Michael Dubin 97 CEO and Founder, Dollar Shave Club Before we get into it here, could I ask my parents to stand up please. Mom and Dad, thank you for making sacrifices so I could attend four years of Haverford. If you hadn t, I simply would not be the man I am today. In fact, if all the parents could stand up. On behalf this class of 2017, thank you for making sacrifices big and small so these men could attend Haverford. These men may not know it yet, but Haverford has had a permanent impact on their lives. And we hope, that their lives will have a positive impact on the world. But, really, we hope that they will be happy. Let s talk about that word for a second. Happy. What does it mean to be happy? How do you become happy? by getting rich selling razors on the internet!! But isn t that the point of it all? To strive for happiness? So, how do you do it? Well Class of 2017 I believe it is this: Be thoughtful about the life that you want to build, and then make good choices. That s it! Sounds easy, doesn t it? It s not. Up til now you ve had a lot of help with building a life. Here you are, at one of the nation s finest prep schools. But that choice was made for you. From this day forward the choices are all yours. You re in charge. That s a big moment. That s a big shift. Choices matter. Actually you ve already made some choices. I m told that 100% have chosen to go off to college. Well done. But why? Do you know why you made that choice?
I didn t. I went to college because that s what was supposed to be next. That s what everyone was doing. That s how you get ahead! It s not a bad choice by any means. But I wasn t very thoughtful about the choice. Or how it should factor in to building the life I want. And so when I got there, I floundered a bit. A lot. No one was waiting there to tell me what to do. No one was there to make choices for me. So I assumed that college was just high school with out the parents. A continuation of what had come before. Play some sports Take some history classes See if you can jump off a roof into a pool I was uninspired. And I have the transcript to prove it. That led to some pretty significant failures later in life, but I ll come back to that. So, if you don t know -- here s why you re choosing to go to college: to start building the life that you want. And how will you do that? By making good choices: About where and how you spend your time About with whom you spend your time About your mindset About your attitude So, Erry body got choices. Let s talk about choices. First some background on Choices: Everything is a choice. Even the choice not to do something is a choice.
And every choice you make has a ripple effect out into your future. If you can internalize that thought now, you re way ahead of the game. I m not suggesting you over-analyze everything. I m encouraging you to be thoughtful about why you re choosing one thing over another. Now that we re in the thoughtful spirit, here are a few specific choices I recommend. Choice #1: Try Everything Try everything that sounds even remotely interesting. You need to get as much exposure to as many new things as possible, even if you can t draw a straight line between that thing and what you think you want. Seek new things out. Say yes. Just for the hell of it. Why? 1) You re probably not 100% sure what you want out of life yet, and you never know when or where you re going to find something that speaks to you. 2) Because you cannot foresee how such things will cross-pollinate and accelerate other areas of your life. I believe greatly in this cross-pollination theory of life, which states that insights and truths from one discipline can be exponentially valuable when applied to another. When I was living in New York City after college, and working at NBC I d heard that all the great writers and performers on SNL had ben trained in improv. That sounded interesting, so I signed up for a class. Which led to another class. Which led to eight years of classes, and hundreds of hours of training. There was no plan to become a professional improviser or comic. No direct line between that and my career goals in media or marketing. I just fell in love with the art form and wanted to learn it. And, it is only because of that improv training that I had the skills to write and perform in the first DSC commercial or any of the subsequent commercials. Without those commercials, DSC would not have become what it is today. Without that improv training, I would have had to hire someone else. I probably wouldn t have been able to afford anyone good. And the final product probably wouldn t have been as good.
So if I don t say yes to that first improv class on a whim, then there is no Dollar Shave Club. And then my poor mother would still be flying coach. Furthermore, my improv skills have proved invaluable in business. Improv taught me to think quickly on my feet To distill key thoughts from a live discussion And to synthesize them into a story This is what I do in business all day long. So, simply saying yes to something I thought was interesting and perhaps insignificant totally changed my life. Choice #2 - Don t Do What Everyone Else is Doing and its cousin, don t worry about what everyone else is doing, despite how great their choices seem. Most people you ll meet over the next four years probably don t really know what they want to do with their lives, or what their purpose is and consequently -- why they make the choices they do. Not the all-american swimmer who s certain he wants a career as an investment banker. Not the guy in your fraternity who watches CNBC at lunch and thinks he wants to be a stock trader. Not the dude from Texas who wants to be a lawyer cause his daddy was/is Don t be inspired by someone else s un-thoughtful choices. Make your own choices. Follow your interests and your passions and the universe will deliver you on your path. After college, many of my friends went into banking or law or consulting. They were making $150,000 year, a lot more than the $45,000 I was making in media and marketing. While they were renting houses in the Hamptons in July, I was cooking rice and beans in the East Village with no air conditioning. That was really discouraging. I was sure I d made the wrong choice. I hadn t, but I couldn t see it at the time. Now I can.
I chose my own path. At CNN I learned how to hustle down a-player businessmen and politicians and get information from them. At NBC I learned how to write for and to reach big audiences. At Sports Illustrated I learned how big brands talk to their customers. All of these experiences have contributed meaningfully to my success. So, don t be motivated or swayed by social noise Or by early marks of financial success If you want to live a unique and exceptional life, do unique and exceptional things. Choice #3 - Get Out of Your Comfort Zone Over the next many years You re going to have the natural inclination to find people that look like you, talk like you, that come from similar places. And to undertake activities or pursuits you re comfortable with or good at. That s ok. Do some of that. But also - - - do the opposite. Do things that make you uncomfortable. Things that you re not good at. Your body s natural instinct is to be comfortable, to take the easy path. But if you don t become a master of your discomfort it will prevent you from trying new things or taking important risks. And that s where all the growth is, in the discomfort zone. I spend most of my time in the discomfort zone, doing things I ve never done before. I d never started a company before. Or run a company of 50 employees. Or 100 employees. Or 275 employees. I d never raised $150 million dollars from venture capitalists; I didn t even know any venture capitalists when I started DSC. I d never negotiated the sale of a company before.
You need to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable. It s a feeling you re going to have constantly your entire life. Tough conversations with partners Tough conversations with friends Tough conversations in personal relationships If you don t get comfortable, your discomfort will betray you. You won t have the presence of mind in the moment, when you need it most. You ll take the path of least resistance. Instead of the correct path. So, lean in to your discomfort. Learn it. Bathe in it. Come to know it as a friend. If you re not panting and wheezing and racing to keep up, then you re not learning or growing. And if you re not learning and growing, then you re falling behind. Choice 4: and this is a two-parter Choice 4A: Be Kind to Yourself While you re out there making thoughtful choices and trying new things and getting out of your comfort zone, things are going to go horribly wrong on you. More than a few times. You re going to get knocked around. You are going to have moments where nothing goes right. Where you feel like you ve screwed up your life. When you feel like all the doors are closed. For me, that was my late 20s. Because of my grades in college, I didn t get in to graduate school. And I really wanted to. I also felt like I was in a dead-end job. And, that I d never shake the mistakes of my past. Then in 2008 I got laid off, and that was the bottom for me. There s nothing that can prepare you for that feeling. When it happens, and it will, be kind to yourself. It happens to everyone. You deserve to be kind to yourself. Be kind, and Choice 4B: Choose to Study Your Failure
You re not off the hook. Don t waste all that pain and frustration and misery! This is the time for over-analysis! How did we get here?! What could I have done differently?! Make the choice to study your failure from every angle. Was I under-prepared? Did I misjudge something or someone? Did I make some bad choices? In my case, the failure of my terrible transcript was the result of my failure to make maybe the most important choice of all: Ask for Help When you get to school, find an advisor. Find two advisors. Even if you think you know what you want to do. Go talk to some one. I wish I had. Ask them how can I get the most out of my time here? When you leave school, find a mentor. Find a coach. You have coaches in sports, and teachers in class. Why wouldn t you want one in life? It s the hardest sport of all! And unless you ve lived a life before, you re not an expert. Talk to people who have walked the path before. You don t need to figure it all out on your own. People want to help you. Let them help you. And then it will be your obligation to help others. So, as you embark on this next chapter of your life, remember this: The choices you make will define the life you build. Starting today, all the choices are yours. Make them thoughtful. Good news: I know you learned some good habits here. I did. I wish you good luck, good choices and happiness. Thank you.