining why life is worth living and being true to your own values and dreams. If you have trouble uncovering these fundamental goals and values, it is time to go back to your basic foundations. Query people you trust and admire. Read great literary works and books on philosophy. Spend time alone in a quiet place. If you are religious, reexamine the fundamentals of your religion. Question, examine assumptions, reflect, and question again.

Advice the class of 2010 needs. Advice we ALL need.

Photo courtesy of kevinw84.