Getting to Know Neville Jordan

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this business its people. Can we trust these people with our money? There can be amazing science and technology, great products, but if you can’t get on with or there’s no trust with the people then it’s best not to do the deal.”

-Neville Jordan

Name: Neville Jordan CNZM (Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit)
Year Born: 1943
Education: Canterbury University – Electrical Engineer graduate (1967)
Leisure interests: ocean yachting, scuba diving, motorcycling, horse riding, doing charity work and the performing arts.

Secret to his success: Complete confidence in your abilities, recognizing and accepting your shortfalls and having the desire to achieve.

What people say about Neville Jordan:

- John Manning, businessman and former manager of Technology New Zealand, said: “Neville’s a natural innovator but he is not just that. He has the combination of being an innovator [along with] strong business and management skills.

- “I have a lot of respect for him. He may be successful, but he’s also someone who is just another bloke who has time to help anyone. New Zealand needs more Neville Jordan around.”

Working Experience:

1. IBM and civil aviation (air traffic control engineer)
2. Headed to the United States on a six-week Rotary scholarship (age 25).Neville Jordan said that Rotary scholarship effectively changed his life. That was since the day he saw that there are people who enjoys in technology when he went to Houston NASA mission control. That made Neville Jordan motivated on having his own company.”
3. Multinational company in Europe – vice president

Awards, Achievements and Recognitions:

1. Leading investor and contributor to technological and scientific venture
2. President of the Royal Society of New Zealand (early 2006 to June 2009)
3. Chair of the Trustees of the Rutherford Foundation
4. Chair of the National Information and Communications Technology Australia (NICTA) Review Panel by the Australian Government
5. The Second Flying Kiwi recipient (2004)
6. He founded MAS Technology Ltd. in 1975 (telecommunications Microwave Company). He was able to make this company successful in the NASDAQ stock exchange. (1996 – 240 staffs, 15 offices worldwide). In 1997, in a highly successful float, MAS became the first and still the only New Zealand Company to list on the NASDAQ.
7. Founder of telecommunications microwave Equipment Company Marine Air Systems (MAS) Technology.
8. First New Zealand Company to list on the NASDAQ – tied forces with US company Digital Microwave Services proceeding to Jordan selling his interest in 1998.
9. Over 250 staffs are already with MAS, exports to 60 countries; making more than $100 Million in foreign exchange earnings.
10. Neville Jordan went on to establish Endeavor Capital a venture capital business investing in exciting New Zealand-based science, research and technology enterprises.
11. Diabetes research company “Protemix” (based at the University of Auckland and the DNA reagents company, ZyGEM) – founding Chair and Chief Executive.
12. He has been a Well-known Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand and has been given an award by the United Kingdom IEE Kirby medal for “outstanding eminence and distinction in advanced technology”.
13. Neville Jordan was recognized by the Governor General of New Zealand’s Supreme Award for Exporting in 1996 and was honored by the Queen in 1999 as a Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit.
14. Neville is also one of only three living New Zealander’s to be a Laureate of both the Hi Tech Hall of Fame (2005) and NZ Business Hall of Fame (2006).
15. He continues to back our young talent in their growth of New Zealand’s hi-tech future.
16. Neville Jordan was able to serve six years (1993 – 1998) on the board of the Crown Research Institute, AgResearch, and three years each on the boards of the Foundation of Research Science & Technology as well as the Prime Minister’s Growth and Innovation Advisory Board.
17. An honorary Doctor of Engineering degree in Canterbury University

Hard Work: A Key to Prosperity

Hard work means doing your best effort to accomplish a task for a specific goal. It is how much time you spend on a particular work to achieve your purpose. It also means doing your job unselfishly and sincerely. Working hard means producing more. And when you produce more, you earn much.  A person’s future depends primarily on hard work and perseverance.  Working hard is also a challenging role in one’s life in order to succeed. It is challenging in a sense that, you need a great deal of effort and time to justify the meaning and importance of your work. It is a no retreat, no surrender obligation. Hard work is an obligation because a person who is aiming for something needs to give his best and full effort in order to succeed and prosper in his own field.

This kind of attitude must therefore, be inculcated in the minds of people even at their very early years in life. As they say, the earlier, the better. When taught as a small kid, with a brain still so soft as a cotton, the art of learning is very simple. This is because, one’s still a kid, following directions and instructions is so easy. The child has still no knowledge about being rebellious. What an adult says to a child, he would surely follow it. So when a child is taught to be hard working, he will try to do it.  And he will do it repeatedly every time he has a certain task to do. As he grows older, he will be used to working hard because it will already become his habit to give his best effort in everything that he does. With this kind of attitude, whatever problem, he encounters in his life, he will try to solve it with diligence and patience combined with hard work. And there is no way he cannot solve the problem. So whatever endeavor this person does, he will surely prosper, may it be economically or personally.

Hard work, therefore, is something you will look forward to because you know that it will lead you to prosperity. It makes a big difference in your life. You should always go with the flow but with so much care and tenderness. You should learn to love hard work. Because when you have that, instead of running away from it, you will gain the ability to set your own goals and dreams in life. No matter what it takes, obstacles could not stop you from working hard because it is already instilled in your heart. And it will remain as long as you live. And as long as you have your life and have a big dream for yourself, hard work is not an option. It is a necessity. And there, whatever fear you would feel, you would overcome it for you have a significant purpose in your life. And that purpose drives you to work hard and makes you truly understand the meaning of a successful and prosperous life.

Importance of Education

Education is a primary factor to attain the ladder of success, not only economically but also morally. The supposed purpose of education is career advancement, higher wage or pay and easy job search. However, if we think deeper, education has also a social purpose. It teaches us how to live and love. It molds us on becoming responsible individuals to the world we live in.

Way back before the industrial revolution, educational importance was limited to: 1.) learning, 2.) preparation for wise leadership and personal achievement, and 3.) opening your mind to new ideas. What about today? And what about tomorrow? It is something we should think about for our children.

Learning is a means of overcoming ignorance. It makes you open your mind and explore your gift of intelligence. It enables you to think and learn from your mistakes. It gives you a sense of direction. And prepares you to what you would become in the near future.

As they say “man is a unique being”. We have our own different minds. Therefore, we all learn differently. That is why; we need education in order to fully understand the meaning and essence of learning.  In school, we have our teachers to teach us and guide us in our learning process. At home, we also have our parents to mold us on becoming concerned and well-informed individuals. Since childhood, specifically, at the age of three or four, we are already starting to learn. Our parents send us to preparatory school – nursery and kindergarten. It is where we start to learn how to write and read three to four letter words.  At the age of seven, we then start our elementary level. Here, we learn how to read words, phrases and sentences. Our teachers teach us many lessons in all subjects. Until we reach high school and finally, college. After graduating from college and become a degree holder, one is already prepared to face a new horizon. One may now start to look for a job that best fits him or her.  And where he or she believes would attain success in his or her career life. However, education does not end there for many professionals. Some would still take up masteral degree or doctorate in order to increase their learning prowess.  Therefore, education is a very long process, if not, never-ending. For as long as we live, we need to be educated.

Education, however, is not only limited to school learning.  One also becomes educated through the use of computer. We are now in the so-called “industrial society”. Therefore, it is not new to us if one gives interest in computer education. Learning is not only obeying or following, it is also exploring. Through the use of computer, we expand our knowledge to many things. We can use our mind and try new discoveries. Unlike in school where students develop their memorization skills, in computer, the individual learns to discover his talent and passion in the virtual world.

The importance of education, therefore, is not basically to receive higher pay and find good job opportunities. However, also on our ability to blend with the common society, discover how to live a rewarding life through enhancing our talents and skills and developing our inner self.