Published June 19, 2019 on LinkedIn

Life doesn’t give you an “A” for effort.

Harsh as that may sound, I recently needed to remind my upper-division students at UC San Diego of this fact of life. And for those who graduated this past weekend, I hope they keep this lesson in mind as they go on to (hopefully) make a difference.

I graduated from college 16 years ago. It was a Sunday. And on Monday, I embarked on a great adventure.

I had to report for duty with the Navy. I had just gotten my commission and my butter bars as a newly minted ensign, and I was ready to take on the world. Two years later, I was traveling the globe on a submarine. I had worked hard to get to this point, going through the initial training pipeline that gives us submariners the egghead brand we have inside the Navy. And I remember once complaining to my Sea Daddy, the mentor who had taken me under his wing. I was ordered to complete another task on top of the thousand other things I had to do, and I was explaining that I couldn’t get it done because I was already working too hard.

“Don’t care,” he said as he walked off. He didn’t yell it at me; in fact, he said it in a matter-of-fact kind of way.

That’s when it really hit me. Not only does no one care about my effort, but no one should care about my effort. It’s about results. It’s about impact.

We had a mission to accomplish, and I needed to do my part successfully -- however small or large. My hard work was necessary but not sufficient for my division, my department, my boat, the submarine force, the Navy, the national security apparatus, and our Nation to achieve its foreign policy objectives.

Along the way, I realized that—while we don’t give As for effort—life does gives high marks for results. What we did mattered. What mattered was getting our work done and doing it well.

Now 16 years after I walked in my own commencement, leaving behind the Ivory Tower and entering the real world, I pause to think. I look back at work I’ve done as an officer in the Navy, the owner of a business, professor at various institutions across the country, and chief executive officer at the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. If I had to guess what grades life would have given me, I can say that I’ve gotten some stellar As, some okay Bs, a few Cs and Ds, and some huge whopping Fs. And I deserved them all.

While I worked my tail off, all that mattered were the end results.

In life, the grades we get aren’t based on how hard we work; rather, they’re based on what that work produces. The UCSD graduate going into our life sciences sector could be working in a startup on a new medicine, and he or she is going to work really hard. But if it doesn’t cure disease, there will be no A. The graduate going into public policy could be working on addressing homelessness, and if he or she doesn’t get more folks off the streets, again – no A.

My message to graduates is simple: you can work hard, no doubt, but your effort only guarantees you’ll have a chance to produce results.

Whether or not we as a country decide to be relevant, each of you can make an impact—for your family, for your job, for your neighborhood, for San Diego.

As I was reminded by a speaker at my commencement, we each have responsibilities to fulfill. Just as I reported for duty the day after my graduation, you each have a duty to show up, work hard, and actually get results.

Get out there and work hard. But more important, make a difference! That’s what counts.

Hey Grads! Give Life Your Best Effort, But Don’t Expect Credit for It