Mr Geoff Lloyd

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
LLM (UTS), Adv Mgt Program (Harvard)

Geoff Lloyd addressed graduates from the UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney on Monday 6 May 2013, 10.30am.

Our speaker today is Mr Geoff Lloyd.

Geoff is currently the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Perpetual Limited.

Geoff joined Perpetual in August 2010 as Group Executive of Private Wealth and has led the development and implementation of the growth strategy for Private Wealth. He took on the additional responsibility of Head of Retail Distribution in September 2011.

Geoff was previously General Manager, Advice and Private Banking at BT Financial Group (BTFG) following the merger with St George’s Wealth Management business. Prior to the merger, he led St George's entire wealth management portfolio and was a member of the St George Bank Group Executive reporting to the CEO. He has held many senior positions at BT Financial Group, including Chief Legal Counsel and Head of the Customer and Business Services Division.

Geoff has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry with an extensive understanding of it, demonstrating exceptional leadership skills.

It gives me great pleasure to invite Mr Geoff Lloyd to deliver the occasional address.

Speech

Good morning. What a wonderful day for everyone here.

I would like to start by acknowledging the Presiding Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Faculty Dean, staff, distinguished guests, graduates, families and friends.

I would like to congratulate and applaud each of you who are graduating today.

Today is a wonderful, proud, enormously satisfying day, and one that is filled with excitement for everyone here.

In your heads and your hearts you must, and you should, feel very proud of what you have achieved. I know that you have sacrificed a lot to be graduating today.

The mums, dads, grandparents, siblings, partners and family members who have supported you; they too should feel very proud of their contribution to your success.

If there is one thing I am sure of, it’s no one achieves anything of great measure without the support of loved ones.

Personally, and I can’t recall the specific details, but work commitments have prevented me from ever attending any of my own graduations.

So to be honest, like you, I feel a buzz of excitement at being asked to be here today.

I have a beautiful daughter Charlotte, who turns 6 years old this month, and whatever her definition and hope for success will be in the future, I can only hope someday she feels what each of you as well as your families and friends feel today

This is a significant day. It’s the start, or perhaps next stage of each of your careers, more importantly, if not for histories sake alone, your graduation this year coincides with a very significant time in the life and evolution of UTS.

2013 marks the 25th anniversary year of UTS and having graduated with masters now over 10 years ago I know what a huge milestone this is.

I feel very privileged to have also been invited to be a UTS Luminary for this significant period of the institution's history.

I am very proud to be the CEO of Perpetual, an iconic Australian company of over 126 years in tradition and heritage- founded by some of Australia's significant forefathers including Sir Edmond Barton, our first Prime Minister.

I took the role of CEO at Perpetual about 16 months ago in very troubled times. We had two CEO's in the prior 12 months, and our share price had dropped from a pre GFC high of over $90 to a low of just over $19.

But we knew that hard work, an honest assessment of our business, trust in the talent of the team and the courage to transform the business would mean the company could deliver for its shareholders.

Today, just over one year on our share price has more than doubled to over $40, our market cap is over $1.7 billion, and yet we know we still have a lot to do.

So this morning, at your graduation, if you will allow me, I would like to talk for a moment about Courage and Leadership

I worry a lot that today's leaders in industry, business, arts, social science and politics are, or have become, grey. They are too focused on the middle ground, too focused on the short term and not enough courage to truly lead and make a real difference.

Too often, our world and achievements today are judged on the short term. I encourage you to have the courage and leadership to create and build in your chosen path or career for the long term.

So what have I learnt about Leadership?

First, and most importantly, I am still learning and still have a lot to learn.

There are no short cuts, trust me I have tried. Everything takes hard work and constant focus. Focus and clarity are everything, both at home and at work

Never take yourself too seriously, but always take your work seriously.

Keep it simple, complexity kills/

The loudest person in the room is usually not the smartest

There is always evidence you keep getting better, keep searching for the evidence of your improvement.

Sustainability is not sexy; it is about the honest, doing things the right way, and hard work.

Surround yourself with the best people. Trust them, listen to them, invest in them.

You must have passion and energy for whatever it is that you do.

Courage and leadership does not come from being grey, it comes from being true to yourself and to your values.

The best advice I think I have ever received was, “Don't try to be someone else, just be the best you can be and keep getting better.”

To close, I would like to thank each of you here in the audience, and finally once again thank UTS and acknowledge the Chancellor.

It has been an enormous privilege to be invited to speak to you today. It’s something I had truly never contemplated and will always remember.

You have my best wishes and my hope for your exciting and courageous futures of leaders in your chosen field.

Don't forget; It's not worth doing unless you are also having fun.

Congratulations again and enjoy your celebrations today.