This is the time of year when advice is thick on the ground. Business magazines are replete with tips for more effective business operation in the new year. Hundreds of thousands of high school students will have been sent off for their summer holidays with advice  extracted from the experience of the invited prize-giving speakers ringing in their ears.

As an academic I have been privileged, sometimes, and not so privileged at other times, to have heard a great many graduation speeches from distinguished community and business leaders. The best in my opinion address not only the professional interest of the graduates but also what may be perhaps inelegantly referred to as  the ñlife lessonsî„ advice in relation to leading better, more satisfying and more fulfilling lives drawn from the speakerÍs personal journey albeit with a little help from the Oxford Book of Quotations.

Undoubtedly the best example of the latter genre is the, unfortunately hoax, graduation address written by Mary Schmich, which begins ñLadies and gentlemen of the class of Í97: Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.î

The class of Í97 is nevertheless given further sound advice „ do one thing a day that scares you, sing, floss, stretch, dance, donÍt waste your time on jealousy… and much more, which a Google search will easily locate for you.  

This preamble has left no room within my allotted 250 words for my own tips. Enjoy your work and ensure your staff do; engage with your customers, your franchisor, other franchisees, the community and your family; set goals and benchmark; remember that even little improvements are good and that customers have choices; try to see the bigger picture and make sure you smell the flowers.

And, wear sunscreen.    

Andrew Terry Professor of Business Regulation at the University of Sydney and Consultant to DC Strategy