Executive Speech

Business and the Humanities: One Man's Experience

Remarks of
Thos. E. Capps
Chairman, President & CEO, Dominion
at the
Honors Convocation and Award Ceremony
Robins School of Business
University of Richmond

April 9, 2003

Thank you. It's a real honor to be recognized by the Robins School - along with the outstanding professors and students who are receiving awards today.

My hat's off to Dean Newman and her staff, and to members of the faculty and student body. All of you have helped shape this fine school's identity and reputation as one of the top business programs in the nation. We're lucky to have you here in Richmond.

As you know, Dominion is based in Richmond, too. Our downtown headquarters is at one of the most unique corporate sites I know of. It's at the end of Tredegar Street, where the old Hollywood Paper Mill used to be. If you've ever walked across the foot bridge to Belle Isle, you've undoubtedly seen our buildings. They're just upstream.

My office overlooks the James River directly across from the Hollywood Rapids. On any given day, I see all kinds of interesting waterfowl - including ducks, geese, cormorants, red-tailed hawks, osprey and an occasional bald eagle.

I can't imagine working in more beautiful surroundings.

Until I come to the University of Richmond, that is. You folks are fortunate to work and study on this lovely campus - which is especially beautiful at this time of year.

This isn't the first time I've had the opportunity to address an audience dotted with caps and gowns. I've concluded that guest speakers at these kinds of gatherings can be compared to the deceased at an old-fashioned Irish wake: You're needed in order to have the party, but nobody expects you to say too much.

So my gift to you today… will be the brevity of my remarks.

Education and free enterprise are two things I care about passionately. Both have afforded me the opportunity to learn, grow and experience the world in ways that otherwise wouldn't have been possible.

I grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, where my daddy owned a dry-cleaning business. From him I learned the meaning of hard work, entrepreneurship and self-responsibility - principles that anchor our free enterprise system.

True to my Tar Heel roots, I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - another pretty campus, and a great place to go to school.

My major was English literature. I'm living proof that a Liberal Arts graduate can have a successful career in business.

Truth is, I think more business schools should incorporate the liberal arts into their curriculum, including the study of ethics - as I know the Robins School does.

As I'm sure you're aware, the business world has been plagued recently by a wave of accounting scandals and ethical lapses.

According to a recent public opinion survey conducted by The Conference Board, corporate CEOs ranked only one notch above car dealers. I can only assume they rank somewhere above bank robbers and child molesters.

Maybe - just maybe - if more of our business leaders had studied Aristotle, Homer and Shakespeare - along with finance and marketing - things like personal accountability and moral leadership would be more widely valued in organizational life.

Classical Greek thinkers, for example, could teach today's executives a lot about the relationship between excellence and ethics.

And who better than Shakespeare understood people and what makes them tick?

The point is, new insights can always be gained from the study of old ideas. Playwrights, novelists and philosophers have much to say about issues involving right and wrong.

Wherever your career path leads you, a grounding in the humanities provides perspective, intellectual depth and reach.

If I were to write a "Guidebook to Life for Graduates," one of my main points would be "Don't ever think your first job will be your last."

It won't. The experts tell us most people in the workforce can expect to change jobs at least five times during their lifetime.

After I graduated from UNC, I worked for Merrill Lynch in New York for a time. The draft board came after me, so I joined the Coast Guard and went to Officers' Candidate School to avoid going into the Army.

There's nothing wrong with the Army. I just grew up on the coast, and as Kenneth Grahame said in The Wind in the Willows, "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

When I got out of the Coast Guard, I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I took the entrance exams for both graduate business school and law school.

When it came time for me to decide, I went through a long, arduous process - I flipped a coin.

The law won. I practiced corporate law for a few years before coming to my senses - which means I've been in the business world ever since - and loving every minute of it.

I decided I preferred the challenge of running a business, creating wealth for investors and meaningful jobs for employees. Now I'm having fun leading one of America's largest energy businesses.

So stay flexible. Don't be afraid to change jobs. Think of your career as a lifelong learning opportunity, because that's what it is.

Never shun a lateral move, either. Broadening your experience can be more rewarding than a fatter paycheck or a more glamorous job title.

Take calculated risks, too. If you don't, you won't grow much. I'll share a bit of my experience with you.

Risk taking is at the heart of the capitalistic free enterprise system. Try to quantify the risk - what's the upside of taking it and the downside of doing nothing. You ain't gonna win them all, but just try to win more than you lose.

For example, in Dominion's exploration and production company, we take somewhere between a one million dollar and 40 million dollar risk every time we drill a well hoping to find a commercial amount of natural gas. I've sure drilled some dry holes in my life. However, if we don't drill wells, we sure as hell won't find any gas.

Here's another example from my business. When we spend 500 million dollars and five years to build a power station, we take the risk that five years from now the demand for power will be there - and at a price that will allow us to earn a decent return on investment.

Looking back over my career, one could say I've had a hard time keeping a job. I've changed jobs four times and lived in five different cities - Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Boston, Miami, and finally Richmond.

I left Raleigh to head up the legal department at Boston Edison. That appeared to be a big risk at the time. Here was a Southern redneck moving to a big Yankee city where everyone talked funny. The legal department that would be reporting to me was composed mostly of Harvard educated lawyers.

It turned out to be a good decision.

Before coming to Richmond, I practiced law with the largest firm in Miami. I was responsible for the firm's largest client and was head of its executive committee. It was a perfect example of the golden rule - he who's got the gold rules.

I was making good money, and we were established in the community. Out of the blue, I got a call from a headhunter. He wanted to know if I would be interested in interviewing for a job as executive vice president of an electric power company with the potential - and I stress potential - of becoming president in three years and CEO in five.

There were no guarantees - just the opportunity.

I turned the headhunter down three times, but he was persistent. My client told me if I left the law firm, his company would move its legal work in house. And the firm was unhappy that it would be losing several million dollars in legal fees.

I knew if I left and bombed in Richmond, there would be no going back. Add to that the fact that I was making right much more money at the law firm than I would be making initially in Richmond.

I love a challenge, and I took the risk. Again, it was the right decision. I wanted the opportunity to run what is now a Fortune 200 company - and, if you'll allow me a quick commercial, a company that was recently included in the top 70 of Forbes magazine's "Super 500" publicly-held companies… and one of BusinessWeek magazine's elite "BusinessWeek 50."

I believe that one of the secrets of running a large corporation - as with conducting your life - is, Don't do anything big and dumb.

Embrace new ideas. Value change. If you're not changing, you're not growing. If you're not growing, you're shrinking. And don't be afraid to fail. All of us have, many times. When you fail, stand up and say, "I screwed up." Fix it - and move on.

Develop a passion about things you really believe in. Business is a game, and games are about winning. Winning is fun. It builds confidence and makes you less afraid to face new challenges.

Risk may be a four-letter word, but it's not a dirty word. It's not something we should try to avoid. Taking risks and making mistakes - they go together like beer and peanuts.

So don't ever think successful people don't make mistakes. I'm here to tell you they do. The point is to learn from them - and keep growing.

Finally, be lucky.

When Napoleon was given a list of soldiers who were being recommended for promotion, one of the first questions he asked was, "Is the individual lucky?"
More precisely, be willing to be lucky. A positive attitude and hard work are the mother of luck. A positive outlook has a way of tipping the balance in your favor more often than not.

In sum, I urge you to stay upbeat, have fun, smell the flowers as they say - or as I do, have a beer or two now and then - and work hard. You won't regret it.

I look out at you and I must say, I'm a little envious. You are just starting your careers. Mine will be over in a few years. I'd like the challenge of trying to do it all over again.

Maybe next time I'd become a fat cat investment banker. Now all I've got to look forward to is living on the ocean, golfing with my wife, hunting, fishing and driving around in my Porsche or my boat.

It's the journey that really matters. The challenge is to win the game. As Shakespeare's Henry V said, "I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot…"

Would I trade with you to have the chance to do it all over again?

You're damn right I would.

Thank you, and good luck to you all.

# # #

^ Top