{"id":7249,"date":"2018-01-08T18:29:35","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T23:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/?p=7249"},"modified":"2018-01-08T18:30:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T23:30:46","slug":"wisdom-from-president-barbara-lettiere-pretty-good-is-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/2018\/01\/wisdom-from-president-barbara-lettiere-pretty-good-is-not-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisdom from President Barbara Lettiere: Pretty Good is Not Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbara<\/a>Although the January snowstorm prevented Immaculata University President Barbara Lettiere<\/a> from attending Trinity\u2019s commencement in person, we conferred her honorary degree in absentia and she sent along her commencement remarks with warm wishes to all Trinity graduates.\u00a0 Below is her speech (lightly edited for the circumstances) followed by the citation conferring her honorary degree:<\/em><\/p>\n

President McGuire, Distinguished Faculty, Staff, Parents, Relatives, Friends and most importantly, the 2018 graduating class of Trinity Washington University.\u00a0 I never expected an honor like this from Trinity and I am truly humbled.<\/p>\n

I was asked to say a few words at this commencement ceremony and I promise to be brief.\u00a0 This is not about me today, it is about you.\u00a0 \u00a0You are here to receive your diplomas and I don\u2019t want to delay that exciting moment for any of you\u2026I\u2019ve attended enough of these ceremonies to know that commencement speakers are always scheduled relatively early in the line-up.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a reason for that.\u00a0 It\u2019s what Mark Twain called the \u201clive frog\u201d principle. Twain used to argue that one should swallow a live frog at the beginning of every day.\u00a0\u00a0 That way you would know the worst part of your day was behind you.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That said, I do have a mission here today and my hope is that I leave you with just a couple of thoughts which I hope you remember at least until tomorrow!<\/p>\n

The first message is this.\u00a0 Pretty good is not good enough<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Charles Osgood wrote a poem many years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 Mr. Osgood is a TV personality on Sunday mornings and he hosts the show The Osgood File.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are some excerpts from that poem:<\/p>\n

There once was a pretty good student<\/em><\/p>\n

Who sat in a pretty good class<\/em><\/p>\n

And was taught by a pretty good teacher<\/em><\/p>\n

Who always let pretty good pass<\/em><\/p>\n

The pretty good class that he sat in<\/em><\/p>\n

Was part of a pretty good school<\/em><\/p>\n

And the student was not an exception<\/em><\/p>\n

On the contrary, he was the rule<\/em><\/p>\n

The pretty good student was in fact<\/em><\/p>\n

Part of a pretty good mob<\/em><\/p>\n

And the first time he knew what he lacked was<\/em><\/p>\n

When he looked for a pretty good job.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was then he discovered that life could be tough<\/em><\/p>\n

And he soon had a sneaking suspicion<\/em><\/p>\n

Pretty good might not be good enough<\/em><\/p>\n

So this pretty good student while proud of what he had<\/em><\/p>\n

Learned much to late<\/em><\/p>\n

That if you want to be great<\/em><\/p>\n

Pretty good is pretty bad.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, pretty good is not good enough.\u00a0 You did well by choosing to attend Trinity- not a pretty good but a very good school.\u00a0 \u00a0But the diploma is only the beginning. You will have to strive for excellence in everything you do.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t care what you choose to do with your degree or your lives.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever it is (as long as it is not illegal or immoral) do<\/strong> it well.\u00a0\u00a0 If you can\u2019t be proud of your work, who will be?\u00a0 Who should be?<\/p>\n

My second thought to leave you with is this:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Never ever give up!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I learned this lesson very early in my life \u2013 actually when I was in 8th<\/sup> grade.\u00a0\u00a0 It was time for graduation and I learned that I had finished first in my class.\u00a0 In those days, there was only one No.1 and the award went to one person not everybody just because they showed up.\u00a0\u00a0 I went to a Catholic grammar school and the 8th<\/sup> grade nun told my Mother right before the graduation that while I finished first in my class, she didn\u2019t think I had what it took to be successful.\u00a0 My Mother waited until after the graduation ceremony to tell me about her conversation with Sr. Elizabeth.\u00a0\u00a0 See, I still remember her name.\u00a0\u00a0 But it is what my Mother said to me that stuck.\u00a0\u00a0 She said Barbara, you will make a liar out of her.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ever give up. I believe in you and you need to believe in yourself.\u00a0 So to Sr. Elizabeth I say:\u00a0 I hope you are enjoying eating your words!<\/p>\n

I spent a lot of time in non-traditional jobs during my career at Verizon.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0It was easy to give up.\u00a0\u00a0 Can you imagine being the first female assigned to a garage in North Philadelphia back in the very early 70\u2019s?\u00a0\u00a0 It would have been easy to give up.\u00a0 Nobody talked about glass ceilings in those days.\u00a0 Nobody talked about Affirmative Action in those days.\u00a0\u00a0 So if I wanted to succeed, I had to suck it up and be the best at what I was doing even if mostly men had those jobs.\u00a0 For me, quitting was not an option.\u00a0\u00a0 There was no way I was going home and telling my Mother that I quit!<\/p>\n

I knew I could do it.\u00a0 I believed I could it and I did it.\u00a0 I never gave up.<\/p>\n

My final thought dates back to my retirements from Verizon and Trinity.\u00a0 The irony is that I am still not retired!\u00a0 Back in the days, when people retired from Verizon there was always some sort of party to wish the retiree good luck and to thank them for their years of service.\u00a0 My farewell party was well attended but not by my fellow officers of the Company.\u00a0 The party was very well attended, however, by people who worked in the many organizations I headed up during my 27 years of service.\u00a0 They were payroll clerks, installers and repair technicians, secretaries.\u00a0 What is the message here?<\/p>\n

No matter how far up the ladder you go, never ever forget the people who do the real work.\u00a0\u00a0 Treat your subordinates and peers with respect and you will get the respect and loyalty that is so necessary to be successful. The folks that came to my retirement came to not only say good-bye, but they also wanted to say thank you.\u00a0\u00a0 I may not have remembered some of the simple things I did that meant so much to them.\u00a0 They, however, did not forget.\u00a0 Some of my best friends here at Trinity were the folks who mopped the floors, cleaned the toilets, and shoveled the snow.\u00a0 I so appreciated what they did because honestly, those were the kind of jobs my parents had.\u00a0\u00a0 I have never forgotten my roots.\u00a0\u00a0 It is only because I had three very strong, relatively uneducated role models in my life — my two grandmothers and my Mother.\u00a0 English was a second language in my home growing up.\u00a0\u00a0 They understood the value of education because they themselves did not have good ones and they constantly encouraged my brother and me to excel in school.\u00a0 One of my grandmothers used to always say \u201cDon\u2019t be like me.\u00a0 Don\u2019t work in a cigar factory like me,\u00a0 BE SOMEBODY!\u201d<\/p>\n

Congratulations on your achievement.\u00a0\u00a0 You made the decision and the commitment to further your education.\u00a0\u00a0 You should be proud of what you have achieved and I am sure your families and friends are proud of you too.\u00a0\u00a0 You have taken the opportunity to improve your lives and to do good things.\u00a0 My messages are not about the book learning that you got while attending your many courses at Trinity.\u00a0 My messages are about some things you may want to consider in making the most of your education.<\/p>\n

So in keeping with my promise to be brief, I will close with your very last test at Trinity.\u00a0\u00a0 (and you thought you had taken your final exams!)\u00a0 My test has only a couple of questions and they are multiple choice.\u00a0 Ready?<\/p>\n

Question 1: <\/strong><\/em>Pretty good is…<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Good enough<\/li>\n
  2. Not good enough<\/li>\n
  3. A cop out<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And the answer is?<\/em><\/p>\n

    Question 2: <\/strong><\/em>Do your best…<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. When you feel like it<\/li>\n
    2. When you have to<\/li>\n
    3. Every day and in everything you to<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      And the answer is?<\/em><\/p>\n

      Question 3: <\/strong><\/em>It\u2019s time to give up when…<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The going gets tough<\/li>\n
      2. You\u2019re tired<\/li>\n
      3. There is never a good excuse to give up.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        I wish the graduates all the best \u2014 success, happiness and the good health to enjoy both.<\/p>\n

        Citation for the Honorary Degree Presentation to President Barbara Lettiere<\/strong><\/h3><\/span>\n

        Vibrant institutions are the cornerstones of healthy societies, but institutions require large investments of talent and money to sustain them.\u00a0 During her remarkable career, Barbara Lettiere\u2019s talent has ensured the vitality of three great institutions — the Bell Atlantic Corporation, Trinity Washington University, and her alma mater<\/em> Immaculata University where she now serves as president.<\/p>\n

        Graduating in 1972 as a Math major at Immaculata, one of the nation\u2019s historic Catholic women\u2019s colleges now coeducational, Barbara earned her master\u2019s degree in Economics and Statistics at the University of Notre Dame, and then an M.B.A. at Rider University.<\/p>\n

        Barbara began her corporate career at the telephone company, Bell of Pennsylvania, eventually rising to become vice president and chief financial officer of Bell Atlantic, and then president of Bell Atlantic Federal Systems.\u00a0 When Bell Atlantic became Verizon, Barbara retired from the company to search for a new adventure. \u00a0Fortuitously, Trinity was looking for a new chief financial officer, and Barbara wanted a big challenge.<\/p>\n

        During the 15 years that she served as Trinity\u2019s CFO, from 2002 to 2017, Barbara revolutionized Trinity\u2019s finances including the systems and personnel needed to manage them well.\u00a0 Her legend as the tough \u201cDr. No\u201d on spending was only surpassed by her reputation as a compelling and caring coach for her colleagues.\u00a0 By making sure that Trinity operated in the black, she was able to build the reserves necessary for financing capital projects.\u00a0 In working closely with President McGuire, they set a path to sustainability for Trinity.\u00a0 She oversaw the completion of the Trinity Center for Women and Girls in Sports and tackled major renovations in Main Hall and Trinity\u2019s other historic buildings.\u00a0 As her last great Trinity project, she negotiated the financing and oversaw construction management of the Payden Academic Center.<\/p>\n

        Eschewing a well-deserved retirement, Barbara responded enthusiastically to the call to accept one more great institutional challenge at her beloved Immaculata where she was a generous benefactor, member of the board of trustees and board chair.\u00a0 On October 27, 2017, Barbara was inaugurated as the tenth president of Immaculata, the first lay president.\u00a0 With her deep financial knowledge, commitment to mission and insistence that students are the center of all university endeavors, President Lettiere will lead Immaculata to great success.<\/p>\n

        With gratitude for her contributions to Trinity\u2019s success, and in recognition of her leadership for Immaculata and her outstanding example of leadership in corporate life, Trinity is pleased to bestow on Barbara Lettiere the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        For 15 years Barbara Lettiere’s financial acumen helped to ensure Trinity’s success. Now, with gratitude, Trinity celebrates her success as President of her alma mater Immaculata University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[971,688,9,822,4,29,30],"tags":[1948,1950,1949,1951,1639],"class_list":["post-7249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics","category-catholic-issues","category-celebration","category-higher-education-2","category-speeches","category-women","category-womens-leadership","tag-barbara-lettiere","tag-bell-atlantic","tag-immaculata-university","tag-verizon","tag-womens-leadership"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}