Your Excellencies

Honorable Member of Parliament for Akwapim South, Lawrencia Adjoa Dziwornu

Distinguished Guest Speaker, Reeta Roy

Members of the Board of Directors

Representative of Odeefuo Oteng-Korankye II; Nananom

Distinguished Guests

Parents, family, and friends

My colleagues here at Ashesi University

and Dear Class of 2025,

Welcome to the 21st commencement ceremony of Ashesi University.

Class of 2025, congratulations on achieving this important milestone in your life’s journey!

Let us also take a moment to thank all those whose contributions have helped bring you to this Commencement day: your families who supported you along the way; the faculty who guided your learning here; the administrators and support staff who made this campus a nurturing environment; and our donors and friends whose generosity helped build this institution and funded the education of many who otherwise could not have afforded to be here.

Class of 2025, do you remember my message to you on your matriculation day at Ashesi? My guess is, you probably don’t remember much of what was said, but that you remember being here in the Archer-Cornfield Courtyard being welcomed to this community. Even though you might not exactly remember my charge to you, no doubt, over the course of your study here, you experienced some of what I talked about.

Let me remind you.

I shared the words of a Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu:

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Remember?

I shared Lao Tzu’s words to make that point that here at Ashesi, we believe in collective ownership, and I urged you to be part of the “leadership” of this institution. I wanted you to conduct yourselves in such a manner that you would later look at your contributions and say, ‘We did it ourselves!” I also invited each of you to give some thought to what you might do to add to Ashesi’s excellence during your time here, not just for the sake of your alma mater, but as a powerful way to determine some purpose to guide your university journey.

Well, here we are at the completion of your education here.

We are all proud of your accomplishments, and I hope that as you reflect on your years here, you too, feel a great sense of satisfaction about the many facets of your journey thus far.  I invite you to take a moment to reflect on your accomplishments and to allow yourself the sense of satisfaction that you did it yourselves.

Today marks the end of one chapter in your journey and the beginning of the rest of your lives. Just as on your matriculation day, this next chapter too would benefit from finding a purpose to guide you. This is what I would like to join you in a conversation about today.

Purpose – one’s intent– matters. And it matters in things big and small.

Let me illustrate with a scenario that we have all become familiar with — the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the learning process. Students who use AI with the intent to learn use it differently from those who use it with intent simply get an agent to do their work for them. The first group might use AI as a coach that helps them grasp difficult concepts, whereas the second group offloads thinking and analysis to AI, thereby learning little. Purpose, in this example, makes a profound difference in learning outcomes.

So too, it does in life.

Did you notice on matriculation day, that the criteria I suggested for finding your purpose involved the Ashesi Community? Did you notice that I did not only ask you to think about a purpose for yourself, but how your purpose might affect the community you just joined? My words to you that day were subtle, but important. By suggesting that you consider the Ashesi Community, I was asking you to look beyond yourselves. On the other hand, by limiting the scope to the Ashesi Community, as opposed to the whole world, for example, I was setting a boundary for your exploration. I wanted you to start with a manageable scope, but I also trusted that because Ashesi University looks beyond itself, we would help you raise your sight over time.

You see, your purpose will change over time, and that is how it should be. That is how it works for most people, and it is certainly how it was for me.

When I was graduating from college, I had a very simple goal: do well in the job I had just secured and support my family back home in Ghana. Succeeding in my career required continuous learning and hard work. Contributing financially to my family provided a sense of urgency and satisfaction.

Over time, I looked beyond myself and my family and sought to make a bigger impact in Africa. I ultimately decided to establish a university in Ghana that would educate a new generation of African leaders, and I enrolled in graduate school to prepare myself for the task at hand. My new purpose enriched my MBA education at UC Berkeley, because it brought all that we learned to life for me. I found myself constantly asking how lessons learned in each class might apply to the university I planned to build. And I developed a business plan for Ashesi University with help from some of my classmates before I graduated.

In the same way, I encourage you to see the coming years as an opportunity for growth. Growth in ambition, virtue, and wisdom.

How might you become a leader who inspires people so deeply commit themselves to your vision, that when it is done, they will say, “we did it ourselves!”?

The answer to this question lies in the size of the purpose you eventually set for yourself. Throughout human history, the leaders who have made transformative change in their organizations, in their countries and in the world, are those who are able to formulate a purpose beyond themselves. Those whose ambitions embrace the wellbeing of others are the ones who inspire collective effort and patriotism. They are the ones who change the world.

I hope you will grow to become leaders such as these.

Congratulations, Class of 2025, and Godspeed in this next chapter of your lives.