Fred Luddy looked out over more than 2,000 graduates at IU’s winter commencement in the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, a smile playing across his face as he paused to close his address to the crowd.
“Welcome to the starting line.”
Luddy, the founder and chief product officer for ServiceNow who also developed the concept of platform as a service in cloud computing, told the fascinating rags to riches story of his rise in technology, and his words provided valuable lessons the newly minted graduates could draw on as they head out into the world. His career path also showed what is possible if you are driven and have a belief in your abilities.
“The road is not always paved or bathed in shade,” Luddy said. “You may have successes. You may have failures. Just think of the failures as learning opportunities and move on. You didn’t learn to walk by following rules or instructions. You learned by trying, by falling over, and trying again.”
Luddy built his career from an entry-level programmer in New Castle, Indiana, to a tech millionaire who lost everything in the Dot.com bubble of the early 2000s to the rebound of building ServiceNow into a tech juggernaut. He has already given back to IU in numerous ways, the most visible being the naming gift for the spectacular new Luddy Hall, home of the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering that will open in January.
IU honored Luddy at the winter commencement by awarding him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, and he provided advice and guidance to the crowd.
He credited a co-worker at his first job with teaching him the power of technology to be liberating while also proving he didn’t have all the answers. He spoke of the power of working together as a team without ego, of humility and cooperation. Luddy spoke of some down times, when he should have trusted his gut or when he realized it was time to pick himself up off the mat and continue to pursue his dreams despite setbacks.
Luddy also told the graduates that hard work, vision, and a dedication to creating a good experience for customers were preludes to success. The lessons learned along the way weren’t always taught in the most pleasant of circumstances, but he hoped the graduates would remember his words and not have to earn the lessons the same way.
He also explained his own starting line moment. When ServiceNow went public a few years back on the New York Stock Exchange, Duncan Niederaurer, the head of securities, told him, “Companies that go public on the NYSE experience 90 percent of their growth after the initial public offering, so I say to you, ‘Welcome to the starting line.’ ”
Luddy said he realized that his 40 years of work all led to his personal starting line, but the assembled graduates were moments from hearing the crack that would begin their own race to the future.
“You are surrounded with insurmountable opportunity to change the course of history or the future’s trajectory for the better,” Luddy said. “Remain childish in thought—keep exploring and taking things apart to see how they work. When people tell you why your idea won’t work, listen to them, but don’t necessarily believe them. Be confident but never arrogant.”
Most importantly, Luddy wanted the graduates to make their presence felt.
“You have worked long and hard to get here,” Luddy said. “I believe you will find your greatest rewards are yet to come. It’s now your turn to go put your ding in the universe.”