Be Active In The Community

Give back to the community. It makes you feel good. It makes your associates and employees feel good and have respect for you. It builds loyalty and morale. The customers love it. It’s a win-win situation. One of the basic tenets of the gospel is to serve the Lord and your fellow beings. Public service is an essential element of the society in which we live. It is a moral responsibility we must accept in order to live our lives successfully and be faithful to God’s teaching. Address issues, injustices, and inequalities that are present in our communities and society. Help improve the present, and create a better tomorrow.

Your personal and business life should be spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, character building, and service oriented. Plan your career so you will do what you love and love what you do. Do it in a way that will be pleasing not only to your earthly boss and to your family, but to our Lord and Master as well. We must all report to our Heavenly Father when our work is done upon the earth. That’s when we’ll find out the true measure of our success.

Brothers, sisters, and friends, I wish you success at this fabulous school. I’m honored to speak with you. There is no greater school and no greater group of young people on this continent than assembled right here in Provo.

May the Lord bless you with the kind of success that will lead to happiness during your stay upon the earth and eternal life in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This article includes excerpts from a speech given by Richard Marriott at the BYU Marriott School of Management’s graduate student orientation 29 August 2002.

About The Speaker

Richard E. Marriott is chairman of the board of directors for Host Marriott Corporation. Richard joined Marriott Corporation full-time in 1965 as manager of Hot Shoppes restaurants, having held part-time positions in the company since age fourteen.

Richard is chairman of the board of trustees for the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation and the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities. He also serves on many boards, including the executive committee of the Marriott School’s National Advisory Council and the board of directors of the Polynesian Cultural Center.

He is a graduate of the University of Utah and holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. He is married to Nancy Peery. They have four daughters and thirteen grandchildren.