Carry on learning, Dean urges Bayes graduates
Challenge your own assumptions and be willing to experiment, Bayes Business School Dean Professor Andre Spicer urged students graduating this week.
He told the new graduates that a willingness to experiment is a key skill in most workplaces and that too often we make decisions based on assumptions we have not fully tested.
Professor Spicer cited an experiment that Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram set his postgraduate students: asking strangers on New York subway trains to give up their seats. Despite initial reluctance, indeed fears over their own safety, the students found that more than two-thirds of passengers gave up their seats. Aware that this was one experiment he could test out himself on the London Underground, Professor Spicer encountered a similarly positive response amongst the 20 people approached.
Having added his own twist, offering to ‘buy’ the seat for £5, Professor Spicer found most rebuffed the idea of payment but would stand up for free. The exception, he said, was a middle-aged man in a business suit who embarked on a price negotiation.
Challenging yourself can be self-help
Professor Spicer said: “I think this experiment has some important lessons for all of us. Lesson number one: people are much nicer than you think. After all, most of us want to be the kind of people who will offer help when asked. This reminds us that whenever we find ourselves stuck and in need, we should just reach out. People are more likely to help than you think.
“Lesson number two: Our assumptions are often wrong. When Milgram’s graduate students asked people for a seat on the subway, they assumed people would say no. However, the reality was quite different. Often our assumptions don’t match reality and they can hold us back from doing something which would benefit us. Sometimes helping yourself means challenging your assumptions.
“The third lesson of this study is that we can break through our assumptions by running experiments. By trying to do something differently - even when we don’t think it will work - we can test whether our assumptions are right or wrong. Sometimes we find we were right all along. And sometimes we find we were totally incorrect.”
He continued: “It is this third lesson - testing your assumptions by running experiments - which I think is the most important. The ability to experiment is a vital skill in most jobs. One of the most renowned engineers of the 20th century - Charles F Kettering, knew this. When he was running General Motors, which was then one of the biggest corporations in the world, he said: ‘The biggest job we have is to teach new hired employees how to fail intelligently. We have to train them to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until they learn what will work’.”
Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, President of City, University of London, awarded an honorary degree to Bayes alumni, Alan Smith, who has had a long career in banking and holds the office of First Church Estates Commissioner with the Church of England’s Church Commissioners.
Mr Smith was awarded the honorary degree in recognition of his outstanding contribution to promoting the highest standards and social responsibility in finance and related sectors.
Nominating Mr Smith for the award, Bayes Deputy Dean Professor Barbara Casu said: "In a 35 year career spanning risk management, finance and investment banking at HSBC, Alan played a central leadership role in establishing HSBC’s Global Risk Management function. Alan chaired the Systemic Resilience Forum of the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment, a flagship COP 26 Initiative to produce solutions to transform the global approach to building climate resilient infrastructure investment.
"Between 2015 and 2022, Alan was listed amongst the 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in the UK."
"An Honorary award would be well-deserved recognition of Alan’s contribution to the City, the environment and social inclusion and would serve as an excellent and inspiring role model for City University’s students and alumni."
Mr Smith completed an MBA in Finance at Bayes in 1986.
Professor Casu noted that two years ago Mr Smith told the Church Times that finance allows us to understand the human condition as it can do both good and evil.
“Double-entry bookkeeping, he told the journalist, was developed by monks as a way to account for their stewardship to God."