Page 59 - CAO 25th Ann Coffee Table Book

agree with him. Because growing up in that informal settlement was tough, but other people have grown up in that same environment and because of people like you, have managed to change their lives. Some are lawyers and doctors and some are entrepreneurs. Some of them have progressed to standing in front of people like you and motivating you because of the work that you do as application practitioners.
Things don’t just happen. It takes a human being to say “I am going to take a chance on this child”. Today, I know why I am doing what I do and it is more than just processing this application. Even when we are not feeling good, we must work hard because what we do matters.
It is understandable that people sometimes go to work and have no energy. But I want you to think about it this way; in your job, career or institution, or in the CAO office ask yourself: “Am I a guest speaker in this organisation or am I one of the conference organisers?” I
want to close with this analogy because for me it makes a lot of sense.
I am a guest speaker here today and I go to other conferences but, I have also hosted my own conference and the difference between the two is huge in terms of the mindset. If you are a guest speaker, you arrive 10 minutes before the AGM. You look like you are the guest speaker and you even smell like one. Normally, at these venues, people can’t find parking, but someone picks me up at the airport. You don’t have to queue for registration. Your business is to speak and if the mike or screen malfunctions, you don’t get involved, you just fold your arms. As guest speaker you are chilled, but when you are the conference host, your mindset is different. The day before the event the hosting team literally sleeps at the venue.
Even in the morning you arrive 2hrs before everybody. If there is congestion at the parking, you make a plan
Meaning gives one a sense of transcendence, that I am working for something much
bigger than a paycheck. It will make you
more fulfilled at work and you will have more energy. Remind yourself why you do what you do, particularly when you have that document. Remind yourself that this is not just an application, it is a person’s dream.
even if you don’t know how to direct parking; you take off your jacket, fold up your sleeves and direct the cars, even if you are confusing the hell out of everybody because you are the host.
If you are the host and something goes wrong and the registration queue is too long, you start another queue and say, “please come this side”, and if the mike or screen malfunction, you do something about it. Even if you don’t know how to fix these things, the least you can do is stand and intimidate the people at the back and then they know that they must fix it now! Why? You are the host. I want you to think about this when you are working in that CAO office, when you are working in that institution. Please remember you are not a guest speaker there, you are a member of the conference hosting team. If things are going wrong, take off that jacket, roll up your sleeves, sort it out, because you are the difference.
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