Leadership, Craft & Service - Where to focus in the age of AI.

There are some things that tools can't do, no matter how intelligent they are.

[Note - In October 2025 I delivered an occasional address (graduation speech) at the University of Technology Sydney in October, 2025. This post contains the main content from that address. I’m sure the full address will find it’s way on Youtube at some stage and if/when it does I will update with the link here.]

So as someone that graduated here in Computer Science and living in Silicon Valley, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about AI, Artificial Intelligence and weave that into my talk. At the same time I want to leave you with something that won’t get outdated and might actually be useful to you, even if you don’t work in tech.

So firstly to answer the obvious, no, I did not use AI in the authoring of this speech!

Why? Because I wanted it to reflect my thoughts, my heart and my soul. I wanted to be of service to you and I wanted it to be genuinely from me. In this new world of AI, I will share with you three takeaways for things that you should focus on and develop as your own skills and pathway.

The first is Leadership.

Leadership is a hard thing to describe at times. Many times we expect our leaders to be everything to everyone. But at it’s core it’s about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable. You don’t need a job title to be a leader, and graduating from this great university, you already have a good start. But lean in hard.

Leadership provides clarity when things are cloudy, uncertain or don’t yet exist. It provides a voice for those that aren’t spoken for. Use AI to help with the nuances of your thinking and analysis, but use your gut to drive your reflection and purpose.

The second is Craft.

Love what you do and you’ll not work a day in your life, Mark Twain once told us. But it’s true. Ever see a true artist at the peak of their craft and just be engaged and captured. That level of enthusiasm only comes when you build with love. For many though, the trick isn’t to “find your passion”, it is to “apply your passion”, and apply that ethic to everything you do, and then the universe will bring the right crafts to you. This leads me to the third item.

And the third item is Service.

Pay it forward and be useful. You don’t need to ask “what’s in it for me?” for every opportunity that comes your way. Instead, trust your gut. It doesn’t mean to do everything and be taken advantage of, but it does mean that sometimes you’ll do things because they feel right, or because they help others advance their cause.

My dad, who’s here with us today took a job at IKEA many decades ago as a truck driver, and each of my brothers got weekend jobs there in customer service. As the youngest I was itching to make some money and naturally followed their footsteps. I wasn’t old enough to work legally, and Dad wanted me to learn how to work hard. He made up a job washing his truck on a saturday mornings. I probably did a crappy job, but I know I tried my best and learned how to work hard for others.

I was fortunate enough to give an occasional address in 2018, and back then my final takeaway was to take the time to make things right when you get them wrong.

So today’s bonus takeaway will build upon this. And it’s to allow others to make mistakes. In today’s world, and especially in our local culture here in Australia - we’re quick to confirm the negative. We’re quick to kick someone when they’re down or to cancel them. In some cases those might be deserving, but if we take a mindset that we’re all trying to provide leadership, craft and service to what we do, inevitably we’ll still make mistakes, but it’s the spirit of mateship and helping each other get back up that will lead us all to greater heights.

My team mates at ServiceRocket have had my back many times over the years as I navigated us through some tricky situations, some caused by crazy market booms and busts, some by our own mistakes - one thing has remained constant is that the support from my family and our Rocketeers has made it possible and given the energy to get back on with leading. We remember our failures to learn, and get better, and it’s the memories of the journey along the way that I take with me and use every day to fuel the next wave.

In closing, I want to congratulate you all again on your graduation. It’s your time to go and do great stuff.

Thank you.