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A best-selling author who has been called the "Dean of American Public Relations Executives," Robert L. Dilenschneider '12 Hon., who visited campus as part of the University's longest-running lecture series, advised students on how to make decisions about their futures.

April 18, 2019

Students at the AVÌìÌÃÍø were reminded today of how to make decisions about their futures by Robert L. Dilenschneider '12 Hon., who is President of , a global corporate strategic counseling firm, and one of the nation’s most respected communications advisers.

Mr. Dilenschneider said this is a critical time for students at colleges and universities across the country as they approach their first post-college jobs and begin to put the knowledge they’ve acquired to the test of practical experience.

"The future of the United States and even the world rests on your shoulders," Mr. Dilenschneider said. "So you need to make the right choices for yourself and your country," he said.

Drawing on his more than 50 years in the business world, he gave the students three critical pieces of advice on how to handle the personal decision-making process:

• Make sure you do something you really want to do.
• Make sure you locate in a geographic region you want to be in.
• Make sure you are doing something worthwhile and that you are contributing to the common good.

Mr. Dilenschneider pointed that one of the worst decisions people can make is to avoid decision-making – to be "ditherers." He added that one can learn by looking at some of the "famous ditherers" like Hamlet and the character Benjamin played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie "The Graduate."

"Keep the decisions you need to make in perspective. Once you have decided and taken action, never look back."Robert L. Dilenschneider

Again drawing on the life-lessons his own experiences have taught him, Mr. Dilenschneider offered the students a series of suggestions on how to make critical choices, including "keep the decisions you need to make in perspective" and "once you have decided and taken action, never look back."

Mr. Dilenschneider is the author of the forthcoming book, "Decisions" that features 23 historical figures and how they made their decisions. He spoke at the University as part of the Bartels Lecture Series, the University's longest-running guest speaker series established 30 years ago by University benefactors Henry E. and Nancy H. Bartels. The program is designed to broaden the educational experience of graduate and undergraduate students by bringing leaders in business and public service on the national and international scene to the campus.