Well good morning to all of you and thank you, Steven, for those very kind words. I’ll
start with a little joke; when we talk to large groups in Britain, I usually see two
kinds of Brits; the ones that bank with Metro Bank now, and the ones that are about to bank
with us, so I’ll fit all of you in one of those groups. I’m very honoured to accept
this degree, particularly because Kingston University and I share a common vision; that
each of us shares the possibility for unlimited growth. There’s nothing stopping us except
us. The honour, as the Vice Chancellor mentioned, was primarily the about the creation of the
first new bank in Britain in 100+ years. Created from scratch, not to be something better,
but a revolution in British banking. A bank designed to disrupt the establishment; an
attack model, and we do it through unusual service and convenience, and the elimination
of every stupid bank rule we can find. When I came over in ’08 to begin this quest,
we started with a staff of 10, now we have 3500 people working for us in stores throughout
London and the South East. As the Vice Chancellor said, the famous line in the press, “you’re
more inclined to get divorced than switch banks,” but 1.4 million people have responded
to our call for change, and joined us. Our entire business model, and I suggest for each
of you when you start a business, is about building fans. Every great business is designed
around building fans. Fans join your brand, fans remain loyal, and fans bring their friends.
With me is my wife, who is the Chief Architecture and Brand Officer of Metro Bank; everything
you see in Metro Bank, from the buildings to the marketing, is designed around her view,
and - stand up Shirley - with our Chief Canine Officer, Sir Duffield, who you can follow
on Twitter @sirduffield. Say hello to Duffield! My quest began when I graduated from the Wharton
School in America: the leading business school in America. I won’t even tell you what year
but it was a long time ago, and I always knew I wanted to be in business for myself, and
create something from scratch. There was a fellow classmate of mine from the Wharton
School you might have heard of: Donald Trump. And some would say that President Trump and
I, while different in many, many ways, we still had the same idea; that you can create
value by producing change. As you all look at what your next steps going to be in life,
I might share with you my quest. When I got out of school, they gave me a banking license
to create a new bank in America - I was 26 at the time. At the time, there were 23,000
separately-owned banks in America, compared to the 5 here. We were 23,001. We had not
much money, one location and no brand. And we learned to reinvent the banking business,
and when we sold out in ’07 we were the 18th largest bank in America. So from starting
from scratch with very little money and not much clue, we became one of the largest companies
in America. Now, what I’ve learnt during this quest
and this journey, I suggest that each of you consider how you create your path to success,
how you become a star in whatever field you choose. What we’ve learnt over these years
is that everyone in this room has a unique skill and a unique talent. Every one of you
in this room is better at something than everybody else in this room. And when each of you learns
your unique skill and talent and you match it up with what you do in life, you have an
opportunity to be a star. So success is about finding your talent and matching it with your
career. And we say to you, ‘be all you can be.’ There is an unlimited world out there.
It’s exciting, it’s changing, it’s growing; anything is possible. You’re restricted
only by you. Change is everywhere. Entrepreneurship is everywhere. Your career and your future
is totally determined by you. So I wish you all the best of luck, and we say to you again,
be all you can be. Thank you.