In recognition of his successful career as a businessman and philanthropist, Jeff Orr, Chief Executive Officer and President, Power Financial Corporation, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, at the Tuesday morning session of Western’s 309th Convocation.
Orr spoke to graduates from the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Ivey Business School, urging them to succeed by doing what is right.
“I don’t necessarily mean to attain a certain position, or to get to a certain place in society, or to make a certain amount of money. Those are goals. If you define what you achieve by goals, it’s tough and it can be disappointing. You can do all that’s right but there is a certain amount of luck that’s involved and you can’t predict you’ll meet all the goals you set out for yourself,” Orr said.
Focus on the same values in all aspects of life, he noted, and don’t think of business as a dog-eat-dog world it so often represents.
“What I mean by succeed is become the kind of person you want to become. Define your success by developing a view of who you want to be, not what you want to be personally, or professionally. Behave in a way that, at the end of your life, you can look yourself in the mirror and you can say, ‘I was the person I wanted to be.’ By being the person who is doing the right thing, trying to contribute, it advances your goals,” he continued.