Solid Foundations – Stellenbosch University Industrial Engineering Final Year Address

I had the privilege to be the guest speaker at the Industrial Engineering Final-year Function for the class of 2012 at the University of Stellenbosch. It was an opportunity for me to share my thoughts and some of my story. I thought I would share it with you as well.

Industrial Engineering Final-year function 2012 – Stellenbosch University                              12/12/12

David Crewe-Brown PrEng.

Good evening Prof Knoetze, Prof Perold, Prof Schutte, members of faculty, ladies and gentlemen, the faithful supporters, followers and fans, those who paid for tonight to have become a reality, proud parents and above all the graduates of the class of 2012.

What a privilege it is for me to be standing here tonight to see the enthusiasm and excitement of a group of young people on the brink of the next phase of life. Ready to make the world a better place. Congratulations to each of you for achieving this milestone. Remember Uncle Ben’s words to Peter Parker “with Great power comes Great responsibility”. 

Soos julle gehoor het, is ek ‘n oud Tukkie. So julle kry vandag die tweede beste Bedryfs Ingeneurswese kwalifiekasie wat daar is – maar dis ‘n klein prys om te betaal vir die ongelooflike bergfiets roetes hier in Jonkershoek. Ek het by iemand gehoor dat as jy in twee tale kan tel en kan bid dan kan jy se jy is hetemaal twee-talig. Wel ek is daar, maar deesdae as ek my telefoon nommer moet uitgee dan kom dit net in Engels uit so ek sal terug keer na waar my fondasies is.

I love this time of the year when things come to a close. It is a great time to reflect on the year that has gone by, reflect on the achievements reached, blessings received and to give thanks for all. To set aside those things that were left undone and to start anew, with renewed vigour and energy. It is an opportunity for new beginnings and as much as New Year’s resolutions are clichéd, they ring true as we aspire for greater and better things for the year to come.

12/12/12 – What a memorable date. Well, I am glad the world did not come to an end today, as the thoughts that I had gathered for tonight would have been wasted. Many eschatological beliefs point to a cataclysmic, transformative event that will take place on this day that will change the world forever. For one the ancient Mayans’ long calendar came to an end on this day. Another authority on world ending is Nostradamus who also predicted that the world would end on this day. On closer inspection the date seems to be the 21^st of December 2012 so all is well  – you have 8 more days left…. I have never believed in predictions or prophecies such as these. Rather, I have learnt to live life, and live it to the full!

Today I would like to speak about foundations in life and how important it is to build solid ones. As with any building, it is critically important to lay a solid foundation. It is essential to invest the right time, money and effort in getting the foundation right. If you don’t, then the rest of the investment will be wasted, because when the winds and storms come it will be knocked down. My kids love singing the song and doing the actions to the bible story of the wise man who built his house on the rock and it stood firm vs. the foolish man whose built on the sand and that one fell flat. Saint Augustine said: “Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.”

One person I want to reflect on tonight is an incredible athlete. An icon of the world’s best and most famous. A man who won, what is described as the toughest and most physically gruelling race in the world, not once, but 7 times. And more amazingly those Tour de France victories were after he had successfully fought off testicular cancer. This man is Lance Armstrong. He started his career in professional racing in the year some of you were born – in 1989. He moved from Triathlon sprint races to professional cycling in 1992 and by 1996 he had won various professional road cycling races. But in 1996 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It has spread to his lungs and brain and required extensive surgery and intensive chemotherapy. A year later in Feb 1997 he was declared all clear and he worked harder than any other to get back into competitive cycling – and he did. Not only did he get back into shape but went on to win those 7 yellow jerseys and become the undisputed king of the Tour de France. Furthermore, he established the Live Strong Foundation and through it helped 1000s of cancer victims. But 2012 brought a dramatic and catastrophic end to his glory. He was stripped of all his titles and medals as he was convicted for taking performance enhancing drugs. You see, when Lance Armstrong was your age he had a bright future ahead of him. He however made some decisions which laid the shaky foundation for his cycling career. It seems that his decisions were to “win at all costs” and his kingdom built on a sandy foundation looked amazing, but when the chickens came home to roost he lost everything for which he had worked so hard.

There is another man who also loves cycling and has done what is called the Tour de France of mountain biking, the Cape Epic. He also has testicular cancer and is still battling through the dreaded disease. That man is me. In April 2011 I started getting severe back pains that did not go away. I was training for another great mountain biking stage race, the Sani2C, and thought it might be the geometry of the bike or my posture at work. Several physio sessions later and I got to the Sani2C, which went well. But the pain persisted I went to the doctor and after a whole series of tests they finally did a scan. On 19 Jul 2011 I was diagnosed with Testicular cancer and it had spread to my kidney and lungs. I had a serious 7 ½ hr. operation to remove my kidney and every other bit of cancer they could see. The most difficult part of the operation was saying good-bye to my children and wife before going in for the operation. There was a chance I might not come out of it and to think that I wouldn’t see my children reach milestones in their lifes was heart breaking. But by God’s grace I made it through and managed to recover. They then hit me with the first cycle of chemo. The poison they give to kill the cancer, also kills every other fast growing cell in the body and eventually I was reduced to 60 kgs of flesh and bones that struggled to make it from the bed to the couch some days.

When I first heard that I had cancer I was rocked to the core but I turned my eyes to the Lord and asked, that God be glorified through this and that God would provide for me in my dark hour of need. The well-known Psalm 23 says that “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” God never leaves us nor forsakes us even when at times it feels like the bottom has fallen out of our world. You see, I had built a strong foundation in my life. I had built it on God and even when I went through one of the toughest and most physically gruelling experiences, I could know that God was there and that He would provide for me. I have since had two more chemo treatment cycles.  The last treatment involved high dose chemo where my immune system was obliterated and required a stem cell transplant to help me recover. I spent three weeks in isolation in hospital to ensure that I would not get any infection which could be life threatening and here I am with you tonight to tell the tale. The journey is not over yet, but we will keep fighting this Goliath that is challenging my life. I have learnt so much during these last 18 months that I would not have learnt in any other way. It seems that we grow and learn the most about life when we go through tough times. As James writes – “consider it pure joy when you experience trials of many kinds”. What a paradox, but I can attest to the joy I experienced from the love, care and support that I received from many family, friends and our church. My foundation was built on the Rock and when the winds of life blew I could, by the grace of God, withstand them and come out the other side not broken but stronger. The foundation I had built at work over 14 years also resulted in significant support and understanding when I was off sick and I am grateful to SAB for providing for me during the last 18 months. These tough times build character and I learnt that God is more interested in my character than my comfort. An unknown author said “Character is like the foundation of a house – it is below the surface.”

When I was undergoing treatment I received a call one day from the office to say that there was an accident and two of my colleagues had died in a car crash. As real as death seemed to me with the cancer that was ravaging my body, this news shook me, and I realised anew how temporary this life is. It is so precious and we never know when a day might be our last. Live every day to the full and make the most of every opportunity. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t wait till you finished varsity, till you are married with kids, till you have your own house and a sports car, till you have a big pay cheque, till you have a holiday house, till you retire at the age of 40. Like Neil and Malcolme, your life can be stripped away from you tomorrow – so live today and make your life count.

Rick Warren said “The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without purpose”. We have all been created for a purpose and as you enter the working world you need to live out your purpose. Find the sweet-spot where you will be focussed, fulfilled and fruitful – it will show in the results. We spend more than 50% of our time that we are not sleeping at work, so we need to make sure we enjoy it and apply our unique gifting to add value. There is no one else in the world like you. There never has been and never will be. You are unique and are made differently to other people and like me even when I am packing the dishwasher I apply efficiency and simplicity – well that’s what I keep telling my wife. Do that in your work. Use your skills not just to do what makes money or gives you the best job title. No, do what you love doing because then it will not even seem like work. Continue to build on your foundation with life experiences. Your life work might not be realised in your first job, but learn and grow. Learn from your mistakes. Yes you will fall, but fall forward. As with my cancer, the tough experiences are not nice at the time but you grow when you go through them and you come out stronger on the other side. I hope Lance Armstrong will learn and grow and that he will once again be able to make an amazing contribution to the world of cancer sufferers and who knows – even to cyclists – maybe to warn them what not to do….

So young, intrepid, Industrial Engineers….. You are going out into the working world to do what Industrial Engineers do best – make things better! The Industrial Engineering Institute’s slogan is “Engineers make things, Industrial Engineers make things better”. It is in our blood – we just can’t help ourselves. I see it in my life. When I boil the kettle I make sure I pour just enough water for what I need, not to waste electricity and my time. When I stand in the queue at home affairs I start redesigning the process and consider that if I could get in there for just one day I would turn that place upside down and get 100% improved efficiency. Well in that queue you have just about enough time to solve world hunger. My dad always teases me that I spend too much time making a template for a task. He says that we could have completed the task quicker than the time it took for the template to be completed. I always disagree and am vindicated by the results – most of the time….. You see, Industrial Engineers have continuous improvement and optimisation in their DNA. Some of the best Industrial Engineers I know are inherently lazy – they are always trying to find the quickest and simplest way to do something…. 

A riddle was asked many years ago to Harvard graduates and to primary school children to prove a point around simplicity. The riddle was: “What is greater than God, more evil than the devil and if you eat it you will die?” Only 20% of the graduates could come to the answer compared to more than 80% for the school kids. The answer is……… “Nothing”. Yes “Nothing” is greater than God, “Nothing” is more evil than the devil and if you eat “Nothing” you will die. We need to keep it simple and find easy solutions to complex problems. As Albert Einstein said: “If you can’t explain it to a six year old you don’t understand it yourself”. We can apply our job of “making better” to almost every industry from beer to banks, from mines to media, from hotels to hospitals, from Transport to Telecommunications. Anywhere where there are processes, people or systems, there will be Industrial Engineers and if they are not found, then there will be a need for them.

South Africa has been through much change since you were born. Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990. In 1994, apartheid was ended and our rainbow nation was established. Today 18 yrs on,  South Africa has successfully hosted the biggest sporting event on the globe. We are included as one of the BRICS countries – one of the leading emerging economies next to Brazil, Russia, India and China. We are also listed among the CIVETS – Columbia, Indionesea, Vietnam, Egypt and Turkey, which are the most favoured emerging economies. However great it might be to be on the lists, we need to stand up and be counted. We are rated 52^nd in the world on the global competitiveness index coming in behind China and Brazil. Our labour market efficiency is ranked as mere 113^th in the world and we are ranked a shocking 140^th out of 142 countries for our labour tensions. We are far from having arrived and far from being able to compete and win against other the emerging economies. There are, however, pockets of excellence such as our financial market which is rated 3^rd most advanced, next to all the developed and emerging economies. We also have examples of brilliance as seen in Elon Musk – a young Pretoria Boys High boy with a big dream. He started PayPal and he sold it in 2002 for $1.5 billion to eBay. He also started Space X and was awarded a $1.6 billion NASA contract in 2008, for 12 flights of their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, replacing the Space Shuttle after it retired in 2011.

Another example is The South African Breweries that was built from a humble but solid foundation in South Africa and today we are the second largest brewing company in the world. When I joined SAB in 1997 we were predominantly in South Africa and had only a handful of Industrial Engineers. Today we have over 70 Industrial Engineers in our SA operation alone and take in two to three more every year. In South Africa we definitely have what it takes but we need Industrial Engineers like you to take our country from poor to good and from good to great. South Africa has been blessed with many natural resources but I think the greatest asset is our people. SAB has exported senior managers from South Africa around the world and they are well respected and valued for their role in taking business to the next level. Many people have said there is no hope for South Africa but Dale Carnegie made a very true statement “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all”

Well – many people said that on 12/12/12 something really big was going to happen. They were right after all. The Stellenbosch University IE class would have their final-year function and stand on the brink of the next phase of life. It is a special date that only comes around once every 100 years but so is 13^th of Dec 2012, and 14^th of Dec 2012. Every day is special and is given to us as a gift. You have invested much time, money and effort in getting to this point of your lives, and as Industrial Engineers you now have a solid foundation. Build on it and make the most of it, we are all counting on you….. even if it is just for the next 8 days!