About the speaker

Our speaker today is Dr Lisa O’Brien.

Lisa has been the CEO of The Smith Family since 2011. She leads Australia’s major education-oriented children’s charity with a mission to create opportunities for young Australians in need by providing long-term support for their participation in education.

Lisa has steered The Smith Family towards an organisation that is values-driven and outcomes-focused, with a five year plan to grow the effectiveness and reach of its education-oriented programs to support more disadvantaged children and young people.

Prior to her role at The Smith Family, Lisa has worked in senior management roles across the public, not-for-profit and commercial sectors over the last two decades. She is a non-executive director of the Community Council for Australia and Immune Systems Therapeutics Pty Ltd, member of Chief Executive Women Inc. and former CEO of the Skin and Cancer Foundation Australia. She was also a founding member of Sydney’s Lou’s Place, a drop-in centre providing respite and support for women in need.

Lisa is a Medical Practitioner registered in New South Wales and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. She also holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Human Resource Management and Coaching from the University of Sydney. In 2013, Lisa was a nominee in The Australian Financial Review and Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence awards.

It gives me great pleasure to invite Dr Lisa O’Brien to deliver the occasional address.

Speech

Pro Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Dean, distinguished guests, faculty members, but most importantly; to the graduates, your families and friends. Thank you for the opportunity to say a few words to you today.

Before I continue, can I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting today – the Gadigal and Guringgai people of the Eora nation – and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

Graduates please accept my congratulations. This day marks the closing of an exciting chapter of your lives and I’m sure as you sit here, thinking back, the past few years include many achievements, challenges, experiences and friendships to reflect on.

It’s a great pleasure and honour to have the opportunity to speak to you today, to help acknowledge this significant milestone in your lives, and consider the exciting possibilities for what comes next.

I will admit that it was with some reservations I accepted this invitation. As the mother of teenagers the irrelevance of any advice I could possibly offer to young people has been well and truly ingrained in me.

So rest assured, you will not be receiving too much gratuitous advice from me. What I would like to do however is talk a little about some of the things that have inspired me during my life and career and some of the thoughts that have directed my choices.

[For those that don’t know me, my name is Lisa O’Brien] and I’m the Chief Executive of the Australian children’s education charity, The Smith Family.

But I started my work life on a very different path. I imagine I am an example of the need to expect the unexpected as you leave the halls of academia and start forging your careers.

It’s often remarked that these days a professional person has between 5-15 different career changes in their lifetime. While everyone is different, it certainly matches with my experience.

When I left school I completed an undergraduate medical degree at the University of Sydney.

I remember quite clearly the feelings of achievement on my graduation day, how proud my parents were and the faces of my fellow graduates. It feels like yesterday.

I recognise today’s significance in your lives and the lives of your family. You have much to be proud of. Enjoy the moment.

I loved university life and thoroughly enjoyed my years as an intern and a resident. After a couple of years of post-graduate clinical practice it became necessary to choose a specialty pathway or go into general practice.

I had always been interested in finance and management so I decided to specialise in Medical Administration.

To complete my training I worked in a range of management and policy positions in public hospitals as well as working in the NSW Department of Health. It was also a requirement that I undertake further study in management and so I completed a Masters of Business Administration.

I choose this particular course because of its strong financial focus and because it would be of benefit outside the health sector. Once I finished my speciality training I worked in a senior management role in one of Sydney’s teaching hospitals.

A few years later I started a family and was therefore keen to work part-time. This can be difficult in senior line management roles. I’m grateful that the combination of my MBA and my experience gave me the opportunity to work in part-time role across a whole range of different settings including consulting in health services planning, in a start-up IT venture, and in biotech commercialisation.

It was during this time that I joined a small group of women – who, like me, were keen to give back to our local community. I was very conscious that I had been given some wonderful opportunities and that not everyone is quite so lucky. So together we founded Lou’s Place, a drop in centre for homeless women based in King’s Cross.

The centre came to life through a fundraising, volunteering and partnership model that continues to support Lou’s Place today, 12 years later. It was this experience that really ignited my passion to work in the community service sector.

8 years ago I felt the time was right to reinvigorate my career. The variety of part-time roles I had taken, plus my study [yes, I did another masters degree], helped me be clear about what I wanted to do next. Firstly, I wanted to work for a not-for-profit organisation as I enjoyed working for mission-focused, values-driven organisations.

I also decided that I wanted to step back into a leadership role. So next, I took the role as CEO of the Skin and Cancer Foundation Australia, a not-for-profit healthcare provider. It was the perfect next step but after five years I was looking for a bigger challenge.

Consequently when I was offered my current position at The Smith Family, I was delighted and felt that all the threads of my experience had come together.

When I look at the path my career has taken, I see there are a few key themes:

1. a constant desire to learn new skills and work in new settings;

2. an understanding that the search for the ideal role can be a long one, as mine has been; and

3. the need to keep following my passion and my intuition.

It’s this final point that I’d particularly like to emphasise to you all: find and follow your passion.

I encourage you to look for work that really interests you; things you really want to spend your time on; a job that you enjoy.

Learn from others. Take advice. Seek a mentor. Dip into further study which might enhance your skills or open a door to a completely new career.

Be inquisitive, persistent and determined as you go about finding a role that meets your requirements.

A simple test for whether you’re in a career you’re passionate about is how you handle the inevitable challenges thrown at you: whether, despite the frustration, the challenges just inspire you to greater heights, rather than feeling like a burden to be endured.

I’m incredibly grateful that my current role brings out the former in me.

Every day, The Smith Family gives disadvantaged Australian children and young people the chance to overcome whatever barriers they might face as a result of their family’s financial situation. We focus on helping these young people to make the most out of their education.

Australia is blessed with a school system that aims to provide all children with access to a comprehensive education.

For most children the system works quite well.

However, for a significant minority, the effects of financial disadvantage can result in a far less satisfactory experience.

For these kids it can also mean living in a family that may not have enough money for food, or be able to afford the costs of basic utilities such as electricity or gas, or dental services.

If you’re hungry or have a problem with your health it’s hard to concentrate on what’s going on in class.

Financial vulnerability can also mean children don’t have access to important learning resources such as books or a home computer, or the pursuits that provide a true and comprehensive education, such as school camps, hobbies and sport.

As they reach their teens, children in communities with high levels of early school leaving and unemployment often lack positive role models and the networks so crucial in creating a pathway to future study or a job.

Without access to such important foundations, many disengage from post-school study and lower their career aspirations.

When some or all of these factors are at play, it can be very difficult for a child or young person to keep up with their education over the long-term.

As a result, Australian students from disadvantaged backgrounds are almost 20 per cent less likely to complete Year 12 than their more advantaged peers. They are also far less likely to attend university.

I imagine there may be some of you here today who know exactly what I am talking about – that you have lived this experience. To you, I say the warmest congratulations! To be here today graduating is a tremendous achievement.

At The Smith Family, all our efforts are focussed on lifting the educational performance of disadvantaged young people and giving them access to the opportunities afforded by a good education.

As Australia’s future business leaders, you – understand that it’s only through education that we can build a strong foundation for meeting the challenges and opportunities of a highly volatile global economy.

Providing all Australians with the opportunity to realise their potential, is central to enhancing our country’s overall productivity and delivering benefits in terms of economic growth and social cohesion.

The Smith Family works closely with hundreds of organisations and businesses – small, medium and large – to deliver our services and address the challenges we’ve identified.

They partner with us – through financial support, through sharing the expertise of their staff, by offering in-kind benefits. This wonderful university partners with us in our work supporting disadvantaged young people.

These organisations partner with us because they recognise that if we as a nation keep down the path we’re on, we will struggle to fill job vacancies because of our failure to substantially improve educational outcomes.

That if we keep down the path we’re on, more and more young people with poor educational outcomes are likely to experience unemployment – and rely more heavily on income support – something which will create an additional burden for business and Australia as a whole.

As Australia’s business leaders of tomorrow – the men and women who will make decisions about strategic direction, investment, business expansion and corporate social responsibility – I leave you today with the question I hope will remain with you for the duration of your career:

“What will you do to make a difference?”

Because, make no mistake, as your career develops and your influence grows you will find yourself in a position where you are able to make a difference. Whether in regards to education or a range of other social, environmental and health challenges.

“What will you do to help?”

I believe that neither governments nor community organisations have the resources or the expertise to do it on their own. We need the business sector to work in partnership with us.

By choosing to engage – to be an active corporate citizen – you will not only have a profound impact on individuals and the community around you but you will create a better and more fruitful context in which to conduct your business.

So, what will you do?

I encourage you to reflect equally on that alongside the myriad of other questions and challenges you will wrestle with throughout your careers.

One last thought I would leave you with ……………….

And remember ……………. You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.

Again congratulations graduates, families and friends, and thank you Pro Chancellor for the opportunity to address you all today.