Paul Thorley
Director and Head of Partnership Strategy, Greenwich Capital Partners
Ceremony: 10 May 2018, 5:30pm - UTS Business School
Pro Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and President, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Chief Information Officer, Dean of the UTS Business School, members of the Academic Board, distinguished guests, graduates, friends, rightly proud and possibly slightly relieved family members. I’d like to sincerely congratulate the graduates on their behalf, thank the many family members and friends who will have made sacrifices to ensure you are all present today.
Today, you graduate from a university, in particular the Business School, that I’m also very proud to be part of, that is rapidly growing in recognition, as one that not only fosters the technical skills, but I think in my view, even more importantly, develops the behavioural attributes such as collaboration, which are essential to flourish in today’s business environment. From my almost 40 years’ experience in industry across, I think, almost 35 countries now, I believe you graduate at a truly game-changing moment, possibly the most game changing. The opportunities and challenges of machine intelligence, data analytics, cyber and consumer-centric commerce will be extremely demanding, but also extremely exciting and fun.
I considered speaking about these mega trends, but I took a few brief soundings from a number of you as to what you might want to hear and what you’d want me to avoid. There was no absolute consensus, but directionally you wanted it based on true life experience, not theories, and certainly not platitudes, and tell us the tips for success and happiness. No pressure. So, here goes – just a couple of personal experiences that influenced my approach to life and work. To start with, I’ll modify a famous quote form the Apollo 13 film, which I’m sure you’ll all know. My modification would be: if you want to succeed and grow, failure is the only option from time to time. Highly probable, if not inevitable, that you will have setbacks in life and with your careers.
Even those folk who you imagine have serenely glided, swan-like, to positions of CEO, Vice Chancellor, I can tell you, they will also have had their share of setbacks. In my own case, it sounds pretty good, my CV, but it hides a plethora of interesting rejections and setbacks. Even before I landed my first job at Accenture, I’d already been rejected by three of the big five. As I developed, I was headhunted directly to the partnership at Ernst & Young at the age of around 36, which was pretty good going, but I was seriously suffering from new partner-itis in quite a major way. Swanky car, just a smidge arrogant, and really believing there was nothing more to learn. How wrong was I? A few months into the new role, the guy who hired me, the senior partner, Clive Williams, I remember him to this day – we’re still connected – or rather, I think it was his assistant, invited me to his office, and over Earl Grey tea, which seemed all very pleasant, came the message.
It was along these lines: Paul, you just might want to pull your elbows in a little and stop upsetting your fellow partner allies as you go about your business. As I left his office, having heard of similar folklore stories of our senior partner and the subsequent impact, I roughly translated this to: Paul, you’ll be fired in the next few weeks if we don’t stop hearing complaints about you from your fellow partners. On the way downstairs, this was fast sinking in. By the time I’d walked to my rather smaller office, I knew that I’d have to change my style, and quick smart. I was more concerned, and I know this now, about ambition for myself, than about creating success for the business and doing the right things. This was close to a fatal error.
However, I’m delighted to say and very pleased that it happened, five years later I was the managing partner of Ernst & Young, leading 70 other partners. Without that first jolt, and actually quite a few gentler interventions from Clive along the journey, I wouldn’t have made it. He taught me to become self-aware; he taught me to understand my strengths, but even more importantly, understand my weaknesses; and he told me, ‘You’ve got to be yourself. Focus on being authentic and show the humility.’ Really important lessons. I think in summary, it was, for me, taking the ‘I’ out of the communication and focusing on the we – the collective, feeling that it was all down to a team, rather than one individual. My advice to all of you, from this first insight, I guess, from my time, is find one or two of these people – colleagues and/or family – and nurture and treasure those relationships. I can see my son in the audience here and I’m just taking this opportunity to encourage him to occasionally listen to me as well.
The last decade in technology and professional services, there really was only one serious asset. There was a lot of hype about method and IP, but it was all about people. And this taught me that leadership is absolutely not about hierarchy and job title. It’s about having influence and mastering change. It’s about connecting and, on occasion, emotionally, at all levels, listening and asking the next question. It’s about challenging the minds and hearts to achieve goals well out people’s – and probably your own – comfort zone. But here’s the delicate balance: you need to also put people in a sufficiently comfortable environment so they will be comfortable and they will flourish. As I say, a delicate balancing act, but one that you should seek out. Beyond welcoming rejection and setbacks in order to grow, you might be dreading what else I would recommend. Well, my second bit of advice probably has its genesis in Manchester in England in the early 60s, where my father was a stickler for hard work and discipline, inevitably I went the other way, in the early days, but in some ways, I was kind of ahead of the game, because I was following the work smarter ethos – but in my case, I was basically pretty lazy.
This did teach me, though, that in the end, it’s a combination of at the right times, working extremely hard, and combining that with working smart is the way to go. And I just want to expand on this, because I think from a resilience and getting the best out of life, the smart working is so important. A little anecdote: in the late 80s at Accenture, I remember as I was coming up the ranks as a senior manager, talking to one of the new-ish partners in his mid-30s, an owner of the business, confessing that he would never be the first to leave in the evening, scared of the lack of dedication it might be inferring. Interesting to imagine that, but it still happens. I also remember vividly, when I approached a more senior partner with a proposal to review, showing myself keen as mustard, six o’clock on a Friday, and he said, ‘Give it to me on Monday. It’s not that urgent, and I like my weekends.’ Same firm, but I think one of them had the right self-confidence. And I actually recall that the guy in his 50s looked in better shape than the one in his mid-30s. So, take some heart from being self-confident; don’t feel that you have to demonstrate that hard work all the time. Work smart. And this links to the happiness equation that a couple of people said, ‘Tell us a bit about that.’ Because I feel that’s so important. Working hard is a ticket to play, but it will most likely steadily erode the chances of developing deep relationships with your partner, children or friends, if that’s the only mantra that you adopt. You have to invest serious time and drop into several ports on your journey, be they friends, hobbies, communities, faith and so forth. If you subscribe only to the working hard ethos, I personally advocate a reset of priorities, or if necessary, move on from that job.
Therefore, just a couple of tips on this one, because it’s not straightforward when you’re being managed by other people, moving your way up the organisation. First one would be: do less, then obsess. Whatever it is, the priorities set by your boss, do it extraordinarily well. Don’t wait for the grand-scale opportunity. Take some small project and really create an ambitious outcome around that. I tell you, it will be noticed. The second one would be: when you get a new role or a new project, think about redesigning the work, because you’ll inherit certain customs and practices. What I would suggest to you is, really try and understand where the value creation is of that role that you may have or you may develop into in the coming years, and don’t be afraid to radically change the approach to get more effective outcomes. This certainly has served me well.
The third one – the final one on this second piece of advice – is: don’t just learn, loop. It’s not just repetition in my view, as Malcolm Gladwell has said in his famous book on the 10,000 hours. It’s more about refining the practice and improving the quality of the learning. It’s really about starting to be more reflective about how you do your role and practice, and having mentors who have the interest in you to give you the feedback. So, to conclude: remember, failure is an option. Embrace it and learn from it. Leadership is not, in fact, about you – it’s about the impact on those around you. I’m a pretty keen cyclist, so I’ll finish on this analogy for me, as I was thinking about this: yes, keep pedalling, keep pedalling hard, but stop the bike occasionally. Stop the bike, lie down in the sun – and we get plenty of it. Lie down in the sun and reflect on what and how you are pedalling, and you’ll undoubtedly become faster, more efficient and travel further in your life and career. Congratulations to all of you, you should be very proud of what you’ve achieved. It’s been a great honour to speak to you. Thanks for listening, and enjoy your own adventures ahead.
Speech
Pro Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and President, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Chief Information Officer, Dean of the UTS Business School, members of the Academic Board, distinguished guests, graduates, friends, rightly proud and possibly slightly relieved family members. I’d like to sincerely congratulate the graduates on their behalf, thank the many family members and friends who will have made sacrifices to ensure you are all present today.
Today, you graduate from a university, in particular the Business School, that I’m also very proud to be part of, that is rapidly growing in recognition, as one that not only fosters the technical skills, but I think in my view, even more importantly, develops the behavioural attributes such as collaboration, which are essential to flourish in today’s business environment. From my almost 40 years’ experience in industry across, I think, almost 35 countries now, I believe you graduate at a truly game-changing moment, possibly the most game changing. The opportunities and challenges of machine intelligence, data analytics, cyber and consumer-centric commerce will be extremely demanding, but also extremely exciting and fun.
I considered speaking about these mega trends, but I took a few brief soundings from a number of you as to what you might want to hear and what you’d want me to avoid. There was no absolute consensus, but directionally you wanted it based on true life experience, not theories, and certainly not platitudes, and tell us the tips for success and happiness. No pressure. So, here goes – just a couple of personal experiences that influenced my approach to life and work. To start with, I’ll modify a famous quote form the Apollo 13 film, which I’m sure you’ll all know. My modification would be: if you want to succeed and grow, failure is the only option from time to time. Highly probable, if not inevitable, that you will have setbacks in life and with your careers.
Even those folk who you imagine have serenely glided, swan-like, to positions of CEO, Vice Chancellor, I can tell you, they will also have had their share of setbacks. In my own case, it sounds pretty good, my CV, but it hides a plethora of interesting rejections and setbacks. Even before I landed my first job at Accenture, I’d already been rejected by three of the big five. As I developed, I was headhunted directly to the partnership at Ernst & Young at the age of around 36, which was pretty good going, but I was seriously suffering from new partner-itis in quite a major way. Swanky car, just a smidge arrogant, and really believing there was nothing more to learn. How wrong was I? A few months into the new role, the guy who hired me, the senior partner, Clive Williams, I remember him to this day – we’re still connected – or rather, I think it was his assistant, invited me to his office, and over Earl Grey tea, which seemed all very pleasant, came the message.
It was along these lines: Paul, you just might want to pull your elbows in a little and stop upsetting your fellow partner allies as you go about your business. As I left his office, having heard of similar folklore stories of our senior partner and the subsequent impact, I roughly translated this to: Paul, you’ll be fired in the next few weeks if we don’t stop hearing complaints about you from your fellow partners. On the way downstairs, this was fast sinking in. By the time I’d walked to my rather smaller office, I knew that I’d have to change my style, and quick smart. I was more concerned, and I know this now, about ambition for myself, than about creating success for the business and doing the right things. This was close to a fatal error.
However, I’m delighted to say and very pleased that it happened, five years later I was the managing partner of Ernst & Young, leading 70 other partners. Without that first jolt, and actually quite a few gentler interventions from Clive along the journey, I wouldn’t have made it. He taught me to become self-aware; he taught me to understand my strengths, but even more importantly, understand my weaknesses; and he told me, ‘You’ve got to be yourself. Focus on being authentic and show the humility.’ Really important lessons. I think in summary, it was, for me, taking the ‘I’ out of the communication and focusing on the we – the collective, feeling that it was all down to a team, rather than one individual. My advice to all of you, from this first insight, I guess, from my time, is find one or two of these people – colleagues and/or family – and nurture and treasure those relationships. I can see my son in the audience here and I’m just taking this opportunity to encourage him to occasionally listen to me as well.
The last decade in technology and professional services, there really was only one serious asset. There was a lot of hype about method and IP, but it was all about people. And this taught me that leadership is absolutely not about hierarchy and job title. It’s about having influence and mastering change. It’s about connecting and, on occasion, emotionally, at all levels, listening and asking the next question. It’s about challenging the minds and hearts to achieve goals well out people’s – and probably your own – comfort zone. But here’s the delicate balance: you need to also put people in a sufficiently comfortable environment so they will be comfortable and they will flourish. As I say, a delicate balancing act, but one that you should seek out. Beyond welcoming rejection and setbacks in order to grow, you might be dreading what else I would recommend. Well, my second bit of advice probably has its genesis in Manchester in England in the early 60s, where my father was a stickler for hard work and discipline, inevitably I went the other way, in the early days, but in some ways, I was kind of ahead of the game, because I was following the work smarter ethos – but in my case, I was basically pretty lazy.
This did teach me, though, that in the end, it’s a combination of at the right times, working extremely hard, and combining that with working smart is the way to go. And I just want to expand on this, because I think from a resilience and getting the best out of life, the smart working is so important. A little anecdote: in the late 80s at Accenture, I remember as I was coming up the ranks as a senior manager, talking to one of the new-ish partners in his mid-30s, an owner of the business, confessing that he would never be the first to leave in the evening, scared of the lack of dedication it might be inferring. Interesting to imagine that, but it still happens. I also remember vividly, when I approached a more senior partner with a proposal to review, showing myself keen as mustard, six o’clock on a Friday, and he said, ‘Give it to me on Monday. It’s not that urgent, and I like my weekends.’ Same firm, but I think one of them had the right self-confidence. And I actually recall that the guy in his 50s looked in better shape than the one in his mid-30s. So, take some heart from being self-confident; don’t feel that you have to demonstrate that hard work all the time. Work smart. And this links to the happiness equation that a couple of people said, ‘Tell us a bit about that.’ Because I feel that’s so important. Working hard is a ticket to play, but it will most likely steadily erode the chances of developing deep relationships with your partner, children or friends, if that’s the only mantra that you adopt. You have to invest serious time and drop into several ports on your journey, be they friends, hobbies, communities, faith and so forth. If you subscribe only to the working hard ethos, I personally advocate a reset of priorities, or if necessary, move on from that job.
Therefore, just a couple of tips on this one, because it’s not straightforward when you’re being managed by other people, moving your way up the organisation. First one would be: do less, then obsess. Whatever it is, the priorities set by your boss, do it extraordinarily well. Don’t wait for the grand-scale opportunity. Take some small project and really create an ambitious outcome around that. I tell you, it will be noticed. The second one would be: when you get a new role or a new project, think about redesigning the work, because you’ll inherit certain customs and practices. What I would suggest to you is, really try and understand where the value creation is of that role that you may have or you may develop into in the coming years, and don’t be afraid to radically change the approach to get more effective outcomes. This certainly has served me well.
The third one – the final one on this second piece of advice – is: don’t just learn, loop. It’s not just repetition in my view, as Malcolm Gladwell has said in his famous book on the 10,000 hours. It’s more about refining the practice and improving the quality of the learning. It’s really about starting to be more reflective about how you do your role and practice, and having mentors who have the interest in you to give you the feedback. So, to conclude: remember, failure is an option. Embrace it and learn from it. Leadership is not, in fact, about you – it’s about the impact on those around you. I’m a pretty keen cyclist, so I’ll finish on this analogy for me, as I was thinking about this: yes, keep pedalling, keep pedalling hard, but stop the bike occasionally. Stop the bike, lie down in the sun – and we get plenty of it. Lie down in the sun and reflect on what and how you are pedalling, and you’ll undoubtedly become faster, more efficient and travel further in your life and career. Congratulations to all of you, you should be very proud of what you’ve achieved. It’s been a great honour to speak to you. Thanks for listening, and enjoy your own adventures ahead.
About the Speaker
Paul is a senior director at Greenwich Capital Partners, an advisory and alternative investment firm, and is an executive coach with Foresight’s Global Coaching. He has over 30 years’ experience in consulting, specialising in growth strategies, business transformation, and complex program management.
Previously, Paul held multiple positions at Capgemini (CAP GEMINI) Australia, including Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Pacific and Middle East region. Capgemini (CAP-GEMINI) Australia is a global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation. He was also a partner at Ernst & Young as well as Accenture.
Paul is a member of several groups working on the future of higher education and forging stronger industry collaboration. He has extensive ties with UTS as an adjunct professor at the UTS Business School, is a member of UTS’s Industry Advisory Council, and as an executive sponsor of the Executive MBA Global Business Project.
Paul graduated with a Bachelor of Science from King’s College London.
