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Good
evening, ladies and gentlemen.
I
am very pleased to be back in Mulhouse and especially pleased to be able
to share in your celebration and your ceremony here tonight.
Tonight
marks the end of my time as Godfather for the purchasing school at
Mulhouse University. I would
like to thank the management team of your university for their invitation
to me and the opportunity to be the Godfather to the purchasing students
who will receive their diplomas tonight.
Two
years ago I thought about what are the commitments of a good Godfather.
I mapped and built a plan of things I would do when I visit the
University and speak to the students and about what advice and guidance I
would give them.
Tonight
is the last step in the last event of that plan.
As all of you have passed your test set by the University to become
a purchasing professional, I hope I have passed my test set by the
University on being a good Godfather.
You
will all be the best judge of that.
But
tonight marks a special occasion for the students. Of course I
congratulate you, of course I say well done for hard work, and of course I
say good luck in the future.
But
I would like to speak about something different than the usual “well
done” and “good luck”.
I
would like to talk about the difference between being just Qualified and
being Professional and the journey that separates them.
Well,
what do you think the difference is between Qualified and Professional?
I think there are 6 big differences.
These are the Craig 6.
Firstly,
you can be Qualified because you have your diploma and from tonight you
have it. So it is proven. But this does not make you Professional.
You must yet prove that. Being
Qualified happens in a single moment of time.
Being Professional does not happen in a single moment of time, it
happens over time.
No.
2 difference is, you have studied the books, learned about the tools and
techniques of purchasing and you have proven that you know them. Your diploma says so. But
this does not prove that you will use them well, at the right time and in
the right way. This must be
part of the journey.
The
3rd difference is that to be Qualified you must show that you can learn.
To be Professional you must show that you can teach.
I do not mean teach in a university or school, I mean teach in
business. Your qualification gives you the opportunity to teach, your
professionalism gives you the motivation and reason to teach.
The
4th difference is that when you are Qualified, it means you
know about a speciality, you know about a narrow piece of running a whole
business. This piece for you
is called purchasing. But
when you are Professional, it will be when you think about all the pieces,
the whole business, not just purchasing, and you will use that wide
business knowledge to be better at the narrow speciality of purchasing.
Difference
number 5 is that when you are just Qualified you have mostly been taking
things in. You have been
absorbing information. You
have been learning and you have been proving that you can learn.
But
when you are Professional, you mostly give things out.
You deliver back to the business, to the managers, to industry, to
the French economy, maybe even to the University.
You give value back to all these places. So being Professional is more about giving out, than taking
in.
The
6th and final difference is when you are just Qualified you will have
decided for yourself what is good business behaviour, what is good
conduct, what is responsible and ethical, and what are the acceptable
business practices that are legally and morally right.
But when you are Professional is when you actually behave like
that. When you are Qualified you know what these are.
When you are Professional you act and behave in this way.
So
there are 6 things that I hope explain the difference between just being
Qualified compared to being Professional.
If
you think tonight is special because you have your diploma and all your
study and hard work has paid off to get your diploma, then you are right,
it is special for that reason and you should be proud of your
achievements. The University
is proud of you, your teachers and lecturers are proud of you and your
Godfather is proud of you too.
But
tonight is special for another reason.
It marks the moment in your careers when you have the opportunity
not to be just Qualified but start the journey towards being Professional.
If
you want to make this journey I can tell you it starts right now. Which means tomorrow is a very big day for you all.
Tonight
is the end of getting Qualified. Tomorrow
is the beginning of being Professional.
This
Godfather hopes you enjoy the journey.
Thank
you.
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