Graduation Address

"Encaenia Address, University of New Brunswick, Ceremony C." (22 May 1997). (UA Case 67, Box 3)

Your Honour, Mr. Chancellor, Madam President, Distinguished Guests, Graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for the honour of addressing you today.

Today is a special day, a very special day for you and the graduates present here today. It is special for amongst other reason, "just the shear satisfaction of finishing what you started."

Today is a special day for you, the friends and relatives of all the graduates. All of them who watched you, helped you finish and sometimes put up with watching you finish what you started a long, long time ago…for some over 15 years ago and for some, then some.

Today is also a very special day for me. All my life, I have been a very lucky person and have had a whole lot of good things happen to me. One of the ongoing fortunate things in my life has been that I have participated with an and been surrounded by great teams.

In sports it included very successful football, hockey, lacrosse and rowing teams. In business, I am just finishing participation with one of the greatest teams around… "The Bridge Builders of Atlantic Canada" who built the Confederation Bridge linking the provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Those teams have allowed me to participate in a lifetime of successes and recognition of those successes. In sports, the recognition was often in the form of trophies and medals. In business, the recognition was often in the form of awards. However, all of those victories, all of the recognition in the past does not compare to this very special recognition that you have bestowed on me today.

I am Honoured…I am Humbled…and for that Honour, I thank you from deep down inside of me.

For everyone that is here graduating today, after all those years in school (if you’re anything like I was) you are probably convinced that you’ve done enough learning for a lifetime and that you’ve learned just about all you ever need to learn.

As a minimum, everyone has learned at least:

• a whole bunch of "Technical Knowledge"



• a whole bunch of "Technical Skills."



• How to appreciate the importance of and understand the significance of "Hard Work" and I trust, everyone has also learned "How to Party," if not, you better start tonight. It’s very important from here on in, especially now that everyone is pushing you and the pressure is growing to turn into an adult. If you need some help on partying, you’re all invited to a real big party two weekends from now at the Confederation Bridge opening.

So, there probably is nothing left to learn and at least you’ve thought you earned the right to not have to listen to another lecture for a while, especially not today, the day of your graduation. Sorry!

Today, I want to take a few minutes of your time to talk a little about the future of the world you’re heading into…My World – The World of Business:

• My comments are not about "Work Skills,"



• My comments are not about "Work Knowledge,"

My comments are all about "Work Habits" for success in your career future.

Today, business if involved in something big. The shift to an entirely new economy, a new age, a vastly different approach in the way organizations operate. Work is going global.

We are entering the "Information Age." The economy is shifting more and more toward services and towards knowledge work. New technologies, especially computers and telecommunications have already created intense, world-wide competition for business.

Soon, very soon competition for your very own job could come from practically anywhere on earth.

This is the dawn of "A New Age of Business." It’s all about "Change and the Rate of Change." To crystal ball what this rapid change will ultimately result in, I will leave to the experts. But one thing is certain, the rate of change will only increase and most definitely will never stop. We can’t stop it!!!...We can only adapt to it!!! To succeed, we need to adapt to it!!!

Remember!! Time is our most "Non-Renewable Resource." We can’t get any more of it, the best we can do is learn to use the little we’ve got better.

The following are some of my thoughts of the type of "Work Habits" it’s going to take to stay ahead and go forward. The type of work habits necessary in order to succeed, in order to find happiness on how we need look at our careers, on how we need to take care of our careers…(In this New Age of Business)….from here on into the future.

A listing of simple steps which we need to consider would include:

1. We need to be able to change "In A Heartbeat."
   
   Taking care of your career these days means managing perpetual motion. Changing. The organization you’re going to be a part of will keep changing itself, shifting and flexing to fit our rapidly changing world. That’s the only way it can hope to survive in this fiercely competitive environment. Look for it to restructure, outsource, downsize, subcontract and form new alliances. Maybe you’ll work on a contract basis. You might even end up working for more than one employer at a time. You’ll probably have a constantly set of new co-workers, more new bosses, and even new careers.
   
   You’re not going to like some of this. Chances are nobody will like it, but that is neither here nor there. The question is, will you get with the program anyhow? You need to know that resistance to change is almost always a dead-end street.
   
   Bottom Line:
   
   Mobility, not Mourning, makes you a valuable member of the Team.



2. We need to "Speed Up."
   
   Slow kills companies.
   
   To survive and certainly to gain any competitive advantage, your organization must travel light and cover ground quicker. Organizations must accelerate, or they will die. But organizations can’t go fast if their employees go slow. If the organization decides to turn on a dime, be there… "In A Heartbeat."
   
   Make yourself more valuable by helping to create a High-Velocity Operation.
   
   In our own industry, we went from designing things first and then building them to "fast-track" (that is design and build at the same time). Today we’re at "flash-track" (that is getting the cart in front of the horse) ie. Build before the design is finished.
   
   Bottom Line:
   
   "Warp-Speed" is next, is coming…



3. We need to behave like we are in business for ourselves.
   
   Your employer wants more than your body. Your Employer wants you to act like an Owner. Why is this? Organizations are breaking into bits and getting flatter so they can "Speed Up."
   
   Organizations are reshaping themselves in an attempt to become more entrepreneurial. We are seeing a lot of self directed teams, empowered employees.
   
   Bottom Line:
   
   See yourself as "A Service Centre." In the final analysis, customers are our only source of job security.



4. We need to commit fully to our jobs.
   
   Expect your employer to expect more from you. The reason? The marketplace is demanding far more from the Employer these days.



• Better Quality than ever before. The marketplace demands things that are "Built to Last." There is no more room for a disposable society.



• Top-Notch Service…(satisfy the customer)…If we don’t, the next guy will.



• Speed…(Schedule, Schedule, Schedule…). There is no room now for employees who mainly put in their time.


In today’s world, career success belongs to the committed. If you find you can’t recommit rapidly when the company changes, you probably should quit. Strong job commitment makes work far more satisfying.

Bottom Line:

Commitment is a gift you should give yourself.


5. Hold yourselves accountable for outcomes. Organizations are insisting on new levels of accountability in their employers. Responsibility, power and authority are being pushed down to the lowest levels. For this to work, you have to stand accountable for results.



6. Add value. Make sure you contribute more than you cost.
   
   It is your contribution that counts. Not the hours or years you put in. Or how busy you are.



7. Be a fixer not a finger pointer. Assume ownership of problems. Let the solutions start with you.


Manage your won morale. Saddling someone else with the job of keeping you contented and upbeat at work is a slick move…However…

Bottom Line:

You are far better off to assign yourself "Personal Responsibility for Attitude Control"

And finally, last but certainly not least, we need to…Sorry again!

Some may not like to hear this:


8. Stay in school.
   
   Today and tomorrow’s world takes no pity on the person who gets lazy about learning. Lifelong learning is the only way to remain competitive in the job market. Your future employability, your appeal as a job candidate depends on you having a relentless drive to:



• Update your credentials;



• Acquire new skills;



• Stay abreast with what’s happening in your field;



• Homework. Studying on your own should become a regular part of your weekly routine;



• Ask for learning opportunities, and then milk them dry.


The more you know how to do, and the better you do it, the more valuable you become. So just forget about finishing your education.

Bottom Line:

Defend your career by developing a better package of knowledge and skills than the next person.


9. The conclusion to my message to All Here Today!!!



• Put your faith in the future and in yourself. Embrace change and remember…



• The future really is ours and the job of crystallizing of what each of those opportunities will look like for each of us, belong to each of us.



• "You Never Know What You Can Get Away With Unless You Try" and,



• If all else fails, if you’ve done as much as you can, if you’ve applied all of your skills…

  A rulle I’ve always followed…Just plain "Outwork the Competition"… Guaranteed, they usually get tired first.

Thank you…Good Luck…And Always Remember, make time to have fun while its all racing by… and it will race by!!!