1. Dean’s Awards Night
20 March 2013 - 5:30pm
Faculty of Business & Economics
The University of Melbourne
Congratulations to all the students and their families. What a great day it is for all of you.
It is an honour for me to be addressing you tonight.
You are here today because of your great academic achievements and consistent good
marks, your perseverance to excel academically and succeed.There is no question that
you are in fact very intelligent, and in this century, more than ever before, being
intelligent is very important because our current environment is almost entirely
evolutionary, changing non-stop, and requiring people like you to be equipped to solve a
whole range of new problems. This evolutionary quality that you possess no doubt will
give you an amazing advantage in life.
So considering that you are indeed very clever, and that we have acknowledged it is a
great quality to have, what else is there that can define your career and personal
success? What else is there that can help you achieve your dreams, be happy, fulfilled?
You see, centuries ago, when changes were few and far between, being intelligent was
not nearly as important as it is today. Other qualities, survival qualities, were really
important back then, and are in fact very relevant still today. Survival skills make us
good at many things that make us happy, and have enabled our race to survive for
millenniums. That is, eat tasty food, find a mate, take breaks during the day, small talk,
watch others playing ball, talk about others playing ball, take longer breaks, have lots of
friends, have kids, the list goes on.
I am here today, having the great honour to speak to you, because I am good at
surviving. I have succeeded despite the odds, and I may have a few ideas to share with
you, if you allow. Survival tips, street smart tips that I wish I knew before I learned them
the hard way.

2. Before you join me in the corporate jungle I am hoping that you reflect on the fact that
things have changed since the Stone Age, but just by a matter of degrees, and it is
important for you to take advantage of your amazing capacity to learn, and also ensure
that you develop your survival skills. You will pretty much be the best candidates
coming out of university if you do so, if you can mix your problem-solving skills, so
necessary in the 21st century, with your survival skills, your ability to adapt and be
resilient in adversity, your ability to search for happiness and fulfillment, to help others
and find peace.
With that in mind, I am going to provide 6 hindsights today. Don’t blindly believe me.
Don’t take what I say as truth. Listen and perhaps my experience can help you a tiny bit
as you start your experience after graduation, of event right now, even tomorrow.
1. Learn to talk: By this I mean really, really develop your communication skills. I have
seen people not go ahead in their career because they have very strong accents,
monotone voice, speak too loud, too much, too low, or too little. It is a science and an
art. It is about intonation as much as knowing what topics will hit a chord with your
audience. In my 11 years in Melbourne, I can say in regards to topic that you will never
ever go wrong if you can talk about footy (Aussie rules), the weather, and worsening of
traffic conditions in the CBD. Footy is definitely a winner. CEOs making millions of
dollars will introduce each other on stage by mentioning which team each other barrack
for, or is a board member of, and make a little joke about it. But be flexible and adapt to
your audience, always. My oldest son, when he went to his first job interview in
hospitality, spent 90% of the interview time chatting with the manager about rock bands.
He understood very quickly that it was more important to talk about that, then to get
down to business. And he got the job.
2. Learn by observing: this is the fastest, easiest, most reliable way to understand the
world around you. You have been doing this since you were a baby, but sometimes we
forget this skill, and some of us are better at this than others. Be mindful of others, of

3. your environment. At work, observe what time your colleagues arrive, leave, dress, talk,
and you will be learning the unwritten rules of your workplace. You may choose to
challenge said rules, by talking louder than others, wearing more makeup, shorter skirts,
arriving at work late or too early, But you will at least know that you are rebelling, and
every additional difference is likely to set you back from promotion. Learning by
observing is also very handy for dating, although my husband has trouble with it still,
and even after 20 years, hasn’t really quite figure it out yet.
3. Get out of the office: Spend time with your colleagues, friends, family, and
strangers, outside your house, outside the office, outside the classroom. It is important
to have that distance to enable connections. I am not sure why, there must be a good
explanation, but I feel it is easier to get to the root of a problem, close a deal, get buy-in
for a business proposal if I have a meeting at the coffee shop instead of the boardroom.
It is also refreshing to get some fresh air, sunlight, and go for a walk. May sound simple,
but there is this magnetic field around our computers now, and it is like a trap, and if you
are not mindful of it, it can suck you in, and suck the life out of you and your career. No
matter how hard you work by not taking your lunch hours, it does not seem to ever pay
off.
4. Work hard not to be a have a big ego: this is really tricky for me; I think I have a
tendency to be a bit of a tall poppy. Luckily my current workplace suits me well, as most
people that work with I respect, admire and learn a lot from, and it brings the best in me.
Mostly I have been very lucky with my workplaces, had great mentors and colleagues
that provided me with invaluable feedback which made me a better co-worker and
leader. I believe finding the right culture in the workplace is the trick, but having said
that, it can take half a lifetime for you to find that great workplace. And you cannot start
exploding just because you don’t like what you do, or the people you work with or both.
Suck it up, grow up, learn from it, do not go on and on about your sorry life with your
colleagues or your friends and family. It is one thing to open up with someone you trust,
it is another to spend months and months feeling sorry for yourself. Do your 3 years,
and get out if your work is such a pain. And as you go up the corporate ladder, always

4. remember the “no big ego rule”. A good rule of thumb is this: when you become quite
senior, if you are still answering your emails, having an open door policy, mentoring
young professionals, answering your own phone, and you know the names of the
people that work for you, and of your barista, you are on the right track.
5.Buy the best suit you can afford: from the shoes up, in the office, train, casual
Friday, and even if you bump into your boss at the supermarket on the weekend, there
is an expectation on how you should look. If you don’t believe me, well, there is nothing
I can do but wish you good luck. If you believe me, invest in how you look, make it
reflect the person you want to grow into, in the sector you want to be successful at. If
you need, get help, but mostly if you learn to observe, you will ‘get it’ very quickly. If you
are not comfortable with this, there are many careers were you can wear your overall, or
your artistic flair, and they are just are important as white collar work that I am assuming
you aspire to.
6.You don’t need to be perfect, but you need to be positive: From the moment you
step into an office, nothing will be perfect ever again, if it ever was. It is quite a shock,
but this is how it is. If you really aim at perfection, go back to study, become a surgeon
or nurse. They can never screw up, drop a baby on the floor, do a ‘so and so’ surgery,
can they? In business however, you are lucky if you get things right the first time round.
The best you can do is use that big brain of your to make the best possible decisions
with the information available at the time. Between the time decisions are made and
final output there are so many variables, all you can really do is be prepared to continue
to make good decisions, and put down fires, and celebrate when finally you have a win.
So there you go. These are the messages I came here to share with you. Because I
believe you are going to be an amazing bunch of people, and I cannot wait to work with
you. Once again, congratulations, you are the best hope we have for the future, in this
world of constant change, and I wish you all the best. Thank you.
Renata Bernarde