Commencement with Rob Adams

This year’s commencement speaker was Rob Adams, who graduated from Delphian in 1991. Since then, he’s spent over three decades helping build new titles for some of the world’s most successful gaming entertainment companies.

After graduating from Delphian, he went on to work at the original Atari, where he witnessed firsthand the disruptive power of new technology on a fragile industry. After surviving the collapse of the US arcade business, he went on to lead the art teams that built Need for Speed and Uncharted for PlayStation. He then helped design Halo, a best-selling science fiction media franchise.

And, for the past ten years, he’s been leading the teams who create Destiny, which has been played by over 80 million people, with several million playing each day. You might be as shocked as I was to learn the electronic gaming industry now generates about three times more revenue than the music and film industries combined, with teams as large as 2000 working on a single title.

One way or another, throughout his career, Rob has always found himself in mentorship roles. And a good mentor is always learning. He describes his job as pure servant leadership, enabling his team to consistently build the best visuals in the industry, year after year. 

Over the past five years, he’s helped Bungie, the American video game company, to design an industry-leading “live service content model” for games, making their business not only profitable but stable due to more consistent player engagement. And last year, his company was acquired by Sony for 3.6 billion in the hopes that Bungie would mentor Sony’s development studios on how they do their business at scale. And so, the teaching continues.

This is my first Parents Weekend as a Delphian parent and not as a Delphian student, and the past few days have been absolutely amazing. We’re so happy to see this program helping our two teenagers. I can definitely relate, on some level, to the pride the parents of these graduates must be feeling today. 

Leadership is one of four words on the Delphian logo, as you all know. Graduates, wherever you go you’ll be leaders. I want to talk to you about leadership, and some of the lessons I’ve learned that I hope will help you as leaders. It’s not easy to be a leader today; things are changing rapidly.

President Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” He said that about sixty years ago in Germany, and I think it’s much more true today than it was then. And I really like that quote, “Change is the law of life.”

We all agree that this world needs young, capable, ethical leaders, and Delphian builds leadership potential. As a Delphian graduate, I have the perspective of more than thirty years of professional life, most of it as a leader. I’d like you to think about the points I’m about to share with you. They’ve served me well in that role. I’ll also have some advice for you to consider: always evaluate advice carefully (which is also advice).

I want to honor these young people on my right and left, but it’s not easy. They’ve done much more than simply graduate from high school. What they’ve accomplished is incredible. Delphian students don’t just pass their tests here. They master them. 

It’s been a long time since I gave my speech during my graduation in this tent (though I think it was a smaller tent; this one looks a lot nicer). Since then, I’ve used my Delphian education every single day.

For our future leaders, I want to highlight a few ways Delphian’s program gives us the tools and the mindset to do more than just make it. We’ve all had experiences that shaped us in profound ways. I had an apprenticeship in 1990; it was my last year here as a Delphian student. 

It was at Viewmaster up in Beaverton. They made artwork for the stereo slide machines popular in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. We were painting the artwork by hand. It was almost the exact same process used by Disney to create their animated feature films, everything from Snow White all the way up to The Little Mermaid. The whole process was insanely complicated and slow. We literally had to draw each frame by hand with pens, use a bunch of machines to copy the drawings onto sheets of plastic film, then we had to paint all the colors using little tiny brushes onto one side. And that was only half the process because we had to do it two times because it was stereoscopic. It was very cumbersome and costly.

But in the back of the room, there was a lady with a computer. And she had a copy of Photoshop. This was 1990, and Photoshop was only a year old. People didn’t really pay her that much attention for that whole year. They’d walk by, maybe ask a question here and there, and crack a few jokes, but they weren’t learning Photoshop. She was the only one doing it. She was trying to figure out how to replicate that entire process digitally in the hope that it could be a little bit cheaper.

A couple of years later, I found out the entire ink and paint department had been shut down. They had hired a brand new team of graphic designers—a smaller, younger, and cheaper team—and everybody had lost their jobs. So advice number one is DON’T ASSUME YOUR JOB WILL ALWAYS BE THERE.

You can’t assume your super-sweet job and entire way of working won’t suddenly become obsolete from emerging technology. I learned the table can flip while you’re standing on top of it, so to speak. 

President Kennedy’s quote about change is so true. Change is accelerating, and industries are being disrupted sometimes faster than the media can even keep up. You’re entering a world of rapid iteration of workflows and unexpected paradigm shifts. So advice number two is ALWAYS BE STUDENTS! TO BE SUCCESSFUL, LEARN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES. 

You may have heard the acronym VUCA to describe our unpredictable world. It stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. You need to know that because our world is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. It makes it harder to make correct decisions. The VUCA world keeps leaders and managers awake at night. Entire business strategies are built around this concept. 

Because you live in a world of change, you need to learn new things every day. You need to always be students. You have the tools to do that. Fast, capable learners with the mental agility to anticipate change and react before their peers will adapt and thrive. Your Delphian education gives you this advantage. Use it. Always be students!

After graduating, I immediately saw my Delphian advantage over my peers in the workplace. In college, I got my dream internship at Atari, the video game company that started it all. At work, I taught myself to animate and do 3D modeling before YouTube or the web even existed (it was only two years before, but still, it was before). The tools were constantly changing, and new technology was upending our industry. Most of us were trying to learn 3D on the job when games were usually made with 2D. Tools, workflows, and entire team structures were changing quickly. People all around me were losing their jobs; it was happening again, they couldn’t adapt fast enough. Experienced employees were being laid off. A lot of them were heroes of mine, and they were gone again—they just weren’t fast enough students. And then it got really bad. 

In two short years, the Sony PlayStation came and wiped out the entire US coin-op game industry. Almost all my friends lost their jobs by 1998. Again, the table can flip while you’re standing on top of it. But if you’re constantly learning and adapting to change, it won’t happen to you. Again, you can’t assume your job will always be there, and you also can’t assume your entire industry will always be there either. 

You aren’t just students; you’re experts at studying, able to confront and learn any subject quickly. You don’t study to pass tests. No. You study for mastery and application. You’ve spent years honing this ability and mindset. That sets you apart from the crowd. 

I can’t overstate the advantage this will give you. I’ve benefited from this for years. Knowledge and the ability to gain knowledge really is power. 

AI, or artificial intelligence, is here, and you’ll want to learn everything you can about AI because it changes everything. AI tools are becoming so advanced and pervasive that it’s hard to know which jobs are truly stable and for how long. In my industry, AI art tools are already costing people jobs and changing our workflows right now.  

Goldman Sachs estimated that globally 300 million jobs will be impacted by AI and automation. But this doesn’t necessarily equal lost jobs. Many of those impacted will have to change and adapt to work in different ways; AI and automation will also create jobs we haven’t anticipated yet. Changes from AI will continue to be swift and unexpected. The truth is nobody really knows what’s coming.

These are uncertain times, filled with change. Change is the law of life. So remember advice number two: always be students–for the rest of your lives.

My next advice is, BE A MENTOR TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. I was never given this advice, and it took me a long time to learn the importance of this, much longer than I would wish. 

Use your advantage to help others. As master students, you can be excellent mentors, especially in rapidly changing, uncertain times. Paths are forged by curious, keen, and fearless minds. As true mentors, we must lift our students up onto our shoulders. Progress is made this way when our students surpass us and carry the torch upward. We have to train our students to be better than we are. It’s a hard concept to get when you’re young, and I wish I’d gotten it when I was younger. So my advice is, I URGE YOU TO EMBRACE SERVANT LEADERSHIP AT AN EARLY AGE.

Servant leadership is a leadership style that prioritizes the growth, well-being, and empowerment of your team. I hope you lean into this and discover its rewards. 

Civil rights leader and non-violence advocate Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. We must serve before we can lead.”  

Someone else said, “The greatness of a person is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and in his ability to affect those around him positively.” That was from musician and peace activist Bob Marley. 

For too much of my career, I thought being a good leader was getting amazing results by setting a vision and telling everybody exactly what to do. I did that for a long time, and we did get amazing results. Don’t be like that. Don’t do that. It pains me to look back and know I could have done more to serve my teams and enable their success. I wish I’d embraced this idea earlier, and I hope this resonates with you today. My advice is, AS LEADERS, CREATE A FAIL-FORWARD CULTURE. 

Part of the Delphian School’s magic formula is being given the space to fail forward. You make mistakes and learn from them. Delphian was designed to include constructive failure as part of learning. As leaders, give your teams the space to fail. They might not get the quick results you imagined, but they’ll grow empowered, courageous, and ready for the next round. This opens the door to breakthrough innovation. This is how you’ll foster progress.  

When the SpaceX test rocket exploded over Texas about a month ago, the team cheered; that wasn’t staged. They were unafraid of failure because their leadership created a culture where failing forward is part of success. Create this for your teams, and great things will come.

I want to hit pause for a moment and talk about the parents of these graduates (I didn’t want to leave this to the end).

As a Delphian boarding student, I saw some of the more obvious sacrifices my parents made so I could be here. I remember them refinancing the house two separate times. It was harder to see the emotional challenges for them to have me away for so much of the year. As a parent of two teen Delphian students, I get it now. It’s hard, and we’ve only gotten through our first year with our kids. 

We’re making the hard decision to trade precious, irreplaceable time with our growing kids so that they can have this. A life of choices. A life of opportunities. A life that is theirs. 

We all know it’s the right thing to do. For every graduate on the stage, there’s a group of loving family and friends supporting them from afar or near. Let’s acknowledge the parents and supporters of these graduates who’ve done so much and given up so much out of love for these students.

Back to advice for you to consider: this place will always be in your hearts and souls. I advise you to KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE DELPHIAN SCHOOL because you’ll see how the school stays with you. Alumni like to joke about our recurring “Delphian dreams.” I still get them a couple of times a month. Alumni in the audience know exactly what I’m talking about. The dreams are usually comical and absurd; we often dream we’re back here for “that one course we didn’t finish.” We dream about locking ourselves out of our rooms or sprinting up the stairs to the fourth floor, seconds late for roll call. They used to not have the carpet on the fourth floor, and we used to slide across the floor to our chairs; some people remember that I’m sure. Classic moments from our time here. 

Keep in touch because this will always be your second home where you’ll be welcome, a magic place to reconnect with old friends. Stay connected to alumni. We have a whole weekend dedicated to partying with your friends here and sharing stories of your adventures. Stay in touch with your mentors here, especially your supervisors and faculty advisors. 

One of the best experiences for them is when we come back and tell them how we’re doing. One of the most rewarding times I’ve ever had was when I came back to give a talk to the students; I think this was about six or seven years ago. I had lunch with my Form 7 and 8 supervisor Frank Gravitt, who’s basically a complete legend at this point. At one point, he scooted back in his chair, looked at me, and said, “You’re doing great.” It gives me chills, and I’m going to try not to cry just thinking about it. 

Please give back and help the school in any way you can. It feels amazing. It feels especially amazing to give back to this place that helped me so much. Especially knowing how much the school is helping others like you because you, graduates, are our best chance at changing the world for the better.

The happy people I’ve met were the ones who help others. Don’t trade the precious hours of your life for money. When people chase money, it twists their priorities in ways that are hard to undo. Don’t settle. If you have yet to find your passionate way to help others, keep looking until you do. And you’ll definitely know when you’ve found it. There’s so much joy to be had. A passionate life of leadership and service is a life lived.

My advice is to MAKE AND MAINTAIN REAL CONNECTIONS. We’re here to connect with others, even if it is sometimes harder to do in a world with so many ways to connect artificially. I think you’re the generation that takes digital detoxing to the next level. I hope you reject these carefully built traps designed by addiction specialists and embrace more genuine connections with real human beings. 

The more you connect with others, the more you can bring about real changes. Here in the United States especially, civil discourse is dying. Rather than engaging in healthy debate to reach common ground, some Americans find it easier to put on a red or blue jersey, yell at the other team, and ignore any facts that are misaligned with entrenched tribal views. 

We need more critical thinkers with calm, logical voices who can look at all sides of an issue or problem. We need people who can evaluate and build informed opinions. And we need these people to lead others to do the same. The world needs you now more than ever, graduates. 

My final advice is to HAVE THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE WORLD. Courage isn’t some special state of mind. Courage is doing the thing that scares you. So be courageous and do disrupt the status quo. Challenge your leaders. When you believe in yourself, stand up and disagree with leadership, especially when no one else does. This is what good leaders want!

 They want to be challenged by smart people who share the overall vision but not necessarily how we get there. If your organization doesn’t cherish this as a core value, move on. 

Experienced leaders all have blind spots. At my company, we try to hire constructive agitators who’ll learn quickly, then find ways to improve or help revolutionize our established, entrenched ways of doing things. These people never stop being students, and they’re incredibly valuable.  

You can do it with your expert reasoning skills, integrity, ethics, and the ability to communicate clearly. You are incredibly valuable to any group and to our society.

The journey you graduates have traveled hasn’t been easy or short. The Delphian program is challenging but rewarding. Every graduate on this stage has invested thousands of hours, and there’s also the untold time invested by peers, the unquantifiable support of this dedicated staff, and of course, their families. It’s awe-inspiring to witness this collective accomplishment here today. 

On stage right now, we’re looking at nothing less than the potential to alter our world for the better. I am more than honored to be part of the launch team sending them out. Please join me in acknowledging them.

Thanks for your time today. I wish you, the class of 2023, many great adventures ahead. Remember to always be learning. Thank you! 

Experience Commencement 2023 for yourself. Watch the recording here.