Brian Lamb, founder and CEO of C-SPAN
Saint Anselm College
Commencement Speech
May 22, 2004
It is a pleasure and honor to be here on this fabulous day….
I'm really here for a couple reasons. A couple of months ago, [Saint Anselm College President] Fr. Jonathan [DeFelice] asked me to give this speech. More importantly, someone who came to work at C-SPAN when she was a 21-year-old, right out of school like you, called me up and asked me if I would do this. She started work with us 15 years ago. She now works for the Institute of Politics here at this school, and there is nothing like a personal connection from the old days to move somebody to do something like this. I think the reason Jennifer Donahue, who is sitting up in the balcony over there, the reason why this is so much fun is because we talked all through the years about what to do in her career. I never had the answers, but I loved to listen and give her some ideas on some of the things I have been through.
So today, this is for all of you out there. The only thing I can tell you is that I'm not a famous guy, and I apologize to you because I know you had a lot of famous people here at this school. I want to put this into context, because you had Fox News all over this place for the primary. They are really important and really famous, and [C-SPAN] is just a tiny network down in Washington that carries Congressional hearings…boring stuff like that.
I want to describe to you so we will all be on the same wavelength, what people think of me. This is from viewers that have written and from newspaper articles that have been written. Then it will be a little easier for us to have this conversation.
I was a graduate, by the way, of Purdue University and this came in the mail a couple of years ago. "My son and son-in-law, and two granddaughters are Purdue graduates. Please don't tell anyone you graduated from Purdue, we don't claim you."
Here's another: viewer Jim Raggler, from 1998. He said, "Every time you get a call" -- I do a call-in show in the morning, "telling you how wonderful you are, we are nauseated. Anyone as deadpan as you is up to no good."
Now, these are particularly interesting because they come from newspaper stories and magazine articles. From Mirabella magazine, (the good news is Mirabella isn't even in business anymore), here's what they said about me in 1991: "Brian Lamb, the alarmingly expressionless John Glenn impersonator, is a video-Buddha, television's most stationary being. His body, his desk, his chair are one."
My favorite is the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "Brian Lamb is not a stiff, he just plays one on TV. He's the presidency's man. He is also the channel's leading personality, which is a little like saying he is the most thrilling turtle in the pet shop."
Then there is this one from the New York Times Magazine, "Lamb, the network's most familiar face, is no television star. He is balding, with deep-set eyes, a tepid gaze, and is a cross between Bob Newhart and Alexander Haig. He speaks in a gravelly, mid-western monotone and has all the charisma of a test pattern with none of the color." I kind of like this tagline on the article. It said, "He is just slightly more animated in person than on TV."
And this is the final one. This is from the Baltimore Sun. "On screen, his persona is as colorless and flat as his home state of Indiana." Not nice!
By the way, I thought of you all at breakfast this morning. I had a very nice young lady who waited on me and I asked her, I said, "Are you student?" She said, "No I graduated." I said, "What did you graduate in?" She said, "I graduated in marble sculpting from a school in Poros, Greece." I said, "What are you doing here?" And this will probably ring home true to you right now; she said, "I'm here because I need money."
Fabulous and excited about her future, but she said the obvious, she needs money. That's why we are with you all right now. It's time… time to move on from this fabulous institution.
Before I got here, I asked to talk to a half-dozen of you in the class, and I had a very good conversation one afternoon via telephone. I'm going to butcher one of these names, I suspect. I talked to John Kirby, Emily Looser, Elizabeth Fanning, Lindsay Hanson and John Bozicas. I just wanted you to tell me about this place. Robert Osgood [student commencement speaker] did a good job of summing up how you feel about this place. But Elizabeth said, "The thing about this school is, you get to know the faculty, they are open for visiting. You can talk to the monks and to Fr. Jonathan; they made me feel at home."
I have heard that time and time again, I feel like I was home. Lindsay told me, "I'm leaving here an educated human being. Outside of the friends I've made, it has been the academics."
Fr. Jonathan sent me a letter, and I noticed this in the middle of the letter. He said, "Central to Saint Anselm's mission is the conviction that models of human lives well lived are more necessary than ever to forming society's future leaders." He said some of that in what he talked about today. Now, is it good news that you never have to worry about your senior politics thesis again?
You're awfully quiet. I can't imagine being that unemotional. Emily Looser said, "We're taught by the Benedictines that we're all individuals." I think that's one of the more important messages that I'd like to leave you with.
I have, as Woodrow Wilson did in World War I and as I'm sure some of you studied, 14 points….They are very quick…They're very small; some of them, by the way, will never be spoken at any other graduation today in the whole United States. The most famous person you could invite here will never give you this advice.
· The first one of my points is, get a good handshake. You'll never forget the handshake of a person if it's bad. And you will be interested in this because of the political institute. I shook hands within the last six months with a presidential candidate, who will remain nameless, whose handshake was frightening.
· Shine your shoes. Shine your shoes. First thing I notice when somebody comes in is the handshake, and are their shoes shined? Some of you guys here have a little work to do.
· One-page resume. We haven't done enough in our lives, including me, to do a two, three and four-page resume. People are too busy and in too big of a hurry. One page does it. It gives people a flavor of what you are about.
· Read a daily newspaper. Now you can read online. It doesn't have to be a newspaper. The message is stay up with what's going on in current affairs.
· When you talk to people, and when you are going in for one of those interviews, look them in the eye. Look them right in the eye when you talk to them. Don't look over their shoulder. In Washington, everyone does that all the time, everyone is always worried about the next person they are going to meet. Look them in the eye!
· Now this is an interesting one, because it's number six. It's be interesting. Be interesting, find things that make you an interesting person and don't be afraid to pass it on to people.
· Have an idea of where you are going, some idea.
· Eight, when you go into an interview for a job, know something about the company or organization. Know where the money comes from.
· Nine, don't be afraid to be different. There is an awful lot of conformity in our society. People enjoy meeting people who are not just like the next or the last person who came through the door.
· Now this is something that John Bozicas talked about when we talked, and I've had it down on paper for a number of years. But, it's very important. Be a good listener, ask questions. In Washington, most people are on what we call transmit. Very few are on receive, nobody listens. They all talk.
· Eleven, as you go out looking for work, get in the door. This week we were doing a program in New York City with a famous Broadway producer by the name of Hal Prince. He was talking to a bunch of high school kids and he said when he got out of college he wanted to be a producer. The first thing he did, he went to a producer in New York City and said, "I will work for you for six months for nothing, and at the end of six months if I have done a good job, I would like to be considered for full time work. Within the six months, if I'm not doing a good enough job, you can fire me." It worked. At age 76 or 77 he is one of the foremost producers of Broadway in the world
· Twelve, it's not what you know, it's who you know. That's not a negative on knowing something, but that's something you might as well get used to. I'm here because of Jennifer Donahue. She undoubtedly came to C-SPAN because she knew somebody else that knew someone there. It doesn't necessarily get you a job, but don't be afraid to use every contact you have in order to get in the door first. And then eventually you will have to perform.
· Thirteen, believe in something. It's that simple. Believe in something. Don't be one of those people who have no beliefs and don't stand for anything. The rest doesn't have to be said.
· And finally, do what you want, not what others want you to do. Now parents sitting back there, and boy are you quiet today, parents sitting back there are not particularly happy that I just said that.
Let me just tell you one story and then I'll go away. When I was in your shoes, the night before we graduated even in a big school that had 16,000 students, four or five of us went to my history professor's house for dinner. After dinner was over we sat around in a circle and Professor Houston, who is still a friend of mine today, said, "I'm going to go around the room and ask each of you what you're going to do."
The first guy said, "I'm going to be a lawyer". The second guy said, "I'm going to go to med school." It got around to me and I said, "I'm really not sure, been in broadcasting, did that television show and all that." Everyone in the room said, "You know, you ought to be a lawyer." My father said I ought to be a lawyer. "You ought to be a lawyer," he said, "because it's a license to steal." I think he actually meant it!
All summer long, even though I had no business (by the way, I was the poster child for the American C student. To you C students out here… this is what one looks like!) All summer long I worked to get into law school. I got in and my stomach was hurting the whole time because I knew this wasn't what I wanted to do. They let me in to Indiana Law School. I got my car packed, drove 100 miles from Purdue University to Indiana, got a little apartment and had some parties. School started and my stomach kept hurting. That's always a great indicator on how you really feel about something.
Three days into it my parents came to visit. I can see it as if it was yesterday. I was sitting in the living room of their friend's house and I said, "Mom and Dad, I have something to tell you. I'm leaving. I'm not going to go to law school. I don't want to be a lawyer. I want to do what I want to do."
Interestingly enough, my parents said, "That's fine with us." So I left Indiana Law School and went into the Navy and lived happily ever after. And I loved it!
You're a terrific looking bunch of people, you have wonderful spirit and enthusiasm. Thanks to the students that talked to me on the phone and thanks to the fabulous hospitality of everybody behind me. We've had a wonderful time since I've been here, Anne Botteri, and the Institute of Politics, and my friend Jennifer. And to the rest of you in this room, congratulations, have a good, fun and exciting day, and this graduation speech is over.