Tim Reed
Former Chief Executive Officer, MYOB
Ceremony: 15 October 2019, 10:30am - UTS Business School
Speech
Pro-Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, presiding Dean, University Secretary, members of the university Executive Council and academic board, staff, family, friends, and in particular to the graduates who are here with us today. Let me say how delighted I am to be here sharing this moment with all of you. I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respect to their elders past, present, and emerging.
I remember my two graduation days like stars that shine brightly in the night sky. They burned so much brighter than those around them. It is days like today that create those moments and those memories. All of the work goes into getting here, but this is your moment to shine. And with the passing of time, I can tell you those moments only shine more brightly.
So to all of you who are graduating today, I'd encourage you to find a moment to reflect on your own journey to this point. Today is the culmination of years of hard work, of application, of dedication and perseverance. But above all, it is a day to recognise the learning and the mastery that you have achieved. I'd encourage you to reflect and even indulge yourself to swim in a deep pool of pride and to bask in the warmth of the complements of others. For in the words of Dr. Zeus, today is your day. And in my opinion, there is no better time to be receiving the qualification that you are today than right here now. Whether you plan to engage in further academic pursuits or to enter a trade or profession, you enter this next phase of your life at a time of rapid change that brings with it enormous opportunity.
Well, it's easy to look around our community and our society and see problems, see things that could be improved. And it easy because there are many. One doesn't have to scratch too much deeper to be able to see the great progress that is being made in many fields. And the great news for you is that with so much change happening, it becomes even easier to create more change. Moving a stationary system takes an enormous amount of effort, accelerating one that he's already moving is that much easier. Let me touch on three examples of the challenges and the opportunities that I see in our community today that I think create great opportunities for each of you.
The first is poverty. Just 12 months ago, the world bank declared that the number of people living in poverty had fallen by over a billion in the past 25 years. Meaning the rate of poverty is currently the lowest that it is ever been in the history of our species, causing the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, to describe this as one of the greatest human achievements of our time. Where there is much work to be done in this field, the progress that we have made and the change that is happening every day means that the World Bank's goal of eradicating poverty by 2035 is well within our grasp.
Secondly, the role of women within our community. Women continue to be better represented in corporate Australia now making up 47% of all paid employees and 25% of ASX company directors. I am a male champion of change and under the passionate stewardship of the irrepressible Liz Broderick, I've seen this community of CEOs committed to driving gender equity in their business grow significantly, both in terms of the number and the progress that has been made.
At MYOB, the business that I led for 15 years up until quite recently, once we focused on gender equity and as a tech business, gender equity is particularly bad. We managed to lift the representation of women in our business to 44% while at the same time reducing the gender pay gap by 33%. Again, there's more work to be done, but I can tell you a decade ago people weren't engaging in these conversations and now it's happening on a daily basis and the progress is real.
And finally, if we look at what I believe is the greatest social challenge of our time, one of carbon emissions. The emissions intensity of our economy here in Australia has fallen by 62% since 1990. And in that same time, emissions per capita have fallen by 40%. The rapid adoption of solar and wind in our nation combined with the somewhat inflexible base-load systems means that wholesale power prices and now frequently negative through the middle of the day. Combined with this economic signal, the progress that science is making towards hydrogen becoming a real fuel option of the future. It could be that we are on the very verge of science and economics achieving what politicians and regulators have been unable to do, a real path to capping global warming at the two degree level.
But I use these three examples simply to illustrate my point that you are entering a world where significant change is taking place. And let me say again, it is so much easier to create more change in a system that is moving than one that is stationary.
The second and third reasons that I'm confident that today may be well, the very best day to graduate on that has ever existed relates to your ability to have an impact. At the business council of Australia we've undertaken a significant amount of research looking at the future of work and it's resulted in some surprising findings. The first contrary to popular belief machines are not going to replace people while robotics and A.I. are impacting work. The primary impact is by automating tasks that go into a job, not removing that job per se. As some tasks are automated, what we're finding is the boundaries of jobs are being redefined. The role continues, but the person focuses on different elements generally those that are considered more interesting, safer, higher value, and more human.
The second finding is that over the past 10 years, the level of forced dislocations from work I.e. jobs being made redundant has approximately doubled in Australia. But I think what was more interesting was the finding that the safest jobs are those that are evolving most rapidly, i.e. have the highest level of task change. And that's while today is a great day for anyone to be entering the workforce here in Australia, it is a better day still for those who have proven that they are able to learn. Those that are able to learn and able to adapt, which is what you have all proven by your time here at UTS, will be set up incredibly well in this future.
And the third reason that I believe today is the best day to possibly be graduating from an Institute like this is that your ability to have an impact in the role that you will be entering early in your career is much greater now than it has been in the past. As the pace of change within business has increased, it's caused leaders to rethink the way the corporation works. When I entered the workforce 30 years ago, all decisions were made at the top and were cascaded down. But today we've created systems where management are responsible for deciding which opportunities to pursue and how much resource to allocate to each specific initiative. But those closest to the client, those at the coalface who are actually doing the work, then decide how to solve that particular customer problem. And they prioritise their own work on the basis of what they believe will have the largest and most positive impact on clients as quickly as possible.
We call this an agile way of working and this agile manner of work is far more empowering for employees than any that proceeded it. It's also far more effective at serving the needs of clients and ultimately therefore driving shareholder returns.
So in my mind, these three facts, one that the world is changing. Two, that those that have proven they can learn are set up particularly well in that changing world. And three that the management systems that are being widely adopted are far more empowering than those in the past combined to give me confidence that I can make the statement that there has never been a better day to be sitting here graduating from an Institute as prestigious as UTS.
So, in this final moment, I'd like to perhaps plant a few seeds in your minds of things that I've learned over time that may be helpful to each of you as you move forward into exciting and new endeavours. The first I would say is that humility is an amazing quality to take forward. People are by nature generous, but particularly generous if you seek their help and humble enough to learn from them.
The second is that curiosity is perhaps the most valuable quality that you can possess. Innovation only starts by someone taking the time to curiously and deeply, really understand a problem and a need.
The third, big impact happens when you tackle big problems. And finally, and if there's only one thing you remember, hopefully it is this. Be kind to others and be kind to yourself. Never aim to be anything other than best version of you that you can possibly be. And in my experience, if you pursue that path, doors will open for you. Thank you. And once again, congratulations.
About the Speaker
Tim Reed joined MYOB in 2003, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2008 after holding several senior management roles.
Tim is passionate about the potential of digital technology to transform society and help businesses succeed. He has overseen MYOB’s transformation to become a modern tech company that delivers innovative accounting and business management tools to more than 1.2 million businesses across Australia and New Zealand.
Tim’s previous career spans Asia, Europe, the United States and Australia and prior to joining MYOB, he worked in Silicon Valley for several companies in the fast-paced global technology and internet markets. This includes being the Marketing Vice President of Elance which is now the world’s largest freelancing website known as Upwork
Tim is an engaging leader who reflects on and discusses how artificial intelligence, automation and the changing nature of work are revolutionising the face of business. He is an active member of Male Champions of Change and believes in harnessing the power of diverse and supportive workplaces to drive innovation.
He sits on the board of the Business Council of Australia (BCA), and chairs the BCA’s Skills, Education and Flexibility Committee.
Tim received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard University, graduating as a Baker’s Scholar, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne, graduating with First Class Honours.
