Graduating Success – Metaruption
26 January 2026🎉 Well what a day of celebration ! 🎉
I had absolute pleasure of being the Guest of Honour at two of the graduation ceremonies at the University of Bedfordshire Business School last Friday. It was fantastic to see such a wonderful group of graduates receiving their degree certificates, being celebrated by the faculty and their loved ones on a range of both general and specialist business topics, including Masters and also Doctorates.
I was given the task (of not only dressing up & proud to show off my The University of Huddersfield colours from my own graduation – many moons ago !) of speaking at both ceremonies. As well as attempting a few jokes I took the opportunity to talk about the concept of ‘Metaruption’ which is a term coined by Roger Spitz, and it is also the Reinvention Academy word of the year for 2026. In summary, Metaruption is what happens when change doesn’t arrive one thing at a time but 🧨 “BANG” 🧨 all at once, it’s not just disruption but stacked, overlapping, relentless change.
I linked this with the fact that when we graduate we may want / try to have a ‘perfect plan’ but in a world of constant change, as often celebrated by Academy and AQai – Adaptability Assessments & Coaching, that Metaruption isn’t a problem to solve, but a condition to live and hence the need for us not to panic AND think of life, & our careers, not as ‘straight road’ but ‘more like a series of intelligent detours’.
What was also wonderful about the event is that friends of the university and local dignitaries also were there to celebrate with the graduates, including the local MP, who was an absolute pleasure to meet Rachel Hopkins MP (in the photo).
As part of my wider responsibilities I also Chair of the Employers Advisory board for the School of Business and I do that simply to ‘give back’ as I know that when I was early in my career I appreciated connections with the local business community. So my encouragement to you is if you are given such an opportunity with any learning establishment (including the wonderful University of Bedfordshire) then it is a great to be involved in.
Finally my thanks go to Chris Marshall & his team for arranging such a wonderful day and for allowing me to be part of it.
