Standing in as the commencement speaker for the 2018 graduating class of the University of Montana, Eric Sprunk, Nike Inc.’s COO and a UM alum, urged graduates to have a “bias for action,” “be somebody who actually does something,” and don’t have any regrets for not trying.
Growing up in Missoula, Sprunk, who is often mentioned as a potential candidate to succeed Mark Parker as CEO, attended Rattlesnake Elementary School and Hellgate High School before graduating from UM in 1986. His father owned the Wes Sprunk Auto Mall car dealership in town.
Sprunk’s connection to the school runs deep. His mother completed her communication studies degree from UM in 1984 and parlayed that into a successful career as a real estate agent. His son, Cooper, graduated from UM in 2017 and played on the football team. The university’s student-athlete academic center was recently named in honor of Eric Sprunk and his wife, Blair, after the family made a sizeable donation to Grizzly Athletics for facility improvements.
University of Montana President Seth Bodnar, who introduced Sprunk, noted that the cruiser Sprunk bikes around Nike’s headquarter campus is maroon, the color of the Montana Grizzlies.
In his speech on May 12, Sprunk peppered much of his talk with his love for UM and the state of Montana, while discussing many of the lessons he learned over his career and the many technological-driven innovations that will greet the graduating class.
“What an amazing time to be graduating from college,” said Sprunk . “The most dynamic, exciting, innovative and creative time in history.”
He warned graduates that the planet is “pretty messed up, and you are going to have to do something about it.” But he said the graduates will benefit as the world is in the midst of the fourth Industrial Revolution, where rapid technological improvements and productivity are driving significant advances in the standard of living for people throughout the world. Said Sprunk, “Your role is to use the extraordinary innovation that exists today and that you will create to better manage the future than we’ve done in the past.”
He stressed the importance of marrying the technological advances with humanity while offering a wide range of career advice, including the importance of being a life-long learner, focusing on opportunities, taking risks and learning from mistakes.
He also referenced last September’s passing of Martin Patrick Coles, the former CEO of Reebok whom Sprunk worked for at Nike in Europe, to stress the importance of being kind and doing good deeds for others. He advised, “Give more energy to people than you take.”
After greeting and thanking many of the people in attendance, Sprunk gave the following commencement address:
“To the graduating class of 2018, what an amazing time to be graduating from college. The most dynamic, exciting, innovative and creative time in history. But the world we live in and the planet we’re on are pretty messed up and you are going to have to do something about it. Hopefully that isn’t news to you.
“You’re graduating from college at the forefront of two extraordinary events happening in the world around us.
“The first is the beginning of what is being called the fourth Industrial Revolution. Now I’m not an economist or a historian, but the way I explain an Industrial Revolution is an era of rapid improvement and productivity that significantly advances the standard of living for people around the world and accelerates economic output. You have to admit that wasn’t a bad explanation. I’m pretty proud of that one.
“And there’s only been three of them. And the last one was a generation ago with the invention of personal computing and the internet. The fourth revolution is the integration of digital technology in your everyday life and with the human body. Think robotics. Think machine learning. Think artificial intelligence. Sensors and the Internet of Things. Biotechnology. 3D printing. Self-driving vehicles. Voice technology. Facial recognition. And on and on.
“No matter your degree and no matter what you’re about to pursue as you leave this institution, this is your new reality.
“Consider just a few of the infinite number of potential outcomes. I don’t believe anybody born after this day will need to get a driver’s license. You’re supposed to go ‘Wow!’ Wouldn’t it be awesome to get in the car, have the car drive you to Bozeman, watch a good ass-kicking of the Bobcats, head back to Missoula, don’t even have to drive. People are already printing healthy human organs that are ready for transplant into human beings. Vaccines for Alzheimer’s, AIDS and cancers are being created through machine learning and artificial intelligence and you will wear them, not ingest them. It’s really amazing. It’s an incredibly future you have ahead of you.
“You are given this revolution to lead, shepherd and manage for those who come after you. Many people worry if all of this is going to make us less of a humane people. I don’t worry about that at all. Giving machines the ability to think like humans is not concerning to me. People thinking like computers without values, compassion or empathy, that is what I worry about. Spend your time making sure that doesn’t happen. (Applause)
“And remember this. All this technology is best used to augment human performance, not replace it.
“The other extraordinary event is the realization those of us who have come before you have been pretty reckless with our world and with the world’s non-renewable resources. This is not a political statement, just a reality. The world is in trouble environmentally for sure. But we also have 70 million displaced people right now living in conditions and places they are forced to inhabit because of famine, war or simply because of their ethnicity or religion. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow at an accelerate rate, so much so that many students in the world today and likely many of you here are not sure capitalism is a realistic scenario for the future. I could also go on and on here, but frankly it gets a little bit depressing.
“That is, until you think of these two things together. Your role is to use the extraordinary innovation that exists today and that you will create to better manage the future than we’ve done in the past. There’s never been a smarter, more creative and more innovative group of students at the University of Montana than you, and you have incredible opportunity in front of you. (Applause)
“I say again, it’s an amazing time. And frankly a little bit overwhelming. Wherever you end up after today, in New York, LA, Kalispell, Hong Kong or maybe running the family business in Bonner, Montana, these dynamics will impact all of you differently. But make no mistake, they will impact you. It reminds me of a great quote by the author, William Gibson, “The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed.”
“Here’s why I think today is so important in this journey. One, I believe very strongly in the power of both a degree and an education. Two, they are two very different things. And three, you’re going to need both.
“I started my career with my degree. As Seth mentioned, I went to work for Price Waterhouse in Portland. Side note, I was hired by a Griz alum who came to campus to recruit. My plan was to go to law school and become a corporate tax lawyer. I know. I’m not sure what I was thinking. But I still think it sounds kind of cool.
“But I was married and had a daughter. I graduated and thought it best to get a job and a paycheck. Now clearly my degree in accounting was the driver to getting the job at Price Waterhouse, and it continued to be very important in my career as a certified public accountant. The importance of your degree will be true for many of you here today. After seven years at Price Waterhouse, I took a job at my favorite client, Nike. Another side note, the same Griz alum who hired me from Montana to Price Waterhouse hired me from Price Waterhouse to Nike. The Griz alum roots run deep! Don’t forget about it. Use it to your advantage.
“It was a remarkably difficult decision for me at the time. I loved working at Price Waterhouse. In hindsight, I think things have turned out okay, but I agonized over that decision. Nike had finance folks working in many parts of the business. And Nike’s co-founder, Phil Knight himself, was an accountant who had worked for Price Waterhouse. I wanted to follow my passion for sports and go where I thought I could put more than just my brain to work.
“Three years into my Nike career I was asked to move to Europe. Two years later I was asked to transfer out of finance and run the European footwear business. That was the last finance job I have had in my career, 20 years ago. Since then, as Seth mentioned I have had a variety of jobs across the company, culminating in being named the COO five years ago. For 12 years of my career at Nike I ran the product organization for Nike. That’s innovation, design, merchandising, engineering, development, product marketing. Imagine the kid with the accounting degree from the University of Montana running innovation and the product functions of one of the best product companies in the world. I know. Apparently just about anything can happen.
“Those opportunities didn’t come because I had a degree in accounting. My finance acumen and the business skills I learned as part of getting that degree certainly were important. But those opportunities came because I kept learning new skills, new competencies and new tools to be successful and applying them. I lean on the education I received from this school every day. It taught me the power of learning and how to be learning-agile my whole life. It’s also why I feel so strongly about the education you receive at a liberal arts school. You just don’t learn the content to pass a test, figure out how to write a paper and then get your degree. You get an education that gives you the skillsets to continue learning the rest of your life. And that is the most critical skill that you can possess today. (applause)
“No matter what your next step is, continuing your education, running the family business, working in a large multi-national corporation, starting your own business, being the head of a household, whatever you do–your success will depend on how fast you can assimilate new information, simplify it and learn new methods of working and new ways of thinking through problems. That is what your education at the University of Montana has given you. Please do not let it go to waste.
“All right, let’s pivot a little here. I also want to share a few things I’ve learned along the way as we finish up.
“First, keep the aperture of your personal life and your professional life as open as you can for as long as you can. When I graduated I had the opportunity to stay in Missoula. Had a great job opportunity, a great offer. Love this place, you know that. Or move to Portland. As I mentioned, at the time I was newly married and was a new father. Not an ideal time. Our oldest was four weeks old. But I felt that if I didn’t take the offer I would not get the chance again and I knew I could always come home to here.
“When Nike asked me to move to Europe, it was right after our third child was born, Cooper, and I wasn’t sure about moving three young kids overseas. Frankly for most of my adult life–this is embarrassing admitting–Spokane was “the big city.” And moving to Amsterdam seemed just a little bit intimidating with the family. But I thought I would never get the chance to go again and I could always come back. We lived there for five of the best years of my life. The same was true when they asked me to leave my career track in finance and take over the footwear business in Europe. It felt really, really risky. But it seemed like I was increasing my opportunities and I could always go back to finance if it didn’t work out.
“My point, be sure to think about your career from an opportunity perspective. Not the title. Not the job. Sometimes not even the company. Sometimes not the pay. Be thinking about the future. The aperture will eventually start to close and you will have wanted to have made the most of it while you were able to.
“Second, know what you don’t know. Brilliant statement, don’t you think? When I was given the opportunity to run design and innovation, it was not my job to be a better designer and innovator than the folks who did it for a living. My job was to create an environment where they could do their best work and be their best selves. It’s okay not to know everything. You’ll learn a ton as you go forward from here. But don’t be a poser. Don’t be ignorant. Don’t be arrogant.
“Nobody wants to work for or with somebody who doesn’t understand their own faults and isn’t trying to make themselves better. Surround yourself with really good people who do know what you don’t. That is the path to success.
“I liken this a lot to successful coaching in any sport. The most successful coach is rarely the one who is the best former player, the smartest or the best tactician. It is the coach who does what is necessary to help their team win and recognizes every teammate’s role in winning.
“Third, have a bias for action. Be somebody who actually does something. I’m starting to sound like your parents, and for that I apologize.
“Somebody who actually gets things done. Don’t be that person on social media who shares the things you’re going to do. I am going to lose weight. I’m going to volunteer. I’m going to travel the world. I’m going to…
“Be the person who posts want they did and what they’ve accomplished. Too many people are sitting on the sidelines. Find your voice. Fight for those who don’t have one. Stick up for yourself and stand up for other people.
“I try to live my life on the basis that I want to look back and regret the things I did, not the things I did not do. It is somewhat of a risky situation but its’ working so far. (Applause)
“There are plenty of regrets. I have regrets with how I’ve handled certain situations professionally. I certainly have regretted certain decisions I have made. I regret certain risks I have taken. But I have tried to learn from all of them so that next time I can make better decisions.
“Now here’s a pretty good example of one of those on a more personal front. It’s a little bit embarrassing but I’m going to share it with you.
“I was the recipient of the 2014 Alumni Award from this university. I accepted this award eight weeks after jumping off a roof at Larry Krystkowiaks’ 50th birthday party and missing the part of the pool that had water in it. I was still wearing two knee-high rehab boots and using a scooter to get around and was pretty confident when I showed up I would be awarded the undistinguished alumni award. By the way it should also be noted your current football coach was on his way to the roof with me until he saw what happened to me. That decision I regretted immediately, frankly while still in the air. What did I learn? I learned my wife is a saint and a very good nurse. And I learned, frankly, I no longer jump off things.
“Sometimes life lessons are painfully, and I mean that literally and figuratively, simple. And at Nike you get rewarded for taking risks and making mistakes. Of course, if you keep making the same mistake, we typically take away your employment. Instead, you want to fail fast and you want to fail forward. Learning through experience is almost always the best way to learn.
“And my last piece of advice. Give more energy to people than you take. Blair and I went to a funeral a few months back of a good friend who was a pretty successful and wealthy businessman and far too young to be taken from all of us. I worked for him in Europe and he held top jobs at Starbucks, Reebok and a couple of other companies. As you do, we shared great stories about him and what he meant to all of us and his family. When we were leaving later that evening after being together for several hours, Blair noted that he was an incredibly successful businessman and yet nobody there talked about those accomplishments, just what a great guy he was and what he meant to us. Remember that. That’s what matters.
“I treat the receptionist, Kelly, in the lobby of the building I work the same way I do my boss, the CEO of the company, and everybody else in my life. I want Kelly to look forward to seeing me walk into the building in the morning. I want everyone to want to work with me or be with me. I don’t want them to feel like they have to work with me or be with me. And this takes energy.
“To do that, you need to take time to refuel yourself. The best way for me to do that for most of my career has been to be the coach of my kids’ sports teams. Today, since apparently in college you don’t get to show up to coach kids sports teams, one of the best ways for me to do that is to spend as much time as I can tied up on a flotilla in the middle of Flathead Lake with my family and friends.
“For those who are sitting knowing pretty much what they want to do with their life, congratulations. That was the chair I was sitting in. For those of you who don’t have a really good idea, enjoy the ride. That’s what happened to me in the end and it is probably going to happen to most of you.
“Keep learning every step of the way. Things are likely to turn out pretty great.
“But today I join in celebrating you and your degree with your family and friends and the staff and administration at this great university. But just as importantly I also congratulate you on your education. May you use both to go forth and do good in the world.
“Now, I’m off to Hoagieville to have a Hoagie, sit on the back deck of the Depot and I’m positive I’m going to end the night at Red’s and I hope to see many of you there.” (Applause)
The full University of Montana Spring 2018 Commencement Ceremony can be viewed here.
Photo courtesy Nike
