Make it Matter

[A speech from a very unexpected honour... being awarded a Doctor of the University from Griffith University]

I want to acknowledge the traditional owners on the land on which we are gathering today and pay my respects to elders past and present and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here with us today. I also want to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as our first scientists and engineers and I recognise and acknowledge their knowledge systems, connection to and care for country.

Deputy Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, distinguished guests, graduating students and supportive and relieved families and friends ... congratulations! You made it! This is a milestone in your educational journey, and you should celebrate it. I hope that your time at Griffith University has enriched your mind with knowledge, your heart with passion and your hands with the ability to make your mark on the world. As you embark on your next journey, I want to share with you a couple of insights from mine.

But first: a confession. I feel like an imposter standing on this stage right now - both giving this speech & receiving this award. I tell you this not to elicit sympathy but to give you hope and courage. Courage that it doesn’t matter right now if you don’t know what’s next. It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel confident. It doesn’t matter if you feel afraid. Our feelings are real, but we have a choice on how we respond to them. You can decide to let fear and uncertainty dictate your path, or you can acknowledge it, feel it, and then choose to ignore it and keep moving forward anyway.

I was asked to speak briefly today. To be positive and encouraging. Perhaps share some lessons learned on what it means to “make it matter.” To share what inspires and motivates me. No pressure right? So of course I did what everyone does when they don’t know quite what to say or do and asked Google. “Hey Google. Show me the most inspiring occasional addresses on YouTube”. A word of advice… if you’re ever in this position - don’t do that. Just don’t. You’ll be shown world leaders, artists, activists and actors that are all far more eloquent and articulate than you can ever dream of being. And you’ll elevate your impostor syndrome to new and dizzying heights. And yet there’s a lesson to be learned here. In fact, it’s the first thing I want to share with you on “making it matter.”.

Don’t let fear and doubt hold you back. Ever. Fear and doubt will rob you of both opportunity and experience. Don’t let it take these things from you. Instead say yes to unexpected opportunities, even when they scare you. Especially when they terrify you. Always if you don’t feel ready for them. It’s the unexpected in life that bring the greatest challenges, the greatest potential for self-development and the greatest opportunity for growth.

Author and activist Judy Blume famously said. “Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.”?

This is the story of my life’s experiences from my youngest days, to today. And it will be my experience tomorrow. When you grow up in a family where you are the youngest, you either follow the path you can see, or you are forced to create a new one.

My journey was a series of firsts. First to finish high school. First to go to university. First to do a postgraduate degree. I was always told “I could do anything I wanted - if I just worked hard and did my best”. Great advice on the face of it, but not very prescriptive or helpful when you’re trying to figure out your life’s journey and you can’t see the path.?

I remember those times. I remember the anxiety. I remember how worried I have been about making the wrong choice. Being first was and is terrifying as I had no roadmap to follow, and no advice to heed.

But life is a series of firsts, and we need to find a way to navigate them. If I had let fear of the unknown govern my decisions, I would have never ended up joining a small team in a tech company called Google. It wasn't on my career plan. Not the least because Google didn’t exist when I was at school. I didn’t know that saying yes to Google would lead me to become the CEO of Cicada Innovations. Or that I would be building science and engineering companies solving some of the world's most pressing problems in health, energy, food, and climate. I didn’t know that I would become an investor in startups. I didn’t know that I would be advising government. I couldn’t imagine it because I couldn’t see it. Besides I don’t even have a science degree.??

It was only through saying yes to a series of experiences and opportunities that equally terrified and excited me that I developed the skills and passion that I now have for the industry I work in.?

Saying yes to things that made me incredibly uncomfortable, where I felt I was the most inexperienced person in the room, allowed me to explore opportunities in a technical world that I found I loved, and in which I thrived.???

The obvious opportunities in life are usually the ones you are ready for and things you can easily achieve. Things well within your capability and comfort zone. Things you’ve studied for and prepared for. The thing is… there is more to life, and much more to your career, than that. Discomfort leads to change, change leads to growth, and growth doesn’t have a fixed end point, just potential that you can direct.

This brings me to my second point. Know your own personal values & what is important to you. Then live them fully in every opportunity you have - personally & professionally. Your values are unique to you. They form your identity, provide purpose and meaning in what you do, and most importantly guide you on how you do it. You carry them through every professional role you have and every personal relationship you make. They are what makes you, you; and they are what you are known for.

If you haven’t already figured out one of my personal values is authenticity. It’s why I share about my fears, even as I’m in the midst of facing them.

Elanor Roosevelt said “It’s your life — but only if you make it so. The standards by which you live must be your own standards, your own values, your own convictions in regard to what is right and wrong, what is true and false, what is important and what is trivial. When you adopt the standards and the values of someone else or a community or a pressure group, you surrender your own integrity. You become, to the extent of your surrender, less of a human being.”

Not everyone will love you. Many will not even like you. But if you live by your values, you will make the right choices for you. Your values are what you will be known for, well beyond what you do.

The final observation about ‘making it matter’ that I want to share is to do everything in, for and with community.

Author, activist, and teacher Helen Keller said “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” If we are to do things that matter. They need to matter for us individually and collectively. If we are to do things that matter, we need to do them together. Never has this been more real to me than it is today. Today the community I work with and do life alongside encourage me, challenge me, and champion me to be a better person and do better every single day. They never let me off the hook, never fail to correct me, and yet they support me when I fail and when I fall. And I hope I do the same for them.

Community is not just the family you were born into. It’s the family you make. In your neighbourhood. In your workplace. In your hobbies. Our community isn’t people just like us though. It's diverse and complex. And diversity of community is more than just culture, language, and gender. It includes religion, art, upbringing, thought, belief. When we can hold diverse views respectfully in community, we are provided with an opportunity for incredible reflection on ourselves and our place in the world. Doing life alongside people different to you enriches you and provides an opportunity to grow and change.

So, as you step out of here today you might think you know the destination you are headed for. And in the short-term you might be right. After all, you’ve spent years learning and developing your skills through your education here for this moment.?

But if you’re open to it, if you’re willing, your education has prepared

you for more than that. It’s made you comfortable with what you don’t yet know. It’s made you believe that there is much more yet to be known.?

Hopefully it’s made you realise that you can be part of that discovery and creation by saying yes to the opportunities that seem crazy and unplanned for, all the while acknowledging that what might terrify you may also be the thing that brings you the greatest satisfaction and fulfilment in life.

Thank you.