Convocation | Robert Smith P’19
October 31, 2017
- You are enough.
- Discover the joy of figuring things out.
- Love is all that matters.
These three rules have governed Robert Smith’s life. They have taken him from his first job, shoveling snow and mowing lawns for his parents and two elderly neighbors, all the way to running a hedge fund with $30 billion under management. Mr. Smith captivated the Cate audience as he recounted his journey on Monday, October 30. Smith took the stage in the Hitchcock Theatre with his daughter, student Elle Smith ‘19, who asked her father some questions crafted by the Cate Business Club. As he spoke, it became clear how his three rules capture Smith’s personal philosophy and govern his choices.
Smith’s ambition, which he decided upon as a high-school student, was to think of an idea no one else had ever thought of. He went to work as an intern at Bell Labs when he was 17. He was given a blank sheet of paper, an invitation to use the resources of Bell Labs, and a problem to solve: why doesn’t this operational amplifier work in the field? He solved the problem—see rules 1 and 2. His self-confidence and curiosity carried him through a degree from Cornell in chemical engineering, an MBA from Columbia, several years at Goldman Saks, and the founding of Vista Equity Partners. Over these years, Smith saw intellectual property become the currency of business with no single culture or country holding the monopoly. As Smith explains it, his company administers an aptitude test to hundreds of thousands of candidates in multiple languages. Across the board, 8.8% of the testees make an A. If a company—or a country—limits “who can take the test,” decline is guaranteed.
The idea of not limiting the pool of candidates, coupled with questions about the specific challenges for an African-American business leader, particularly during the Trump administration, brought Smith’s rule 3 in clear focus: love is all that matters. He noted that the world is full of people who may want him to fail. Smith attributes this to their operation from a place of scarcity, as though the success of one group must mean that another group has lost its place. Smith operates from a place of abundance that he compares to building an on-ramp. The more people who have access to options for education and prosperity, the better off we all will be. Will we choose to love our families and communities and offer possibilities for everyone, or will we choose to destroy the fundamental economic balance of our country because of prejudice? Robert Smith, signer of the Giving Pledge, largest donor to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, devoted father, and successful businessman, chooses to build his on-ramp. At dinner with the Black Student Union, during his question and answer session at Convocation, while at a meet-and-greet in the evening, and across the country as he raises money and awareness, Smith repeats the same three tenets for his success and the success of others:
- You are enough.
- Discover the joy of figuring things out.
- Love is all that matters.