While most Penn students prepared for a weekend of Halloween festivities, dozens gathered to hear the CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce speak about education, health care and why straight-A students may not end up as successful as one would think.
Thomas Donohue discussed the Chamber’s work as well as how to gain experience in the business world Friday afternoon at a lecture sponsored by Wharton Management Club.
According to WMC Events Director and Wharton sophomore Allison Fumo, this was the second WMC-sponsored lecture of the year, all of which are open to the entire Penn community.
“The purpose of having speakers is to bring in important CEOs to discuss how management affects the greater economy and what [students] can do with a management degree,” Fumo said.
From education to immigration, Donohue covered numerous topics addressed by the Chamber and their relevance in today’s world. Several students brought up a particularly controversial issue in the subsequent question-and-answer session: the environment.
According to College sophomore Zachary Bell, the Chamber of Commerce is lobbying Congress, spending $300,000 per day to fight climate legislation and health care. In the Q&A;, Bell challenged Donohue to explain why.
“I chose to pose questions to Mr. Donohue because he is public enemy number one for environmentalists,” Bell wrote in an e-mail.
Donohue answered that the climate bill is imperfect: it would create 1,400 new regulations, increasing taxes and hurting the job market.
Apart from discussing relevant issues and why he “has one of the five best jobs in America,” Donohue also addressed what he found to be more pertinent to university students.
“How do you get one of the five best jobs in America?” Donohue asked.
He explained that companies hire “broad-based people that have a sense of their community,” Although he focused on the positive attributes that can garner success in all fields, Donohue emphasized an important point:
“The great thing about the American free enterprise system ... [is that] you can fail ... and then get up and do it again,” Donohue said. “If you don’t fail at some things, you’re not doing enough things.”
Audience members left the lecture with more than just an impression of the Chamber’s role in business and politics. Some found important truths within Donohue’s advice for the future.
According to Wharton sophomore Bekinwari Idoniboye, “The best point he made was that A+ students are the analysts while C students are the ones running the show.”
