"The world will identify, typecast, and stereotype you into different, tidy descriptions over the course of a lifetime. I have been a jock, Dylan freak, accounting nerd, anti-jock, English literature fanatic, lover of lazy, hazy afternoons at the park, computer geek, business school maniac, hungry sales representative, middle manager from hell, entrepreneur, and recently know as "The Man". I am frequently asked how I chose the path that led to my current position, and what career advice can I provide. I respond by stating that I arrived at my current position without any plan, but with passion! I have never had a career plan, and never will. I have always chosen activities that were a primary fascination at the time. With passion, you will excel, and when you excel other opportunities and passions will present themselves.

Along this path, unrhymed, unmatched and unbroken, there were many compromises with others, some as bitter as between our founding fathers but never compromises with one's self. I have evolved, but I have not changed. The child with passion will father the man with passion.

Recognizing this sounds very much like the navel gazing of a 1969 Haight-Ashbury hippie, advocating a lifetime of meditation, let me make clear that as the adult world beckoned, I chose activities that fascinated myself, and could pay the rent. The parents can now relax."

(NASDAQ CEO Robert Griefeld addresses the graduating class of 2007. Photo by Gregory Cherin)