2014 Spring Convocation
President's Address
June 17, 18, 19, 2014
How do you see success? Look again.

Good morning/afternoon/evening.

Members of the platform party, honoured guests, faculty and staff, family, friends, and especially our graduates – it is my great pleasure to welcome you to today’s convocation.

As we join together to celebrate our graduates’ success, I’m reminded why these ceremonies are the high point of the year for me – this is an opportunity for all of us to be inspired by our students’ many accomplishments, and think about the possibilities that accompany every new beginning. Graduates, this is your day, you have earned this recognition, and it is my great privilege to be here to share this significant milestone with all of you.

Convocation is also a time to recognize those who have supported our graduates on their journey through this part of their education.  First, I’d like to thank Humber’s incredible faculty, and staff. When I speak with students, they tell me that they feel valued here – not just as learners, but as people.

Time and again, I hear what a difference it makes that our professors and staff know their students’ names. So many of you have made yourselves available at all hours, simply because you have been needed. You have shown our students that they count, that someone cares about them – and that is a lesson that extends far beyond the classroom.

Secondly, thank you to the proud – and relieved – friends, families and loved ones who supported and encouraged our graduates as they studied for countless hours, completing myriad assignments, all while keeping up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, Vine, Tumblr, Reddit, Buzzfeed, and don’t forget LinkedIn. Doesn’t anyone talk on the phone anymore?

Let’s continue – but first let me take a selfie.

And now to our graduates – something a little more serious.

As economist and BMO vice chair Kevin Lynch recently pointed out at a lecture here at Humber, the world is in the midst of a profound transformation – economies are being reshaped and political systems disrupted. The status quo is shifting everywhere.

Globalization and advances in information technology have merged –  resulting in a trend towards fewer high-wage middle-class jobs, which have been a mainstay of prosperous western nations for generations.

You may know – better than anyone – that we live in a time of pessimistic numbers. In Canada, unemployment for 15 to 24 year olds is at 13.3 per cent  – lower than it was in 2012, but still significantly higher than the average of seven per cent for total workforce. The numbers are getting better, but there’s a long road ahead.

So the question that’s before us – one that’s been asked during challenging times throughout history – is simple: what are we going to do?

We ask these questions as individuals, as a society and, especially, as an institution of higher learning. Here at Humber, we have a mandate to develop the most valuable resource available to any society, anywhere: human talent. And so we ask ourselves the questions – how do we help students respond to unrelenting change? How do we design programs to encourage success in jobs that may not even exist yet? How do we help our students develop greater self-awareness and resiliency in the face of constantly shifting realities?

Because we grapple with these problems each and every day, I think your Humber education has put you ahead of many of your peers. While there are never any guarantees in life, I’m confident that what we do and what you’ve done at Humber offers a recipe for success for those who embrace and learn from what we have to offer.

I know that many of you value the combination of theoretical and hands-on learning - both integral parts of all of our programs. These build on the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and good communication. But now we need to take those skills further. What I hope you’ve also developed during your time at Humber is the ability to think critically and creatively, to problem solve, work collaboratively and to learn from each other. That is truly the hallmark of an education focused steadily on the future.

I hope you have also learned that it is OK not to get everything right the first time.  Being comfortable with what I like to think of as failing intelligently is an important part of growth, innovation and success. Think about it. Many of our best lessons in life – in fact, many of humanity’s greatest accomplishments – come from trial and error, learning from things that went wrong, and demonstrating the adaptability and resilience not just to pick up and carry on, but to go forward stronger than before.

A couple of weeks ago, we heard from Ben Zander, inspirational speaker and world-class orchestra conductor, who told a story reinforcing the point that success or failure often depends on your perspective - and I think it’s perfect for a day like today.

He told us about two shoe salesmen, who went to a hot part of the world to assess the potential demand for shoes. Well, one salesman called back to his office, and said bleakly, “Don’t even bother to try and sell here – they don’t even WEAR shoes.” The other one, though, called back to his head office, fully energized – “NOBODY wears shoes. It’s a completely open market!” Creating success out of setbacks is often simply a matter of shifting your thinking about a situation.

And that’s why numbers don’t tell the whole story. We can cite endless statistics, but numbers don’t measure creativity. They don’t measure energy, or gauge passion. Numbers simply tell us the way things are now. The good news is that you have the ability – the drive, the skills, and now the education – to turn those numbers on their head.

So what does success look like? For a lot of you, I imagine it involves a good job, a good paycheque, possibly a family – and these are all great things that are worth striving for.

But I want to give you an example of a slightly different kind of success, just to demonstrate that success may not look exactly like you think it will – and inspire you to find your own definition of what it is to be successful.

There were two women, Ella and Sabrina, who were sitting where you are not long ago, graduating from our International Development postgraduate program. In the course of working on a class assignment to design a sanitation project in rural Kenya, the two discovered a mutual passion for women’s health – and for helping women in a place where help is not always easy to find. From there, their ideas took flight – quite literally. Even before they graduated, they flew to Kenya several times, setting up pilot projects, working with local educators and making contacts with women and girls in a large slum outside of Nairobi. Today, they run a non-profit charity called Femme International, and have directly touched the lives of countless girls and women through education and advocacy.

Neither are millionaires. But both are rich in a very real way. And both say that they have found success.

Before I conclude let me leave you with a few final thoughts as you think about how you will find success. The most successful people are masters at making real, human connections, whether it’s with a co-worker, a neighbour, or the barista at the coffee shop on the corner. How do you make those connections?  Here are a few suggestions.

First of all, I’d encourage you to take time away from technology. Yes, Tweet, Facebook, and text. Stay in touch, stay informed, and take full advantage of everything technology has to offer. But step away from the gadgets when you can. Do not miss an opportunity for a deep conversation and never underestimate the power of face-to-face interaction.

Second, travel if you can. Canada has one of the lowest levels of international student experience among major countries, even though we are in an increasingly global economy. Now that you are finished school, think about exploring more of the world whether that’s Canada, India, China, or another one of the more than 100 countries represented at Humber. The late Maya Angelou said, “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. Yes, travel is good for business and looks good on a resume – but it’s also good for our common humanity.

Finally, give back. As we watch the success of our many graduates, the ones who tend to do the best are the ones who place as big a value on people as on profit. They’re the ones who hire Humber grads, who give our students internships, who are active in their communities and selflessly give their time and talents to those less fortunate.

Perhaps the most important measure of success is the ability to give to others – certainly Ella and Sabrina are an example of that.

In closing, it is my pleasure to congratulate you as you graduate from Humber, and welcome you as the newest members of our large, but exclusive club of Humber alumni. Now more than 200,000 strong, including more than 8,000 graduates this year alone, our alumni are recognized locally, nationally, and around the world in business and technology, in health care and communications, and in media, hospitality and the arts.

The entire Humber community is proud of your achievements, and the door will always be open for you to visit, give back or perhaps learn something new. So stay in touch, tweet often, post your pictures, update your status – and remember – We Are Humber!

Thank you!