CEO and Owner, BESTSELLER A/S
Dr Anders Holch Povlsen
Lord Ashcroft International Business School Graduations
Anglia Ruskin University
Thursday 15 October 2015 - 6PM
Cambridge - Corn Exchange
About Anders Povlsen
On October 15, 2015, Anders Holch Povlsen received an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from Anglia Ruskin University and delivered a speech to graduates. He credited his parents and his own education at the university for his success. Povlsen advised graduates to prioritize passion and purpose over early earnings, stating, "Don't really think about how much you should earn the first few years get involved with something that really has your real interest." He also discussed the impact of connectivity, describing smartphones as "a supercomputer in our pocket" that enables speed and global reach while challenging existing business models. Povlsen encouraged graduates to support the natural world, calling it "the world's greatest asset."
Transcript (16 segments)
A
Anders Povlsen0:03
Vice Chancellor, honoured guests, and students. I'm humbled, honoured, and grateful to stand here today in front of you, receiving this recognition and honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration. It's great to be back at Anglia Ruskin University, and thank you very much for the introduction and citation.
You do not achieve many great things on your own. It is to a large extent thanks to the good help and support from others around you. Therefore, I must use this opportunity to thank my parents for their supportive and inspirational upbringing they have given me, and the continuous trust in me and my abilities. This is the most important reason for why I'm able to receive this award here today.
A further important part of my fundament upbringing has no doubt been attending this place, Anglia Ruskin University, today recognized as the top entrepreneurial university in the UK. This I'm very proud of.
Dear students, first and foremost, this is your day. Congratulations with your degrees. It's a pleasure for me to stand here in front of you and share a few of my experiences and learnings. It is not a lecture—just maybe a few ideas, observations, reminders, and a bit of advice.
But before coming to that, I want to say that I trust that you had a great time—worked hard, played hard, had some wild parties, made strong friendships—and at the same time that you also have learned a lot, gained knowledge and understanding, and found areas that you now want to explore and work with.
We live in very interesting times. Some might say challenging and uncertain times, but I think it's fair to say that we probably live in the most exciting and prosperous time also, and you are in the best possible position to benefit and take it all on, and be working with and even be leading some of tomorrow's great businesses.
We all have a supercomputer in our pocket, connected to the cloud—who saw that coming? I haven't found that book. This being connected, which is almost becoming an addiction to many of us, enables speed and global reach like never seen before in business or in life in general.
It changes every supplier value chain. It opens up a new shared economy and it seriously challenges existing commercial thinking and value creation. You might want to use the word 'disrupt'—nice buzzword—and if you then add 'platform' and 'ecosystem' and a few others, you're halfway there getting the job you want.
However, I believe that living in a more and more connected world will make us more efficient in so many ways. It will also create a new and more competitive marketplace and enable new business to grow faster, and at the same time give a new kind of power to the businesses that really successfully connect people and businesses.
As a graduate from Anglia Ruskin University here today, you probably grasped this already and are even ready to take it to the next level.
Now, just a bit of advice—and I just learned that graduates from Anglia have a higher average salary. Well done. But I'll still say: don't really think about how much you should earn the first few years. Get involved with something that really has your real interest and you're passionate about. That is so much more important at this stage of your professional life.
It's the opportunity, the experience, and who you get to work along that counts, and that will give you a greater sense of purpose. Don't worry—people around you will recognize your efforts and your results. They will want to have you on their team and be working and sparring with you. And luck also tends to follow those who stay hungry and try harder.
There are so many things that I would have liked to share with you. However, for now, I just want to say to you: work with your heart and work hard.
And maybe one final little thing—or actually it's big—I must recommend you all to get involved with thinking about and supporting our natural world. And this is—latest when you have succeeded with your careers, businesses, or investments, it's needed and is a great way to try and leave the world a better place.
We all depend on our wild nature, its natural processes, and its beauty. It is the world's greatest asset. I wish you all the very best for your future career and life ahead. I'm here to tell you that the best days are ahead of you, and stay humble but optimistic.
Vice Chancellor, Director of Academic Office, and to the Anglia Ruskin University team, I sincerely thank you for awarding me this honorary degree—something I must admit I never had expected. I shall do my utmost to continue to live up to this, and I no doubt expect my life to become easier from now on when I can say I have a doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University. Thank you very much.