Being both an Angier B. Duke scholar and a Rhodes scholar is impressive enough.
But Eric Greitens, Trinity '96, has also been a U.S. Navy SEAL officer, international humanitarian worker, documentary photographer and boxing champion.
He said in a speech at the Terry Sanford Institute Tuesday night that the keys to his accomplishments were courage, friendship and compassion.
At Greitens' speech, "The Culture of Character: Building Strength Through Study and Service," he spoke to approximately 50 students, faculty and Durham residents about how people should develop their strengths to help the world.
"I know you all have the possibility to grow in strength, in wisdom and in compassion," he said. "I know by you doing that, you'll be able to use your power for a good purpose."
Greitens said people must have the courage to face fears and challenges in order to develop their strengths.
"Courage is a central virtue because our world is peaking and our ability as leaders is fundamentally dependent on it," he said. "Courage, along with justice, temperance and wisdom, was one of the classical virtues because of its intimate association with the exercise of power."
Another important aspect in developing one's strengths is having reliable friends, Greitens added.
"We become stronger by being with good people," he said. "Powerful people can end up being surrounded by people that magnify rather than correct their errors. We need strong friends ultimately because we need people to correct us."
He noted that those with compassion will be able to understand others' errors, and that makes them good leaders because they are able to set aside others' weaknesses and focus on their strengths.
"I think this is where the strength of deep compassion comes in," Greitens said. "Deep compassion helps us train ourselves to forgive the faults that we see in others even as we try to eliminate them within ourselves."
During the speech, Greitens encouraged students to be courageous and face their fears, develop their compassions and become reliable friends to others.
"I think you all are at a beautiful place right now," he said. "You're in a time of your life with great potential. You live in a community of great possibilities, and you have great prospect for both today and for the future."
Craig Kocher, associate dean of the Chapel and director of religious life, said he was impressed by the speech.
"It was really insightful," he said. "I was moved by the account of friendship as a virtue needed to good life and the description of compassion, which allows us to see the humanity of others."
Junior Toni Helbling said she really liked the speech and learned an important lesson from Greitens-once people overcome obstacles, they will be able to face any challenges.
"The speech was extremely articulate and I was really impressed," she said. "To me, the most powerful part of the speech was when he talked about people quitting in the SEAL training [because it was too hard]. My reaction was 'Don't quit!'"
Kocher added that Greitens demonstrated a kind of leadership students need for the future.
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