General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Offers Advice to Students

A gardening metaphor from a military leader may be unexpected, but the first piece of advice General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered GSB students was, “Grow where you’re planted.”

In a Distinguished Speaker Series address May 18 at the Hyde Park Center, Pace endorsed making the most of any position. “I promise you this: if you embrace whatever responsibilities you get, and you do them to the best of your ability, you will be successful beyond your wildest imaginations, because there are more good jobs out there than good people.”

Saying GSB graduates have the ability to choose where they work, Pace encouraged job seekers to thoroughly research a company’s leadership. “The company is going to operate like the individuals who lead it, so pick the place that has the kinds of leaders that you want to emulate. And when you get there, if you find out the leaders you’re with aren’t really leaders, and they’re not the kind of people you want to be like, get out of there as fast as you can. Find yourself another place that has people to emulate, because over time, you will learn most from those who are one or two rungs above you who function in a way that you recognize as a proper way to function.”

Pace also encouraged his listeners to make decisions, take care of the people in their charge, and check their moral compasses frequently. It takes “intellectual and moral courage” to go against the flow, he said. “The person I respect most is the person who says, ‘I see it a little bit differently and here is why.’”

—Jenn Q. Goddu