Damon Rees

Congratulations to all of you – an absolutely incredible achievement. You now have a world-class education behind you from what I believe is a truly world-class university that is going from strength to strength. All of the blood, sweat, tears, last minute cramming, late nights and probably a bit of Red Bull in there as well have finally got you to the point you’re in, so you’re this close to getting out of here and celebrating. I think the knowledge that you’ve attained in your time here, I think will serve you very, very well. But I think the attitude and the aptitude that your time at UTS has helped to really tune, I think they’re the skills, they’re the things that are going to take you forward over the course of your life and serve you very, very well.

So it’s very humbling to be here as a former UTS graduate. I, you know, when we’re in here I feel like I should be sitting down there with you and listening to someone smarter and more wise up here. But unfortunately it’s a bit late to switch, so I’ll have a crack at this, and I thought I might try and just share some of my perspective that I’ve gained over the last twenty-something years since I was in your chair. I thought I might try and talk about three different things – firstly, the world that you find yourself in, and the world that, really, you’re becoming the custodians of going forward. Talk a little bit about the people that will join you on that journey, and then maybe some reflections that may help you in your own personal journal. I think there’s, in terms of the world you’re in, there’s kind of two versions of that. There’s the version you can read on Twitter, which is a disaster, it’s all broken, it’s all falling apart, it’s all someone else’s problem, and tools like Twitter make it very easy for us to sit on the sidelines and throw stones at that. That’s one version of the world that we live in.

Another version, if you read beyond the 140th character, might look a little bit different. If you look at any – almost any – measure, we are potentially at a high point of the human race. If you look at life expectancy, it’s up. If you look at infant mortality, it’s down. If you look at safety, it’s up. If you look at the hundreds of millions of people that have been lifted out of poverty over the last, even just recent decades, it’s incredible. Freedom of speech, you know is giving us a bit of challenges in areas it’s never been before. You’re actually, you know, the other view of the world would suggest you’re inheriting a fabulous starting point. It’s not perfect, it’s not done – it’s certainly not finished, and it’s certainly not evenly spread in terms of the progress that we’ve been made, and we do have problems that we need to work on and do much better on in terms of closing the gap right here in our own backyard. But it is a good starting point. And I think actually our jobs is to take what we start with and simply leave it in a better shape than we find it. I think a lot of people have done a wonderful job to get us to this point – it really now becomes over to you to take it from here and make it even better. Some of the challenges you’re going to stare into are going to feel really, really big; really, really complex. They’re going to feel intractable. I heard a story once which I really like, you know, a man and a woman standing on a beach and millions of starfish had been washed up onto this beach – you know, it was covered in starfish. And the lady was picking down and throwing these starfish back into the water, one at a time, and the man looked at her and said ‘What are you doing? There’s millions of these things. You’re going to make no difference.’ And the lady said ‘Well, I’m going to make a difference to that one.’ And I think it’s a great way to help about these intractable problems – very easy to sit there and do nothing because we can’t solve the whole thing, but never underestimate the impact that each and every one of you can have in moving those problems forward.

Second thing I’d like to talk a little bit about is who you’re going to do it with. You know, I think the story of the tortured genius that works in isolation in a garage and pops out and changes the world – like, you know, it’s a great script for a Hollywood movie, but I think it’s a myth. If it’s not gone, then it’s certainly close to extinction. The world we live in, the important problems, the important achievements, the important steps forward, they’re made by teams. They’re made by groups of people, and what we finally understand, I think, is that actually the more and more diverse those groups are, the better and better the outcomes are that we can achieve.  So you’ll find in your careers, sometimes it’ll be tempting, you can move quickly, you can move fast if you move on your own. But if you really want to move far, then you’re going to quickly find that no matter what organisation you find yourself in and what pursuit, you need people to do it with. Every great idea really does have many, many parents, and getting that diversity of teams together, I think, is absolutely critical. I think it’s where university and UTS specifically has armed you with some wonderful tools to do that, because in that context, you know, your best tools are collaboration. Your best tools are respect and being able to work with each other, and being able to find and then celebrate and understand how to work those differences, rather than trying to drive them all back to look like you. To be able to create an environment where you’ve got the confidence to bring your whole self to that environment, and create an environment that enables everybody else to do the same. I think that’s really the nature of the world that we operate in – it’s a very, very team-based world, and I think you’re set up very, very well to succeed in that environment.

So then finally some thoughts around how you might navigate the twists and turns and think about the choices that you make along the way. You know, I heard a story a little while ago about a very, very respected general in the military, and the general was coming to their retirement, and the team said to him ‘You’ve been so incredibly successful; you’re so admired. What was the secret to your success?’ The general wasn’t a man of many words; he sort of thought for a little while and he said, ‘You know, I made good decisions.’ But of course, his staff said ‘Well, it’s easy for you to say – you’re this incredibly accomplished general; you’ve seen all this stuff. How do we make good decisions?’ And the general thought on it a bit longer, and he thought well, ‘Experience, I guess.’ And they said ‘Well, you’re not helping us. When you leave, we want to follow in your footsteps – we want to do great things, so yes, you made good decisions, because you’ve got this experience, but what’s the key to gaining that experience?’  And the general said ‘Well, I made bad decisions.’ And I think about that a lot – you know, we will make bad decisions, we will make mistakes. I think they’re an essential ingredient of learning. I certainly think they’re an essential ingredient of achievement. If all we ever do is solve problems that are predictable and certain and safe and that we’ve solved before, then we’re going to live well within the potential that we can all bring to our roles and our careers. So you know, you’ve got to be mindful about when and where and how big and how loud that mistake should be, particularly if you find yourself in public service. But don’t be scared. Don’t be scared of making those mistakes – don’t shy away from them, because they are a natural part of the wonderful careers that you’re going to have. The second little story I think about a lot, almost every day, you know, my dad, who’s here, takes great delight in choosing a birthday card each year that’s this beautiful combination of dry wit with sort of a moralistic story underneath. If you can’t find both, we tend to lean to dry wit. But one year, I got a card from Dad and it had three frogs on the cover. And these three frogs were kitted out in burlesque attire – I’m sure you can picture frogs in lingerie and feathers. They had their arms around each other, and they were sort of leg up dancing together. I thought okay. So I opened the card, and in the card it said, ‘Just because you can-can doesn’t mean you should-should.’ And I love it. And it’s the voice you need to keep listening to. You’re going to need to make many, many, many choices over the course of your lives. Some of them will be obvious; some of them will have a unique, well-defined answer. Most of them, in my experience, don’t have such a clear and obvious answer to them, and so recognising the choices that you’re making, even when you feel you’re not making a choice, you are making choices, and making sure you find your own compass and a way to align that with the choices that you’re making I think is incredibly important and great advice. And then finally, I’ve been in my current role for about a year, so my role is to look after digital and technology across the whole of NSW Government.

It’s an incredible, for me, incredibly humbling responsibility and privilege to be doing it. It’s also my first time in the public sector – I’d spent my life in the private sector, so when I was joining, I met two of the currently sitting ministers, one of whom is now our treasurer for NSW – we had a great conversation, and I said ‘Look, what’s your advice to someone both coming into the public sector new, and coming into this role?’ And I got two pieces of advice. The first piece of advice was, leave nothing on the table. There is so much opportunity to do such great things in NSW right now – leave nothing on the table. Now is the time when technology and digital and all the wonderful skills that everyone in this room is bringing to the table, now is the time when they can really have an impact on people’s lives, so leave nothing on the table. Be very bold and aim high. The second piece of advice was bring everyone with you. You know, and it goes back to we’re in that team sport. And in the public sector, as in the private sector, as in the not-for-profit sector, as in anyone that takes an entrepreneurial career path, it is a team sport.And if you really want to make sustainable, meaningful, lasting and impactful change, then you need to bring everyone with you. So I thought that was fabulous advice that I reflect on all the time. When I turned to my boss and said, ‘What’s your advice?’ he said ‘Do both of those, and we’ll be fine.’ So that’s it. I think, you know you go forward into a really, really exciting world. We’re in your hands now – you’re the custodians of our future. Where we end up will be the sum of the actions that wonderful people like yourself take, and I feel very, very positive about our future looking over all the talented people that we have here tonight. I think you’ve got a fabulous set of tools, fabulous experiences behind you from UTS that’s equipped you for that journey. Please, please, please aim high – be bold, and really seek out to realise your full potential. And my career, I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody that I think has really hit the ceiling of their full potential, so don’t ever trick yourself into believing that you have, and we’re in a team sport here folks, so bring people with you. Congratulations again, and thank you very much for letting me join you this afternoon.