Ever since my first day as a student at Villanova, culture was preached as one of the university’s driving forces. Veritas, Unitas, and Caritas were installed in our heads so it is no surprise that Villanova alum, Chris DelOrefice, emphasized the importance of culture at Johnson & Johnson. Chris works as the investor relations leader and has had eight roles at the company over the past nineteen years. He did not fail to keep his audience engaged with insight that could be applied far from the corporate world. 

“Develop a new muscle.” Although it is clear that DelOrefice hits the gym, this advice is not about working out but about pushing yourself to take risks out of your comfort zone. He mentioned that getting experience in many different fields, not just the one you are necessarily the best at, is what J&J pushes their employees to do. This gives their employees those  versatile “new muscles” that push to further development and innovation. 

Something else that reminded me of Villanova’s culture in Chris’ speech was how he claimed that he had a personal responsibility to help others, this is shown by his role as a mentor in VSB. He did not fail to mention that product safety was much more important than any kind of profit. Also, we can see how Chris’ vision of helping others/making a positive impact is shown in Johnson & Johnson in the attached article.  https://www.jnj.com/caring-and-giving/4-ways-johnson-and-johnson-is-exceeding-citizenship-and-sustainability-goals.

Chris concluded his talk by encouraging us to think different, have fun, and be engaged, in whatever we choose to pursue during and after college. “Don’t follow the obvious path.” I think we can all take this last bit of advice to heart as we start our college journeys. 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton