Tony Blair attracts big crowds across state during OSU speaker series
Thursday, November 3, 2011
“Remarks by Tony Blair,” by the former prime minister of Great Britain from 1997
to 2007, was the first of three events in the 2011-12 Executive Management Briefings
in Oklahoma City and the Tulsa Business Forums speaker series, presented annually
by Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business along with corporate sponsors.
He also spoke to nearly 3,200 OSU students, faculty and staff at Gallagher-Iba Arena
on Monday during the Global Briefing sponsored by the SGA Speakers Board, School of
International Studies, the Spears School of Business and the OSU President’s Office.
Blair was informative and thought provoking while also entertaining as he spoke to
a crowd of about 1,300 people inside the Mabee Center at the Tulsa Business Forums
on Tuesday morning, and then addressed nearly 1,200 at the Oklahoma City Civic Center
later that afternoon.
“Students, faculty, staff, alumni, business leaders and government officials have
conveyed to me how impressed they were by Mr. Blair’s agile mind, keen insights regarding
world affairs, great sense of humor and down-to-earth style,” said Larry Crosby, dean
of the Spears School of Business. “His different talks spanned topics ranging from
African governance to the Palestine-Israel issue, religious understanding, sports
and climate change.”
Blair was making his first trip to Oklahoma as part of the speaker series coordinated
by the Center of Executive and Professional Development at Oklahoma State.
He showed his knowledge of OSU on Monday’s stop in Stillwater – just hours after
visiting with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. – by congratulating head
coach Mike Gundy on his football team’s most recent victory over Baylor, commenting
on how much he liked the school’s orange and black colors, and recognizing the Cowgirl
soccer team (or in his words, football team) for being the No. 2-ranked team in the
nation.
He spoke on a number of topics during his three speaking engagements, but focused
many of his remarks on the challenges that the United States and Great Britain are
dealing with in a world in which the political and economic power is shifting.
“I don’t think there ever has been a tougher time to be a leader than now,” Blair
said. “The toughest thing about being prime minister was trying to find the right
answer, to find the right path.”
He added that finding that right path is not always easy. Blair is still active in
politics as the Quartet Representative for the United States, United Nations, Russia
and European Union in the Middle East. He has made 72 trips to the Middle East since
leaving office four years ago, and he hopes to bring Israeli and Palestinian leaders
back to the negotiating table soon.
Blair said the current issues facing today’s leaders – the world’s economy, democracy
and diversity – are not cause for doom and gloom.
“We actually become defeatist about our position,” he said. “We begin to think that
with all of this power shifting, maybe there is a fundamental problem. We begin to
say, ‘The 20th century belonged to us. Will the 21st century belong to someone else?’
The answer is not to lose faith in who we are and what we believe in, but actually
to regain it and apply those values and way of life to the changed world around us,”
he said.
The former prime minister said it wasn’t until he was a college student at 20 years
of age that he even considered entering politics. Now, he is recognized as one of
the most influential political leaders in the last 50 years. Blair’s memoir, “A Journey:
My Political Life,” was released in September 2010 and made The New York Times Best
Sellers list within a week of its release.
“In his remarks were many lessons of leadership, including the idea that to lead
is to decide and to decide is to inevitably divide,” Crosby said. “As he spoke about
faith and the importance of being true to one’s values, you could hear a pin drop.
It was like a sermon from a famous preacher.
“Having sat next to Mr. Blair for several meals (the last few days), I can assure
you there are no airs about the man, and it’s like talking to your neighbor next door.
If it wasn’t for that accent, you might think he was from Oklahoma.”
To view an interview with Blair by OSU President Burns Hargis, visit http://president.okstate.edu/index.php/inside-osu.
The remaining lineup for the 2011-2012 speaker series includes:
Executive Management Briefings in Oklahoma City
Feb. 9, 2012 – Jerry Stritzke, president and chief operating officer of Coach, noon-1:30 p.m.,
Cox Convention Center.
March 16, 2012 – Randi Zuckerberg, former head of marketing of Facebook and current founder and CEO
of R to Z Media, noon-1:30 p.m., National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Tulsa Business Forums
March 15, 2012 – Randi Zuckerberg, former head of marketing of Facebook and current founder and
CEO of R to Z Media, noon-1:30 p.m., Hyatt Regency Hotel.
May 1, 2012 – Peter Sheahan, bestselling author and founder of Change Labs, noon-1:30 p.m., Hyatt
Regency Hotel.
Individual registration in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa is $100 for the luncheon
presentations.
For more information about the Executive Management Briefings in Oklahoma City or
to learn about how you can participate as a sponsor, email Gaye Trivitt at gaye.trivitt@okstate.edu or visit http://cepd.okstate.edu.
For more information about the Tulsa Business Forums or to learn about how you can
participate as a sponsor, email Karen Ward at karen.ward@okstate.edu or visit http://cepd.okstate.edu.