Martin Agency’s Mike Hughes Tells VCU Graduates to Seek Joy in their Work

By Tom Gresham

Mike Hughes, president of the Martin Agency, one of the nation’s top advertising agencies, told graduates to find joy in progress at Virginia Commonwealth University’s fall commencement exercises on Saturday.

Hughes said that he has lived for 15 years with lung cancer and found that it has given his life “a new urgency” – a determination to do the things he wants to do and to do them now. For Hughes, that means “doing the work.” He said he remains perpetually energized by his efforts “to make my company better and my family happier.”  

“We will find joy if we learn to find joy in the work itself,” said Hughes, who has served as chairman of the board of directors at the VCU Brandcenter since 1995. “The joy can’t just come from success at the end of the day – it must come from the work itself. Not from reaching the peak, but from making the long, hard climb.”

Hughes asked graduates to prevent their beliefs from being “set in cement” and to continue to pursue learning.

“If I have one lesson for you today, it’s to be attentive to and active in society’s smart discussions and debates,” said Hughes, who was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, VCU’s highest form of recognition. “There’s no one right way to think. There’s no one right opinion to hold. From now on, the grades don’t matter. Maybe they never did. The learning is what matters.”

Students received professional, graduate and undergraduate degrees at the ceremony. More than 3,100 degrees were conferred.

VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., told the new graduates that VCU provided “a basis from which you will realize your dreams,” but he said that their relationship with the university was only beginning.

“You may imagine that from this day forward VCU will gradually grow smaller in the rear-view mirror of your days,” Rao said. “More likely, you may find VCU looming larger. Your standing and our standing have been joined. Your life will say something about us; our reputation will say something about you.”

Rao urged graduates to remain in contact with the faculty that taught them.

“You have friends here – your professors, your instructors – hang onto them and let them know what you experience,” Rao said. “Loop back the information; tell us what we need to know.”