Sly Tate ’13 Speaks on Leadership

Sylvester “Sly” Tate ’13 returned to his alma mater as the 22nd Rogers Leadership Forum guest to speak about lessons he has learned along his path.

“Today I get the awesome opportunity to talk to a school built on leadership about leadership,” he said.

Tate’s classmate, Upper School Counselor Chima Onwuka ’13 introduced him by sharing a few memories, including how they met in seventh grade and always enjoyed friendly competition, from one-on-one basketball in Owl Camp through challenges in the weight room and on the football field.

“But I couldn’t compete with him in the classroom. He was one of the smartest guys in our class,” Onwuka said, before delivering a brief bio.

“Sly Tate II, also known as ‘Sly the AI Guy,’ is a technology luminary with a vision of creating 1,000 careers in technology. He is passionate about fostering digital prosperity in Memphis and empowering its citizens in the digital age,” Onwuka said.

“Sylvester, I admire you and I am proud of you as a successful businessman, a family man, and a man of God.”

Tate began his talk by describing the elements that make up leadership, which he has applied throughout his career:

Principles – Fundamental truths or rules that provide a framework for navigating complex situations and a foundation for ethical conduct.

Decisions – Choices made based on your principles.

Actions – Processes put into place based on your decisions.

“The first thing that came to mind when I thought about principles was truth and honor, veritas honorque,” he said.

Tate spoke about the foundation of his principles, showing a photo of a dilapidated three-room schoolhouse in Fayette County. “This is the school where my father went from first through eighth grade,” he said. “My father left this school, joined the military, and then started a multimillion-dollar company. I remember saying to myself, ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ And in this case, he did a lot with very little.”

He remembered what he calls a “moment of synthesis” at MUS when he realized – especially given his father’s beginnings – “This is a really cool place for me to understand the opportunity that is before me.”

Another moment of synthesis occurred when he was on the Champs-Élysées in Paris during an MUS in Europe trip, and he decided he wanted to be a global citizen. He told himself, “I want to create concepts that are so impactful that they can translate to another language and still be useful.”

That realization led him to choose the University of Pennsylvania and major in computer engineering with a minor in entrepreneurship; to Microsoft, where he developed proprietary and globally adopted Bluetooth protocols; and back to Memphis to lead his family’s business, Tate Computer Systems Inc., a 36-year IT Solutions company.

“Today, I am working on creating 1,000 careers in technology by 2038. This is the hardest thing that I have ever done. The hardest. Because there is no clear blueprint. The number of decisions we have to make on a daily basis is astounding.”

Along the way there have been challenges, he said, from family members dying to employees quitting.

In these times, he thought about the principled people he looked up to, including Jesus Christ and – especially poignant on the 57th anniversary of his assassination in Memphis – Martin Luther King, Jr. “This day in 1968, he was killed because of his principles, because of his decisions, because of his actions.”

Tate concluded by encouraging students to embrace their MUS experience.

“It is very important that you make the most of your time here at MUS. It will be very rare that you find other spaces that are like this. There are people here who schedule your daily activities for your benefit. As you walk through your life from here to your career, you will fight for the structure that MUS provides.

“You will be in situations where taking the short road yields a lot more money than taking the long road, but that short road will require you to violate some principles. I implore you, as a living example of the things that happen when principles are applied and decisions are made by them, to do all you can to hold true to [your principles].”

After chapel Tate was joined by his wife, Aryian “Nikki” Tate, a resident physician at UTHSC, for a reception in Morgan Foyer where he reconnected with faculty members and met with students.

See more photos HERE.

Judy and King Rogers, parents of King W. Rogers IV ’98, provided the King and Judy Rogers Endowment for Leadership Development in 2000 to fund annual leadership development programs for MUS students. The income from the fund provides the resources to bring a renowned speaker to campus and sponsor additional leadership programs. This year marks the 21st anniversary of the program.
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