Laura Berry

Good afternoon. I’d like to begin today by acknowledging that we are gathered here on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay my respects to Elders past and present. Pro Chancellor, Provost, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice President, Director and Associate Dean of the UTS Business School, members of the university’s Council and Academic Board, staff, family, friends, and most importantly, graduates. Graduates, congratulations to every single one of you. You are poised at a very exciting time in your life. Today marks the end of one chapter for you and the beginning of another. Whether you go on to pursue more study or start to carve your niche in the world of work, there are so many new opportunities ahead. You may be feeling excited. You should absolutely be feeling proud. But there may also be feelings of trepidation if you’re not entirely sure what comes next. 

So, the first thing I want to talk to you about today is that life is certainly not a straight line from A to B. We often hear about those who seem to know exactly what they want to be in life, and they work tirelessly to pursue and achieve their dreams. But that level of clarity doesn’t happen for most of us. Most of us don’t have that singular focus. You might have a rough idea of what you want to do. You might have a bit of an idea of what industry you want to work in, or you might just know that you want to do good or make a difference in the world. I’m here to tell you today that not having complete clarity right now is absolutely okay. In fact, that’s often a great way to be in the world. If you don’t have a defined goal or a specific objective now, you can instead focus on what it is you’re doing right now to the absolute best of your ability. You can recognise and take opportunities that you may have otherwise missed if you were too busy looking over the horizon at the dream you haven’t yet achieved. My view on this comes from personal experience. 

As you’ve heard, I’m the CEO of Australia’s leading Indigenous supply diversity organisation, Supply Nation. We are a not-for-profit organisation that was established to connect Indigenous-owned businesses with government and corporate organisations who are looking to procure their goods and services. By increasing opportunities for these businesses, we have a really important impact. An Indigenous-owned business is significantly more likely to employ Indigenous Australians. They provide culturally appropriate workplaces, and apart from the profit that flows to the business owner, their communities also benefit. You’ve no doubt heard of closing the gap. Well, supporting the Indigenous business sector has a huge role to play in accomplishing that, and achieving equality in outcomes for all Australians, so much so that just this week, I met with our Prime Minister and a delegation of Indigenous business owners to discuss exactly that – the important role that economic development and business ownership can play in closing the gap. I absolutely love my job. I think I’ve got the best job in Australia. 

I’m passionate about what we do as an organisation, and it’s a passion that started long before I was a CEO. I know we do an enormous amount of good, and that’s a great feeling, even when you’re having a bad day. But if you’d asked me what I wanted to do when I was your age, I couldn’t have been able to point to Supply Nation and say, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to lead that organisation.’ So, how did I get where I am? Well, it certainly wasn’t a straight line. More like a zigzag. I left school and went to university, and I actually dropped out. Let me be clear: that is not the path I’d recommend, and it definitely will not be the advice that I give to my son. My career has been unconventional, to say the least. I started my working life in Canberra in the mailroom of a local bus company. It was a two-week job, sorting and delivering the mail across multiple locations. I only got the job because my friend’s mum worked there, and I had a driver’s license and my friend didn’t. That two weeks turned into four years, and I worked my way up from the mailroom to finish up as the Executive Assistant to the CEO. I worked hard. I turned up every day. I dressed for the job I wanted, not the job I had, and I took direction. Mentors and sponsors were critical. These were the people who believed in my ability and saw my potential long before I did. These were the people whose opinions I respected and valued. 
I moved on to work in a public affairs company for lobbyists, and a few years later, I took a role in federal politics as the personal secretary to the then Defence Minister. I will never forget my interview with the minister. I think I was only about 24 or 25 years old, and he asked me if I was perhaps a little too young to be the personal secretary to a cabinet minister. I was adamant, and perhaps a little indignant, that it had nothing to do with my age and everything to do with my ability, and I found out, when he retired from politics almost six years later, that it was my response to that very question that sealed the deal for me. He liked that I had spunk and I was willing to back myself. Anyone who’s worked in politics knows that it’s challenging. I put in the hours, made it my business to learn all about the inner workings of parliament, learned an awful lot about defence as an industry, made lifelong friends, met some amazing people, and to this day I look back and I know that landing that role was a turning point for me in my career. And if I wasn’t busy enough, I actually took on the challenge of studying part-time at this university during that time to complete my postgrad qualification. 

When my boss retired, I moved on too, and I did a short stint in state politics here in NSW before deciding it was time to try my hand at something else, other than being an executive assistant. Now, I didn’t know then, of course, that I was headed for a job where government relationships would be so important. Those relationships I developed back then have stood me in great stead, and the skills I developed opened up a range of different options outside politics. I moved to Leighton Holdings, working in their corporate affairs team. I learned what working for a listed company entails. I got exposure to our executive and to our board, and when the opportunity presented itself to be promoted into a role managing our Indigenous affairs strategy, I jumped at that chance. And it was during that time I was working for Leighton that Supply Nation was actually created in 2009. They approached Leighton and a number of other companies in Australia to become founding members. I was lucky to work for a company that understood the importance of leadership. Sometimes in the moment, lack of experience shields you from significant gestures like this. 

A few years later, I moved to Qantas to manage their community and Indigenous partnerships programs, and it was my responsibility at both Leighton and Qantas to manage the relationship that we had with Supply Nation. I was well and truly hooked. I learned more and more about supply diversity. I have travelled to the United States annually since 2011 to learn from the world leaders in supply diversity, to exchange ideas and learnings and to share best practices. In 2013, I accepted a board position with Supply Nation, and about three years ago, I stepped into the role as CEO. 
All that varied experience in State Government, federal and state politics, corporate life and my exposure to the not-for-profit community and Indigenous programming set me up perfectly for the role I now get to call my dream job. Now, I’m not saying that everyone will become a CEO, and in fact, most people I know probably don’t want to be, but I am proof that if you work hard and you take the opportunities that present themselves to you, you can absolutely end up in a job that is your dream role. So that’s my first message today: take every opportunity and work hard to be truly excellent at whatever it is you decide to do. 

Which leads me to my second message: don’t ever stop learning. You’re here today, graduating from what I’m sure has been a long and challenging period of study, and you may think you’re done, but I’m here to tell you that the learning never ends. If you walk into a room and you have nothing to learn from anyone in that room, you’re either not looking hard enough, or you’re in the wrong room. Each job you take, each person you meet, has something to teach you. The incredible thing about a university degree is that you have learned to learn, and that is genuinely the most valuable tool you will ever have in your toolkit. And the third thing I wanted to share with you are some findings from some research that has been done recently by Deloitte in the United States. They surveyed millennials to find out what they wanted from their careers. Where in the past, factors such as salary and promotion prospects ranked at the top of those lists, this study revealed that now, millennials overwhelmingly want to do good in the world. They want their jobs to mean something, and they want to work for organisations that align with their own values. Looking out at all of you, I suspect that you are the same, and I speak from experience that working for an organisation that aligns with your values and where you feel every day like the work that you do makes a difference and is worthwhile is truly good for your soul. 

Supply Nation is an organisation of just 26 people, with a national reach, over 350 corporate and government members, and 1500 Indigenous businesses. I work hard, my whole team works hard, and we consistently punch above our weight, but we do it because we love it, and that’s when your job, or your work, doesn’t feel like work. So, take every opportunity presented to you. Be humble. Turn up and be diligent in your role. Choose to do good in the world, and – and this is my final message – always take time to look back down the mountain. We’re always striving to achieve something, to do our best or to prepare for the next challenge, but sometimes you have to stop and take a look back down that mountain at how far you’ve come, and how much you’ve already achieved. Take a moment and savour the view, and appreciate how you got there, and then you can turn back around and get your eyes back on the horizon. For today though, congratulations to all of you for how you’ve come and how much you’ve accomplished. Take a deep breath, savour this, and remember this feeling. Thank you.