Success by definition is when you do what has never been done before and then you do it over and over again.

Successful people have the following characteristics:

• They have the ability to see around corners because that’s where opportunities lie.
• They imagine the unimaginable.
• Possess special capacity to anticipate the radically unexpected.
• They make mistakes, they have stumbled and fallen, but they have the capacity to get back on the saddle.
• They don’t mistake effort for results.

The Roberts brothers preside over a diversified $460 million, 64 company empire. Their corporate holdings range from real estate development to business consulting, television stations to wireless communications, aviation to construction and even a gated residential community in the Bahamas.

I first heard of the Roberts brothers in my days in west Texas where they had a local but impactful presence in the wireless communication business based in Lubbock, Texas. Since coming to St. Louis over five years ago, I have witnessed the emergence of a mega entrepreneur duo, making waves all over the country.

Brothers Steve and Mike Roberts have defied the odds, by successfully doing the impossible – that is the ability to sustain and to grow a variety of business entities over a diverse geographic landscape. It’s a story of courage and audacity. It’s a story of success.

And that is why we have invited them to help kick off our 2005/2006 Success to Significance Dean’s Lecture Series with St. Louis based wonder duo’s Mike Roberts, chairman and chief executive of the Roberts companies and Steve Roberts, president and chief operating officer of the Roberts companies.

Please join me in welcoming to Webster University, Mike and Steve Roberts.

""We were all born originals, but most of us spend the rest of our lives trying to be copies. It's your originality that will set you apart." "

- Dr. Benjamin Akande