Larry Lucchino
Field: business
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Larry Lucchino at Boston University, 2008
A Red Sox executive's top-ten commencement playbook for risk, kindness, friendship, justice, balance, and generosity.
Speech arc
- 01Boston links
Opening move
- 02Red Sox Nation
Speech beat
- 03Top-ten advice
Speech beat
- 04Prudent risks
Speech beat
- 05Pleasantness
Speech beat
- 06Family and friends
Speech beat
- 07Justice and diversity
Speech beat
- 08Generosity
Final charge
Place: Boston University and the Red Sox share a city story
Lucchino opens by tying the class to Boston, Fenway Park, Nickerson Field, Harry Agganis, and two Red Sox championships during their four years.
Neighborhood
The address frames BU and the Red Sox as neighbors with a shared commitment to serve Boston.
Memory
Harry Agganis and the former ballpark give the speech a local institutional memory.
Class
The Class of 2008 is playfully credited with helping power two World Series seasons.
Lucchino opens by tying the class to Boston, Fenway Park, Nickerson Field, Harry Agganis, and two Red Sox championships during their four years.
Playbook: A top-ten list turns experience into portable rules
The advice moves from humor to habits: have fun, be kind, take prudent risks, be pleasant, admit uncertainty, and call home.
Risk
Boldness is paired with prudence, using Fenway's preservation and Red Sox leadership as examples.
Humility
The seven-word answer 'I don't know, but I'll find out' becomes a professional ethic.
Care
Family, grandparents, classmates, and friends are treated as lifelong infrastructure.
The advice moves from humor to habits: have fun, be kind, take prudent risks, be pleasant, admit uncertainty, and call home.
• Key takeaways •
Take risks without losing judgment
Connects to risk.
Be pleasant and honest
Connects to kindness.
Keep family and friends close
Connects to friendship.
Use difference as education
Connects to justice.
Build the fire for others
Connects to diversity.
Closing charge
The closing advice asks graduates to fight injustice, embrace pluralism, seek balance, and help people along the way.
Generosity is the final measure
Justice
Jackie Robinson becomes the model for outrage at injustice joined to dignity.
Diversity
Lucchino rejects colorblindness in favor of actively celebrating difference.
Generosity
A life of service is cast as building the fire rather than warming yourself by it.
The closing advice asks graduates to fight injustice, embrace pluralism, seek balance, and help people along the way.
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Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording
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