1. Good evening fellow classmates, Queen’s professors, faculty and support staff,
significant others, family and friends. It is an absolute honour and privilege to be
standing before you tonight with Erin to represent you as co-valedictorians.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Paul Landry from Montreal via
Calgary, Saskatoon, and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. For those of you who do
know me, you probably know me better as Pauly, Bars, Laundry Bags, Brothers
Steve and Guy, Don Draper, Ken Griffey, that Corporate Guy, the RandryRoup, and
by my Jewish pseudonym Saul Landers.
When I was informed by Michael that Erin and I were the co-valedictorians, I
immediately started to put my thoughts together but I didn’t plan on having a
formal speech written out. I feel that I’d gotten pretty good at “winging” speeches
and talking “off the cuff.” I then saw an interview with formerpresidential hopeful
Hermann Cain, the ex-CEO of Godfather Pizza. He said that when he was going to
formally announce that he was running for president, he didn’t prepare a speech
either, because he didn’t want to sound “too formal”. During said presidential
announcement, he actually used the term “shucky-ducky.” I really don’t know
what that meant, and I’m not quite sure he did either… All I know is this
cemented the fact that I was going to write out my speech.
Some of you may know the story of some of the bumpy first days that our
Markham / Montreal team had in January during our Tina Dacin simulation
project.Because we were talking over and interrupting each other we made a rule
that you couldn’t speak unless you had the magic “talking calculator” in your
hand. In the end, the only wayit was possible for me to get 7 straight,

2. uninterruptedminutes of talking time, was to be namedco-valedictorian. And I’ve
brought my magic calculator up with me just in case Clara or Mitch try to cut me
off halfway through.
There are 3 thank you’s that I would like to saytonight.
The first thank you goes to Queen’s; to the faculty and the support staff who
make this program such a success and so enjoyable for its students. One of the
most fundamental reasons why I did THIS MBA was so that whenever someone
asked me the question in the future, “where did you do your MBA?” I would be
proud of the answer I gave. Throughout this entire process, from info sessions, to
the application process, to the service we received while at the Donald Gordon
centre, to the quality of our professors, to the technology in place for our virtual
classes, and everything else in between, it’s no wonder that 100% of the alumni of
this program answer in the affirmative to the question, “Would you recommend
this program?” I can also speak personallyabout how supportive many of the
professors have been not only during class but outside of it.I have reached out to
a number of our professors for their advice and guidance. Whether it was Shea
talking to me about the best structure of my new company, or Jay discussing
marketing to “the tribe” and the strategy of whether to manage multiple brands
or not, or speaking with Elspeth about the pros and cons of starting my own
company, or discussing with Dan Tisch about how to best manage our message to
our clients,or touching base with Michael,who would check in periodically and be
excited to hear about any new developments, or chatting with JP who even
offered to get one of his undergraduate classes to do a marketing campaign for

3. my new company. The thoughtfulness of their engagement and the speed of their
responses to me vastly exceeded my expectations each and every time.
The second thank you goes to my fellow classmates. One of the reasons why I,
and many of you, decided to do anMBA, was to expand our business network and
contacts. Considering that my line of business is professional recruiting,
expanding my network was a particularly attractive prospect. I often watch CBC
News Network in the morning when I’m getting ready for work and Kevin O’Leary,
who I get a kick out of most of the time, and agree with only some of the time,
said, “I don’t remember a thing about what I learned from my MBA classes from
20 years ago, but I still call any of the people from my class.” The contacts he
made were not only strong but were life-long. I`m confident that the same will be
true for us.
Now, making new contacts and networking is all part of any MBA experience. But
where my expectations were completely surpassed has to do with how close I’ve
become with many of my classmates. I’ve had this conversation mostly with my
male friends, that beyond a certain age,it becomes difficult to make new friends.
Think about it. The closest friends I had before I started this MBA program I either
went to high school with in Moose Jaw, I went to University with in Saskatoon, or
I started my first job with at Ernst & Young in Calgary when I was 22. Beyond that
point, guys make acquaintances.We’ll golf with some guys or grab a drink with
others or we’ll hang out with the significant others of our wives’ or girlfriends’
friends. I can say without reservation that I have made friends from this
programthat rival the closest friendships from my past and I don’t think I’m alone.

4. I’ll share with you a few stories. On one of my recent business trips to Toronto,
fifteen of us met for dinner. People were hugging each other, shaking hands,
Youssef did the double kiss thing because that’s what people from Montreal do.
We couldn’t have been more excited to see each other.During the Miami /
Bahamas trip, the sixteen of us enjoyed having supper together every night and
loved running into each other on & off the cruise boat during the day and were
sad when it was over. When I travel to Calgary, I look forward to seeing the dozen
or so people who always manage to find time to get together for dinner or a pint.
And even within my own Markham / Montreal team, we have taken the 2 minute
check in to another level. Every few weeks, we now schedule 10 minute check-ins
via skype. We miss each other. We legitimately miss each other.
Now, how did we become so close? Everyone knows from Psych 101 that people
tend to come together during stressful times or times of crisis. But why then have
I heard anecdotally from other people whohave done MBAs from other schools
who not only do not keep in touch with their classmates but couldn’t wait to be
rid of them.I’m convinced that a lot of this had to do with the exercises that we
did in the first days of this program where we were forced to let our guard down,
be vulnerable and allow complete strangers see our true sides. We quickly saw
the positive attributes of each and every one of our teammates. This program
gelled us together early and it then threw us to the fire together for a year and we
came out stronger and we’ve not only survived, but excelled.

5. My third and final thank you goes to our families and significant others. The time
commitment required for this program makes it paramount that your significant
other or family be supportive throughout. I want to personally thank my wife,
Lisa,who was so integral throughout; I couldn’t have asked for more from her. Our
team nicknamed her Mariano Riviera, the closer and “the 8th team member”
because she was always happy and willing to do a final read through of our papers
rendering them all themore polished. Sometimes she would say, “hey, this paper
is really good, were you the lead on this?” And I would say, “no, Abu was” and she
would reply, “Oh that would explain why it’s so eloquent.” In all seriousness, she
was my biggest cheerleader throughout and has developed close relationships
with many of my classmates as well. And it’s fitting that we get to celebrate this
event on the same day as our 4th wedding anniversary.
I’ll close with this. At our final banquet in October I said the following and I’ll
repeat again tonight. In your life and in your career, be a little bit selfish. Be
careful with your time and your energy.Toyin shared a list on facebook a little
while ago and we both identified point #17 as words to live by. It was, “Get rid of
everything that isn’t useful, beautiful, or joyful.”Do things that make you a better
person and this starts with surrounding yourself with people who make you
better, who challenge you and who care for you.
Many of you have reached out to me in your professional lives outside of this
program and I hope many of you will continue to do so. My only hope is this: that
the influence I have on your lives can comeat all close to the impact all of you
have had on mine.