In 2022, at St Charles College’s annual Speech Night, we welcomed Michael Day, as our guest speaker. Michael matriculated from St Charles College in 2011 before going on to complete his Master of Science (MSc) in Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University. Furthering on his studies, Michael also attended the MIT Sloan School of Management, completing a qualification in Machine Learning (Artificial Intelligence).
Today, Michael operates as the Director of Value Chain Solutions, a fully integrated consumer goods value chain advisory and solutions business.
We are pleased to share his insightful speech with you:
It is indeed a great privilege for me to be giving the guest address at an institution for which I have always held in such high regard, due to the immense impact it had on my life and my career; as well as the lives and careers of so many other fortunate men – young and old.
What makes this speech night even more memorable is that it is the first time I am standing in this re-named arena – named after a great leader who I stood side by side with during my time at this school – Samke Khumalo. I too sat in these chairs and listened in awe as Samke, our head boy delivered an inspiring, trajectory defining speech.
Thinking back to that speech by Samke, I recall him making reference to this school “riding the crest of a wave.” Walking around campus the past couple of days made me think if any of us could ever imagined how big this wave would build up to be, never mind the fact that this school seems to still be on the crest of this ever increasing, ever improving, ever diversifying wave that just keeps on rolling.
I thought long and hard about a message which would resonate with millennials as well as some of the more “mature” individuals in attendance tonight – dare I say pensioners… I pinned it down to three key principles I gained through the influence of this college which I believe have been instrumental in my journey to date.
The first principle dawned on me during my time with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in East Africa.
At the time, I had just completed my Masters Studies and if anyone has experienced that feeling after any academic achievement, you know that you feel untouchable – on top of the world. We were busy with an economic development project working with small holder farmers with the objective of achieving food security and in doing so address a number of issues both economic and health related. Part of this work was to engage with a range of farmers, and we were flying to various villages in Tanzania in order to cover maximum distance. Just before landing in one specific village, the pilot agreed to take us for a quick D tour over some of the farms we were about to visit. From the air I noticed a few tractors stationary in the fields with what looked like people sitting on the front of these tractors. For me, this was astounding because (1) it is not often that these small holder farmers are able to afford tractors and (2) usually these tractors are continually moving – working the land.
Anyways, we landed and as we got to the farms on the ground, we had an engagement with the farmer while sitting on plastic beer crates and sipping some warm Pepsi Colas – with very little infrastructure in sight. We had finished the formalities so out of pure curiosity, I asked the farmer about what we had seen from the air as by this time the tractors were moving again.
He explained to me that the reason his tractors were standing with the respective drivers sitting on the front was not due to a breakdown or a lunch break – he said that these drivers were doing the most important task in their daily routine – Thinking. He had mandated that for 30 minutes each day, no matter what the circumstance, each employee had to take 30 minutes out of their day during work hours and sit and think about how they could improve what they were busy with or plan what they were going to do next. Naturally, my reaction to this as a fresh graduate was – surely you are thinking continually while doing your job? He politely corrected me and said no, most times people are just doing.
While this simple – somewhat obvious realization left me quite speechless, it made me question myself on where I had been taught to think.
My mind brough me back to my time at this college, where I had the fortunate (some may say unfortunate) opportunity to take A-Level mathematics. Having completed my AS Level course with Ms Pillay – who I see is still giving this course today, I remember going to her with my fellow classmate after our first A-Level maths lesson. At the time Mr van Blerk was spearheading this subject and we were questioning our decision as to why we had decided to subject ourselves to imaginary numbers – which by the way I am still trying to imagine today! Her response was similar to what I had received from the farmer in Tanzania (although she gave it to me 7 years earlier!) where she explained that what A-Level maths was teaching us to do, was more to think – the content was really just a means to an end.
Had I not gained this somewhat obvious skill at school and had I not had the realization in rural Tanzania like I did, I would never ever have structured my teams to be thinking focussed and augment all doing with critical thinking. Without this we would probably not be near where we are today.
The second principle did not come from the classroom but rather the sports field during my middle school days. At the time I had successfully shunned off attempts by Mr Holcomb to recruit me as the next tall basketball star (as I am sure he attempts with any student whose eye contact is near the level of his!) and was following my passion at the time playing cricket. Having come from a somewhat smaller primary school before joining the college, I was always used to being the star of the cricket team so when I found myself in the u/14B team and not the A team it was naturally quite a shock. Feeling a bit demoralized, after our first practice I was on my way back up to our boarding house with one of my teammates who was feeling just as hard done by as I was when we bumped into Mr Roger Shepherd, our head of middle school at the time.
Although being famous for his saying, “Work Hard, Play Hard and then go to sleep” his stance was slightly different to us seeing that we were both a bit over played! He asked us quite simply whether we knew what it was about to dream. We were both caught a bit off guard by the question and assumed he was pulling the mickey out of us in order to turn our days around so naturally responded with a bit of a chuckle. He pointed down to the cricket oval where at the time the first team were just completing their practice and asked us whether we think we can be as good as the young men in that team one day to which we both hesitantly nodded – although our hesitancy may have come from us knowing that one of those players were his son. He then looked at the two of us and while hurrying off with his signature walk said, you both clearly know how to dream so get working! Needless to say, we were both in the A team the next season with Mr Shepherd coincidently as our coach!
While at the time I clearly lacked the in depth understanding of what Mr Shepherd was wanting to achieve with his saying, it became apparent to me later in my academic career while at the University of Adelaide in Australia. As part of my studies, I had taken a subject out of interest called Innovation and Creativity. My reasoning was that I thought I gambled a bit as an innovator but lacked significantly on the creativity front as any English teacher who taught me at school would likely agree! At the commencement of the course, we were asked to pick a colour depending on what bucket we classified ourselves as – innovators or creators.
The class was roughly split in half based on their selections and the presenter looked at us and asked how many of us are dreamers to which most of the class raised their hands. The professor then proceeded to walk up to the Smart board, cross out the Course title which was “Innovation and Creativity” and replace it with the simple words “How To Work.” He then explained that no matter how much each of us regard ourselves as innovators or creators, our challenge is that as humans we are all dreamers. All innovations or creations start with a dream which everyone is able to do, however without hard work and dedication, neither of us will ever innovate nor create. This will lead to us forgetting how to dream – the start of it all.
From then onwards, every time we walked into the lecture hall the words “how to work” were kept on top of the smart board at any time and when we completed the course, the professors passing phrase to us was “Dream Big.” The message was the same as what Mr Shepherd had conveyed in his brief interchange with us some 9 years earlier, the realization of what that meant to me now finally crystal clear.
Dreaming has always been one of my competitive advantages, however had I not learnt the work ethic which this college instilled in me, I doubt that I would have innovated or created any product or service to date.
The third key principle is duly fitting given the occasion this evening. During my time at the college, I always had aspirations to reach for the highest title and sat through a number of speech nights as you all are tonight dreaming of what I would do should I ever become head boy of the school. Four years gave me a lot of time to do this, and when the evening finally came, I sat in anticipation as all the grade 11s are today and was named as one of the deputy head boys. While upbeat with the title I gained I shielded my personal disappointment with a wide smile for the evening as the title I now had was still one that few had carried before.
Some time passed over the half term, and I received a call from one of my biggest school mentors and a great friend of mine still today – Pascal van Huffel. He had matriculated 2 years before me at this college, been my dorm prefect and my water polo teammate for 2 years. He had phoned to congratulate me and ask me how I was feeling to which I gave my honest response. His advice was profound, and he quite simply said – It is not about the title, it is about your name – make sure people will remember you because of your name.
As I progressed through academia and business, the obsession with titles and authority became ever more real to me. What I slowly started to realize was that this obsession is often at the expense of your name with morals and values mere words conveniently disregarded. This college underpinned its core values within me and gave me my first realization of the temporary nature of a title and the lasting value of your name. This disappointment of not receiving a title is a feeling many have experienced already during school and some of you young gentlemen will experience tonight or throughout your life. While titles are often bestowed upon us by the system we function in, they often change and are truly just periodic. Each of our names is attached to us until death, and it is something we can either build or destroy.
So, to the young gentlemen of St Charles College and the Matric Class of 2022. If you can learn to think and do while others are just doing and work hard while others are still dreaming, you will become innovators who innovate and creators who create. However most importantly, if you maintain the core values this college has instilled in you and focus on building your name above your title you will be the societal change makers our world and country so desperately needs.
Think BIG – Dream BIGGER – and go out there and define your own name!