Honorary Graduates
Orations and responses
Response by Sir Robin Saxby
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, ladies, gentlemen,
everybody: the first thing I want to do is apologise. I don’t know
whether you noticed, but I sneaked in late. Has anybody ever been stuck
in a traffic jam, would you like to raise your hand if you have had this
experience? Now, I think this really brings out an important point –
things go wrong in life! Last time I came here it was in the early 70s,
when I was actually working for the Rank Organisation, and I was on the
University ‘milk round’ and I was out with the Personnel Department,
asking the difficult engineering questions to potential employees – and
I’m pleased to say we hired some people here. But we didn’t have the M25
then, and the journey was a lot easier! I also want to apologise to my
wife, because she was following me in her own car, because tomorrow I
have a board meeting in Cambridge and I have to get up there quickly and
she has to go home, so my poor wife is still struggling with life with
me, the same as she has done for the last 33 years, but she is still
here, and she has made it today. So I want to thank her.
But actually our technology helped me, because the
first thing I did, at about 1.25pm, when I realised that the situation
was going to be a bit difficult, was to ring Margaret in the
Vice-Chancellor’s office, who was very calm actually. I said I am very
sorry, I am on the M25, I am not moving, don’t know when I will get off
(of course this phone was powered by an ARM chip). I was really quite
hot and quite stressed and I still had to find the place when I arrived
in Colchester, but the satellite navigation was powered by an ARM chip,
so that helped a bit! I want to congratulate the University for being
organised to cope with me – because apparently this is the first time
that this has happened, that an honorary graduate has turned up late -
after the ceremony had started. So I want to congratulate the University
on being well organised to cope with challenges and problems and
unforeseen circumstances.
By the way I did write a speech, but I am not
giving you the proper one now as I have put that in my pocket. I don’t
know if you are aware of this, but quite often businesses or science or
engineering, reach obstacles. Things go wrong. The Chief Executive puts
out a report "due to unforeseen circumstances of the SARS epidemic, or
whatever" the business has collapsed", and he’s hopeless and maybe he’ll
later be fired! That actually does happen. The average life of a Chief
Executive these days is about three years, and that’s not a terribly
good record really. But Michael Dell, in an interview in The Times, said
that those people who are unprepared for the unexpected really are not
doing a very good job. There is always the unexpected.
The other thing I would like to say to you is – I
have given these sorts of speeches before – but the good news is that
you are getting a fresh one. I haven’t given this speech before – and
hopefully it makes it more interesting to you – because this problem
occurred, we can learn from it. So for about an hour stuck on the
motorway, I am thinking, how can I change my speech to cope with this?
This creates an opportunity. I hope for you, because it’s your day
today, you have really achieved a lot – that you can seize
opportunities. I have actually been late for a meeting, you have done
far better than I have done; and so if somebody like me can have this
success, then there is lots of hope for all of you.
I now just want to talk about the University of
Essex. How did I get a degree from the University of Essex? I have been
trying to find a reason to justify this. When I married Patti, we lived
in Wanstead, because she was a teacher, and we got cheap housing through
her good auspices, so I could actually have central heating when I was
first married, and that was close to Essex! And then I did that
recruitment for Rank back in the 70s, and actually the first thing I did
when I graduated (because I was a bit poor and wanted some extra money),
I lectured at a college in Chelmsford, I think it’s probably now part of
the University of Essex – I got a very nice letter from the boss of the
college, to my chief engineer, saying what great lectures I gave, and
that helped me get promoted, so maybe there is some connection there.
Also it turns out that my great, great grandfather kept a pub called the
Whale Bone, which is still in Woodham Ferrers – I have visited it – and
he was from Essex. And in ARM we have two Essex boys – our Chief
Financial Officer, Tim Score, and Simon Segars, our VP of Engineering
are both from Essex. But maybe the most important and most impressive
graduate of Essex University we have in ARM is a guy called Dr Jun Tan,
who is Chinese and who did his PhD here. We hired him from Rutherford
Appleton Laboratory, trained him, then sent him back to his homeland of
China, and he heads up our Chinese operation in Shanghai. So if anybody
should get an honorary doctorate from Essex, it is him actually!
What I like about Andy’s Oration, is the way he
refers to ARM and the company and the people in it. I am fortunate to be
the Chairman, and one of the oldest people in the company, and I take
great credit for all the great work that everybody else in the company
does. Engineering and science, as we all know, are a lot about teamwork,
so I wish you all some good team work.
I have one other little message for you. We have a
couple of kids who have graduated now, and I know when you have
graduated and you are starting out, maybe in your first job, life is not
necessarily too easy. It’s not always easy to find your ideal job. One
thing I have managed to do, and I think my son has also managed to do,
is follow my passion. I was a late developer really. I had friends who
turned into accountants who were making a fortune at a young age, my
brother had a company car years before I did and he is three years
younger. But one thing I do believe is that with engineering, science
and maths – the things that you like, and I notice we have some European
Studies students here as well, I think one piece of advice I would give
you, is if you can follow your passions, there will be some hard times,
you will be late for meetings, things will go wrong, that’s normal, but
its how you cope with those difficulties that counts and makes the
difference. Just follow your passion, so that when you get to my age you
can look back and say how fantastically lucky you have been, what a
great life you have had, and you can still smile.
Now some words from Arthur C Clarke, who, is a bit
of a hero of mine, he is a science fiction writer, and one of the things
he says is "that if a scientist or engineer says that something is
impossible, he is probably wrong. The only way to find out what is
possible is to venture into the impossible, and then back off a bit, to
get it right. Any sufficiently advanced science or engineering is
indistinguishable from magic". (We have Harry Potter that is very
popular at the moment.)
So what I want to say to you is this is a great
day in your lives. Congratulations for what you have achieved. This is
the result of a lot of hard work. There will be more hard work, more
problems, more obstacles, but today is a great day. Enjoy, celebrate,
share time with your friends and family, and like me take the
opportunities which come to you (like throwing away my speech), have a
fantastic day. Thank you so much for saying nice things about me.
Robin Saxby
9 July 2003