The End Game:
Thoughts on Transition and Expectation in
Life During and after School

Speech By

Mohammed K.A. Al-Faisal
President & CEO, Al Faisaliah Group Holdings Ltd.

The Al Faisal University Preparatory Program (UPP) Commencement Ceremony

June 22nd, 2008

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank The King Faisal Foundation and the University Preparatory Program for inviting me to speak to you tonight. More importantly, I want to congratulate you, the students for completing your UPP Program. I know what it feels like, I have been through one many years ago at the King Fahd University Petroleum and Minerals.

Although I am sure you know it, I have an obligation to remind you that this is just the first step on a long journey, As Winston Churchill once said; this is only the end of the beginning. At the same time, we should always stop and celebrate such successes, Preparatory programs are tough, I recall my entry class in 1985 to KFUP was around 1’500 students, by the end of the preparatory program we were down to 600,  at graduation, four years later, the graduating class of ’85 was only 260 students.

The bad news is university is tough, at least that’s how it should be if you want a good education, the good news is that all the hard work you will be put through in the next few years will be worth it, my graduating class was receiving job offers even before they graduated. They didn’t get it because the recruiters liked our smiles, its because they knew they were getting a quality recruit who will hit the ground running, will be able to adapt to the work environment. In short, we were good raw material to work with and develop.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me tell you what I want to talk about tonight, I want to talk about the end-game, what I mean by the end game is what is this all about? Why are you doing this? What is your objective? It would be short sighted to think of the end game as only obtaining your degree, because the next question would be, and should be:”why do I want this degree”?

My belief and advice on why you want a degree should be for the three following reasons. First, to work in a field you like, doing the things you want to do. Second, to be able to get the financial rewards that allows you to live a dignified and respectable life. And third but definitely not least, to become a value added person to all who are around you, your family, friends, community and country. And hopefully, to never be a burden on any of them.

Prince Mohammed K.A. Al-Faisal

In short, a degree is just one step towards preparing you for life. It is never a guarantee, but it helps, if you do it right.

Getting your degree is not easy; it’s not just a matter of studying and passing exams. There is more to it. It is early for you to notice, but keep your eyes open over the next few years observe the people around your age who you knew from school. I guarantee you that most of those who were considered popular or stars in school will not be so in university, and you will be surprised in the performance of those who were quite and seen as average. The question you should ask yourself is why.

The answer is in Transitions, in managing your transition from school to university.

In school, you have been in one system all your life, from first grade all the way through to high school. You got promoted every year based on almost the same pattern, you knew the rules of the game and you excelled in them. Unfortunately, the rules of the game at university level change. It is a challenge, but also an opportunity.

I am sure that all of you are smart and capable, but you are challenged by the fact that you are still figuring out who you are, you are yet to understand your limitations or get a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses.  All this results in an overestimation (or underestimation) of what you can and cannot do and what you need to work on. This is not a flaw, its part of growing up.

The combination of a change in how you are rewarded and/or penalized and the lack of clarity on ones self is a lethal combination which hampers a smooth transition.

What this means is that you need to work extra hard in the first semesters of university to know yourself and understand “the environment you are operating in”. The good news is that through UPP you are better equipped than others to deal with it. The bad news is that you will have another transition period when you graduate and move into a job. Unfortunately, their will be no UPP there to help you.

So, my first advice to you is that college is a test case for life, how you handle your transition will give you the necessary skills that will be needed later in life. One thing I can guarantee you is that in life you will have to deal with a lot of changes and transitions, each one brings its own risks and rewards. Handling transitions is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. So learn from your transitions, and start with the one in front of you right now, it’s a very useful learning process.

If we are to talk about the end game and why you are getting a degree. It only makes sense to talk about your first job. As an employer, I know that I will be facing some of you in a few years time, so it is in my interest to tell you from now what we expect.

To begin with, the two greatest concerns of employers today are finding good employees and training them. One of our biggest challenges is in the differences between skills needed on the job and those possessed by the applicant; it is what we call the skills gap.

This gap can be closed by the development of your employability skills. It is those skills and capabilities that are necessary for getting a job, keeping it, and doing well on the job.

However, unlike technical skills, employability skills are broad in nature, they are not specific to a particular type of job, and they are required regardless of what industry and profession you decide to undertake.

What I am trying to tell you is that being technically brilliant and strong academically is not enough. You need to develop other sets of skills to match. These are in two areas:

• Critical thinking skills (Learning, reasoning, problem solving, decision making).  In short, you need to learn “how to think”, not “What to think”!

• Personal Qualities (personal discipline, healthy attitude, cooperative mentality, team player). Personal quality skills help you develop your “working with people skills”.

Both Critical thinking and personal quality skills are learned through combination of class teaching, and your own efforts at developing them. I am sure that both the UPP and the Al Faisal University have incorporated the development of those skills in your curriculum and teaching methods. But unless you believe in their importance and their effect on your future, what the university does wont matter. Your degree is just that, a degree, it will open the door but won’t guarantee success, the university is there to help but at the end of the day, it’s your life, they are not going to live it for you. You have to take control of your development, use the university and degree to develop, because you won’t get a second chance to come back again and repeat it.

In general, good companies are willing to invest in you when you graduate, and to give you the opportunity. However, weak employability skills threaten the return on investment that we put in you and make organizations less motivated towards you.

I find it necessary to bring this up now because you are just starting out, if you find this out towards the end it’s too late; you need to know it now so you can prepare yourself for your next phase in life, after school.

So make sure you know what skills, other than academic knowledge, is needed to help you succeed in the future and work on developing them.

I want to give you one last piece of advice before I finish, and that is related to attitude. Managing transitions and living up to employer expectations requires the right attitude. As a matter of fact, doing anything in life requires a proper attitude.

Attitude is such a broad definition that encompasses many things, but do the following and success won’t be far away:

First, Respect yourself and expect nothing less than respect form others, always be humble but at the same time, do not put yourself down.

Make a careful list of all things done to you that you did not like. Don't do them to others, ever. Make another list of things done for you that you loved. Do them for others, always.

Second, lead by example, do what you say and say what you do. People do not trust someone who says one thing and does the opposite.

Third, know that the only thing guaranteed in life is making mistakes, expect them to happen and always correct them. Only dead people don’t make mistakes, but nothing is worse than someone making a mistake and being too proud or arrogant about admitting their mistake and correcting it.

Fourth, be disciplined in what you to. Always finish what you start, and don’t do things halfway.

Finally, have a healthy positive outlook on life! There is always something to be grateful about.

Thank you very much, and have a good night.