DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL COMMEMORATION - Saturday, 26th May 2007
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Headmaster,
Thank you for inviting me today!
It is a privilege to be here and I am delighted to have the opportunity to talk to you students in particular, who represent the generation who will be responsible for us as Parents, being able to look forward to living peacefully in a prosperous and respected country when we eventually retire.
For every generation, history is going to repeat itself ! Both the opportunities and challenges for you are not only harder, but also greater than those for your Parents, Grandparents, etc.
I have lived in this country for more than 40 years. I am lucky to have 4 healthy children and 12 grandchildren who have, or are going through, the English Educational System which, in my view, is probably the best in the world.
Why? I believe that the system in England brings out the strengths and the weaknesses of each individual. Both are equally important if you want to have a purposeful and productive community.
When you invited me to come here this morning, I asked one of my daughters: “To whom do you think I should address myself and what do you think I should talk about?”
She replied without hesitation:
“Talk about the students and you will please both the Parents and the students.
“Talk to the Parents and you will only please the Parents”
“Talk about yourself, and you will bore everyone!”
Well, I will start to talk about myself!
I was not very bright at school! But I was very happy. I learned a lot, maybe less about important school subjects but more about sport, companionship, music and leadership. But above all, I learned about people! And that, in particular, has been of enormous help in my career as a businessman. And I have no hesitation in saying that this is largely due to what the teachers gave me during my school days.
I was moved up the school from form to form as scheduled, but with a difference - each summer before we broke up, the Headmaster told me that I was moved up on trial! My Parents got rather accustomed to the news and were not very pleased!
During my final year, (which I nearly completed) I started to understand the values which I had gained, and the teachers had shown me enormous patience. But in the end, the school sent me out into real life with much more than I could reasonably have expected and with values which I still appreciate.
However, as a Father of 4 children, I recognise the important role Parents play in ensuring that the children get the most out of their days in school. I strongly believe that the best thing you can give your children is a good education and a good home.Talking about a good home, I mean a place where you feel comfortable and can seek guidance when in need.
I remember vividly a sad case in my business life when I had to attend Court as a result of one of our security guards having arrested a young girl, 15 years of age, from a well organised home without too many traumas.
............the case (father says to daughter “why did you get arrested for stealing 12 pencils? I could have nicked them from work”)
Conclusion, custodians or parents have the responsibility to teach young people certain standards, but first of all they should ask themselves what are MY standards?
Standards won’t survive by themselves. They need constant maintenance.
For example, what is stealing?
- is it to take something which does not belong to you?
- or make use of someone else’s property without asking?
- is to borrow someone’s pencil without permission stealing?
- is to borrow someone’s telephone without permission stealing?
- is to take something which looks like it has been thrown away, stealing?
- is having received the wrong change in a shop and not returning to the shop, stealing?
How far do you have to go? 50 metres? 100 metres?
- is jumping the queue stealing?
- is borrowing something from someone which you have no intention of returning, stealing?
I could make an even longer list. It looks and sounds difficult, but it is not.
When I was working as a Security Guard on an industrial estate in Birmingham in 1958, my Father wrote a letter to me with a wonderful definition of this aspect of integrity:
“You have now been entrusted with the responsibility of looking after several factories. You are working alone during the dark hours and do remember - that the only thing a trusted Security man may remove from a customer’s premises, is the dirt from under his shoes”.
I am sure that you will now ask yourselves - “What is this man up here talking about?” Is he accusing us? No, not at all. I am just talking about something which people talk too little about and which is so important for our society at large.
I am not going to give you any answers, but hope that common sense will guide you, despite the fact that common sense these days, and in some quarters, appears to be a rare commodity!
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I will now come back to the school - your school. During these years, you decide your future and successes in life. You are very lucky. You have a wonderful opportunity which many less fortunate young people in the world do not have. But it is entirely up to you as individuals to convert these opportunities into something successful and something of which you can be happy and proud of, and, not least , your parents.
I am sure that in years to come, some of you in this room are going to be very famous people. Who it will be - no-one knows. Nevertheless, this is not the most important thing. I strongly believe that there is always a job in life for everyone, BUT, you have to go for it.
There is nothing wrong about “the people”. It is only a question of putting the right person into the right job - and we cannot all be bosses in this world! The youngest of you are now at the stage when you have to progress from saying: “I would like this, that and the other”. into “do you think that it would be possible for me to achieve this, that and the other - if I did so-and-so?”
You are growing up. Those of you who are teenagers now realise that you are something. Something important. BUT, you have to take a positive approach. NO-ONE OWES YOU A LIVING. You have got to find your own place. The school will help you but you have to make the final decision.
BUT, I plead with you, that when you make this “Million Dollar Decision”, do NOT forget your heritage or traditions of which you are becoming the guardians. This is one facet of England which the whole world envies and, time upon time, this has helped our country out of many crisees.
Having talked about heritage and traditions, I feel it would be good to say a few words about “How can we make this work?” From my experience as an “Anglified” foreigner, I have no doubt that in England, we are underselling ourselves.
- We have the ingenuity
- We have the skills
- We are proud BUT
we must go out and tell the world about this and SELL.
Traditionally, we were traders, albeit within a controlled market place - where the Navy kept competitors away! This is no so anymore. Britain is competing in a free world and it is only in competition that we can expose our true strengths.
Years ago, I felt that we had a sort of “death wish” within England. We are again waking up to the fact that we have got something, and that we are becoming traders again. It may well be that the last few years have been hard, but most Monday mornings are!
We have an opportunity - let us take it and make something out of it - and I feel confident that we can win. You, as students, are the front line and you can make it, but you must learn, adapt, follow the technical evolution, and do not forget to recognise that not all people in the world speak English!
Learn about foreign people, foreign cultures and see too, that you know equally much about them as they know about you. I have had a great life and I regret very little. But one thing I do regret is that I did not listen to my Mother when she told me to continue with the piano lessons!
However, it does not mean that I have never made a mistake, but I think I learned from them and tried not to make them again. Having started as a security guard, built up a Group with over 470,000 employees in 120 countries, the last 50 years have been very rewarding - more than I could have imagined. I have met great people at all levels in society.
Always talked about what we can do better, and how the risk profile in the world is changing. In evaluating the changing risk profiles, led me into many industries I never dreamed of.
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20 years ago I was drawn into the ecological movement, initially not for idealistic reasons, but I felt we had to improve the security programme we supplied to our customers with ecological aspects by helping industries to be more eco-friendly, to separate ourselves from our competitors.
I knew nothing about it but I had to find who were the craziest people in Europe on this particular subject, and, 20 years ago, there weren’t many. I was lucky, however.
I found a small factory in Belgium, run by fanatics, reasonably young people - long hair, rings in their noses and ears (and anywhere else you may imagine), flat sandals and biking to work. Very strongly politically motivated. They were totally illiterate financially.
I was taken by their enthusiasm and their creative thinking, and decided to acquire this small factory and inject some capital, send them to the hairdresser and remove some of their rings, without them losing their personality.
Today, Ecover products are sold world-wide and some of the original characters are still with me and doing a brilliant job.
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Why I am telling you this story is, not only is it a very well worth-while cause but it also shows that there are a lot of opportunities in this world, provided we don’t sleepwalk through life. Of course, today eco thinking is in the forefront and we have been made more aware of looking after our planet.
Before I stop my commercial, let me tell you that you can buy Ecover products in most large supermarkets in England.
It has been great to be here today, and I wish you luck.
No-one is so clever that luck does not come into the equasion.
Set targets, but be aware that we live in a changing world and the targets will always move. Use your eyes, nose and ears. They are there for a purpose. What comes into your ears is often worth more than what comes out of your mouth.
And to you, Headmaster, it really is a delight to see your enthusiasm and drive to make Dean Close into one of the best schools in England, and please keep on doing it.
You are a winner. Have a great day, and thank you very much.
I shall now enjoy my picnic on the lawn.
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