What Is The Value Of Education

By Author: kinhomchan
Total Articles: 66
Comment this article

The lobby2 in front of Grant Auditorium filled with over 100 sharply dressed women and men all hoping to talk to one man who had already spoken for over an hour to all of them. The crowd was waiting to speak with Stan O'Neal3 , chairman and chief financial officer of Merrill Lynch & Co. who spoke as part of the University Lectures series about how to run4 a successful business.

A successful business does not run through the actions of its top leader but rather the decisions of the many leaders that make up a company, Neal said. "What defines a work environment day in and day out6 is not whatI say but picking the right leaders," O'Neal said. "That is a never-ending process, and we are spending a lot of time working on it.O'Neal, who is African-American, spoke about his race and how it affected his rise from a poor neighborhood in the
segregated South to the top of a Fortune 500 company that earns record profits."My race is part of who I am, and what I experienced early in my life has defined me in ways I probably don't understand," O'Neal said.O'Neal emphasized education as the key factor to his success. Education ...
... is essential to the success of all Americans, and it is education that separates the haves from the have-nots now and in the future, "O'Neal said. Developing a system in America that provides quality education equally must be a top priority if America is going to be a land of opportunity for every one of its citizens, he added.

I've been lucky to move from a very subpar educational environment to where I am today," said O'Neal. "But we cannot rely on luck.Reaction to O'Neal's speech was decidedly positive as the moderator" had to beg the audience to let O'Neal through to the reception hall at the end of the speech.

"I was impressed," said Dupe Danni, a junior marketing major. "He is very knowledgeable on all aspects, from his own life and his work at Merrill Lynch. Danni said O'Neal highlighted good communication as key to any business.
"I have to say that he was motivational," said Larry Thomas, associate director of Collegiate Science and Technology
Entry Program at Syracuse University, a program that tries to retain well-qualified students for post-graduate work at the university.

Thomas said he was impressed by O'Neal's accomplishments and how he remembered his past while becoming successful. I was pleased that the university brought in someone who was a leader who is an African-American instead of an African-American leader, "Thomas said.Thomas said he was impressed by O'Neal'saccomplishments and how he remembered his past while becoming successful. I was pleased that the university brought in someone who was a leader who is an African-American instead of an African-American leader, "Thomas said.