Don Tocco is a long-time donor to the college.
Courtesy | Matthew Kendrick

Businessman Don Tocco will speak to Hillsdale students about the lifelong pursuit of “arete’” on April 11.

Tocco began the annual Tocco Challenge in 2002 where he sponsored athletic competitions against Hillsdale students and gave $25,000 to the winning dorm or Greek house. 

Since 2014, the long-time donor has regularly visited campus to speak to all students, often using “arete” as the center of his talks. Tocco’s speech in April will explore the biblical and Greek definitions of the word “arete,” which means excellence of performance and behavior.

 “I wanted to offer the school another tool, a tool of inspiration and insights into real-world experience,” Tocco said.

Sophomore Patrick Hamilton said he thinks Tocco will offer an opportunity for students to learn more about how they should approach the search for excellence in whatever they do. 

“Tocco does a great job showing off excellence in different areas, whether it be mental or physical,” Hamilton said. 

As a long-time motivational speaker, Tocco said he hopes his message will reach many of the younger students who may not have heard it before.

“It is important for many of the freshmen and sophomores who didn’t hear me speak last year, who might not know about the 22 years of my Tocco Challenge,” he said. 

This year Tocco will focus on the personal actions needed to achieve “arete.” 

“Being on the road to ‘arete’ is becoming your best self compared to nobody else, especially in character and virtue,” Tocco said. 

His talk will challenge students to live out these qualities in their everyday lives. 

“It’s an action and a lifestyle,” Tocco said, “and once we get on that road to ‘arete,’ we begin to develop skill sets that lead us to discover our God-given talents.” 

Tocco said he will emphasize the five pillars that are crucial to one’s pursuit. The pillars include a desire for change, personal goals and objectives, faith in oneself and in God, determination, and courageous action.

“The pillars are the foundational elements that are essential to employ as we move toward excellence,” Tocco said. “There are five key things — imperatives — and without them, the task is daunting.”

Tocco hopes to highlight the successful examples of people who pursued “arete.”

“I will be going into great detail on those five elements, and I will be using examples of friends of mine who are global leaders and how they used these elements in their own success, which can be emulated,” Tocco said. 

Hamilton, who has met Tocco previously, said his advice resonated with his desire to understand how he should measure success in his life.

“Tocco taught me that success is measured in your relationship with God and that excellence in life stems from God,” he said. 

Tocco said he wants students to understand that his principles can and will lead them to whatever they would like to do in life. 

“You don’t have to be a global leader, but you can achieve that if you want to,” Tocco said.