Good afternoon and congratulations graduates. I hope you find that this ceremony adds a collegial and distinctive aspect to what, for many of you, will be a daylong celebration with family and friends. I think one of the most important gestures you can make on this day is to thank your parents, family members, friends and mentors who have provided the support, guidance, encouragement and love you needed along the path to earning your degree.

This is the first commencement over which I have presided at Ball State University. But I am not new to speaking at commencement ceremonies. And, Indianapolis Men's Magazine recently printed my Top Ten tips to Indiana's governor–elect on how to deliver a memorable graduation speech. I could have tried to rely on my past experiences or to check off each point on that Top Ten list as I prepared to address you today, but instead, I kept coming back to a single moment in my life. It was when I gave some very personal post-graduation advice to my son, Jesse.

Jesse, like many of you, was a very successful student. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa so he had a very high GPA. He was quite used to getting As. As we talked about the career opportunities ahead of him, I could feel his anxiety about the future. In a sense, up until the day of graduation, what he needed to do to be successful had been clearly defined.  Now the path to success was unclear. Even the definition of success was unclear. One afternoon we talked for a long time about life as a series of adventures and a series of choices. You can take chances or you can play it safe. In the end, all the choices are yours to make. In life, it is up to you to determine how you will measure your own success.

Today, I pass along that same advice to you. The way you measure success now will likely change over the next few years. I would like to share two vastly different success stories with you, one high-profile, one low — both true biographical accounts. You might say these people are polar opposites and yet both have found personal satisfaction in their career choices. I hope you will consider the vast ocean of opportunities that lies between their two poles as your calculate your own formula for success in life after Ball State.

Carly Fiorina is approaching 50 years of age. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in medieval history, dropped out of law school, taught English in Italy, got married and divorced, earned master's degrees from Maryland and MIT, and started a career at AT&T. The company's communications equipment branch was viewed as a lumbering, underperforming entity. Where most people saw risk, Fiorina saw opportunity, and she took a job in that division.

Harry Statham's is 67 years old and has held the same job at the same institution for 39 years. He gets up every morning at 6, works out for an hour, and heads to the office. His wife packs his lunch in a bag, usually a turkey sandwich with mustard on brown bread with fruit or salad and a granola bar. At the end of his day, he carries that same lunch bag home, to be reused day after day. He goes to bed by 10:30.

Carly Fiorina, on the other hand, built a reputation for working late nights. When AT&T spun off its communications equipment business under the name Lucent Technologies and put Fiorina at the helm, she built it into a $30 billion dollar industry giant. Colleagues say she kept a punishing travel schedule in pursuit of new business.

Harry Statham also travels in his job…to away games. Statham is the basketball coach at McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, about 25 miles east of St. Louis. The fact that he has been McKendree's coach for 39 years tells you he must be a winner, which begs the question; if he's a winning coach, why didn't he leave tiny McKendree for a larger school promising a bigger paycheck?

After all, Carly Fiorina left Lucent in 1999 to become chief executive of Hewlett Packard, the first woman to lead a Fortune 100 company. She sits on the U. S. Space Commission and the executive board of the New York Stock Exchange. The Wall Street Journal recently named her one of 2004's Top 50 Women to Watch.

Many consider the Wall Street Journal America's premier business news outlet. In the sports world, that title belongs to ESPN. And just two weeks ago, Harry Statham appeared on Sports Center, a gauge some use to say they have "arrived" on the sports scene. Harry called the attention a distraction. On Dec. 1, McKendree won its 880th game under his leadership. That set a new record for wins by a coach at a four-year college, a record previously held by Dean Smith, the North Carolina Tar Heels' legend.

Fiorina's employees say she is an excellent leader, aggressive with a personal touch. She has earned national recognition for her work to make corporations better global citizens. She is known to send employees flowers and balloons to congratulate them on a job well done.

Statham's players say he never yells at them, and referees say he displays that same quiet tone when he politely questions a call.

Here's what Fiorina says about H-P's employees. "Our people are very proud and smart. So, first you reinforce the things that work and then appeal to their brains to address what doesn't."

Statham also wants smart people on his team. Here's what he says about the players he recruits. "They're loyal. They're honest. I want somebody who's going to be coachable, going to be a good citizen, going to graduate and get a job and play hard basketball. In that order. If they don't fit, we don't try to make them fit. Pure and simple."

Carly Fiorina finds reward in managing large, seemingly unwieldy corporations. Observers say she is comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

Harry Statham appears to have never left his comfort zone. But don't let his 39-year tenure lull you into thinking his life is stagnant or that he hung around just to break a record. Harry Statham says he has stayed at McKendree, an NAIA school, because it provides him the greatest opportunity to shape young lives, which is how he measures his success. As the record approached, well-known college basketball referee Ed Hightower said of Statham, "When you talk about professional, he epitomizes that in every word, in every way, in every shape and form."

Carly Fiorina also epitomizes the word professional. Others will always judge her and Statham by pure numbers: profit margins and stock prices for Fiorina; wins, losses, and graduation rates for Statham. The lesson in their lives is that they found something that interested them and then pursued their interests with passion. Their choices and paths are divergent, but they've reached the same destination. They are clearly outstanding in their fields, have earned the respect of their peers, and have found success on their own terms as well.

You are well prepared for the challenges ahead. You have received an excellent education at an institution that cares about your success. You may be leaving here today, but we will never forget you. We hope you stay in touch with the university, either through the Career Center or contact with a favorite faculty or staff member or the Alumni Association. Your diploma is your pass into the ranks of our 140,000 alumni worldwide. In a much larger sense, it qualifies you to go out into the world and make a difference. No one is grading you, so go out and discover how you will measure your success. Enjoy every moment of every choice. Just remember one thing: We, at Ball State, are on the sidelines rooting just for you!