David Parkin on the changing world of work, Max memories and a cruising ambition

FRIDAY is normally an early start for me so I can write this blog.

This morning I was up a bit earlier than usual to listen to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Wake Up to Money show which runs from 5am for an hour.

I’d arranged for a client, leadership expert John Fay MBE of DeltaV Partners, to be a guest on the programme.

John’s got a huge amount of experience and an incredible network of contacts both in the UK and US.

After a successful career in IT he set up Delta V 15 years ago and has worked with 40,000 leaders from a wide range of companies across the UK.

He has also found the time to set up a successful sports management business producing two Ryder Cup winners and nine European Tour wins.

John managed Jamie Donaldson when he hit the shot that won the 2014 Ryder Cup for Europe.

The Wake up to Money presenter Danni Hewson observed that it is now 61 days since lockdown started in the UK and asked John and other guests, who included the boss of breakfast cereal maker Kellogg’s what they were missing.

John said he was missing seeing his parents, who live in Wales and also observed that it is some of the simplest things that you miss - like meeting someone and shaking their hand.

John talked about a variety of subjects with passion and common sense including how all organisations need a common purpose and the role and value of good leadership in business as well as some of the parallels between elite professional sport and the corporate world.

John has been awarded an MBE for his work with charities and young people and is the founder 

of the April Fools Club, a business network that supports the RAF and has helped raise ￡850,000 for the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund charity including taking part in an 80-mile trek across the Falkland Islands.

He also launched the Junior Leaders programme, the UK’s leading development and leadership programme for 17 year olds, which has worked with more than 2,700 young people since it started 22 years ago.

You can listen to John on Wake Up to Money here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j9ft

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THE focus of Wake Up to Money and much of the current business news is about how the world of work has changed so much in such a short time.

That was brought home to me this week in comments by James Roach, managing partner of financial recruitment firm Woodrow Mercer.

He pointed out: 

“Just 80 days ago, we hosted an event entitled ‘The Future of Work’ where things like Slack, Zoom videocalls and remote working were hot topics.

“You could visibly see members of the audience shift uncomfortably in their seats at the notion of results-only working environments replacing presenteeism.”

Woodrow Mercer have been holding a weekly FD Forum hearing from a variety of senior figures in business and James said that their latest event highlighted how much things have changed.

“Fast forward a little over 2 months and at our FD Forum, we heard stories of businesses not ever looking to return to their offices as they're completely comfortable working remotely now. 

“It makes me wonder what Phileas Fogg would have made of it had he jumped in his hot air balloon upon leaving our event and just returned to see our ‘new normal’... “

I think old Phileas would have been as surprised as the rest of us are - change like this rarely happens so fast.

You realise how much has changed when you look at the photograph above.

People gathering together at an event.

We all thrive on social interactions and doing it on video is not the same.

I look forward to the time when we can meet, talk face to face and shake hands again.

John Fay is right, sometimes it is the simple things you miss the most.

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Parky's video clip of the week

THIS week’s video clip is a poem written by veteran Welsh comedian, singer and entertainer Max Boyce.

It was sent to me by Chris Lord, entrepreneur and former rally driver.

His Leeds-based company, Bartuf Systems, makes the clear plastic shelving for displaying newspapers, magazines and confectionery in shops.

Since the coronavirus crisis Bartuf has adapted to produce ‘sneeze guards’ for Tesco, KFC, Lidl and other retailers.

Chris enjoyed last week’s Little Richard clip - “a REAL rock & roller!” - and has shared a poem which Max has written called When Just the Tide Went Out.

I met Max Boyce once.

It was more than 20 years ago when I was London Editor of the Western Mail, the Welsh national newspaper, responsible for covering everything from Welsh companies trading on the stock market to meeting former Prime Minister Lord Callaghan at the Reform Club and Hollywood actor Ioan Gruffudd at the Groucho Club.

It was one of those jobs where everyday was certainly different.

One day I found myself in the refined and plush surroundings of the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane.

You got the feeling it was a place where people of influence met.

In one corner of the elegant dining room broadcasting and literary luminaries Alan Yentob and Melvyn Bragg were lunching together.

Probably swapping stories about birds and football.

I had lunch with Welsh entrepreneur Stan Thomas, who built up a food business, Peter’s Pies and a stock market quoted airport business called TBI.

At one point Stan - now Sir Stanley - was in tears.

Not because of any searing questions from me, it was when he was recounting how his luxury yacht had recently sunk in the Caribbean.

The good news is that Stan has since acquired another boat, the 60-metre St David, which you can rent for just 325,000 euros a week.

At the end of the lunch we were joined by Max Boyce who was friends with Stan.

It was odd coming face to face with a figure who loomed large over my youth.

As the son of a proud Welshman I grew up watching the Welsh rugby team’s success which was celebrated with gusto by Max, who was a regular fixture on television during that time with his unique blend of jokes, songs and stories.

He has certainly not lost any of his talent as his topical poem proves.

"We hope it brings a smile to your face, and keeps you safe," he said on Twitter.

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Reasons to be cheerful

IF you’d asked me a couple of days ago who Joe Rogan was, I wouldn’t have had a clue and would have had a guess that he is a celebrity chef.

But he’s not. 

He’s an American comedian, podcast host and mixed martial arts commentator who this week signed an exclusive deal with audio streaming service Spotify to host his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

The multi-year deal, which will see Rogan’s weekly podcast taken off other platforms such as YouTube, is believed to be worth $100m (￡82m), according to the Wall Street Journal. 

It sounds like I’m in the minority having not heard of him as his show, which he has been doing since 2009 and features a wide range of guests, including actors, musicians, comedians, politicians and conspiracy theorists, has a huge audience - last year the podcast was downloaded 190 million times per month.

$100m for being controversial, funny and politically incorrect?

I could do that.

Well I already do it for free.

What I’m looking forward to this week

IF I can't become a millionaire podcaster then I have an alternative career in mind.

It was suggested this week by veteran stockbroker Keith Loudon of national firm Redmayne Bentley.

An energetic individual, Keith would rather not be confined to his home but is keeping himself busy with a lengthy daily walk, watching the performance of the stock market and speaking to colleagues and friends.

When he phoned me this week it was with an idea for my blog.

“You should ask business people to give their views of the future. Not so much what happens tomorrow, as what happens the day after tomorrow?” he said to me.

Keith then went on to remember some of the more unusual experiences of his long career in which he was a long-serving member of Leeds City Council and the city’s Lord Mayor.

“I met Princess Anne...twice. Mickey Mouse, the Green Goddess. I went to Butlins at Filey when I was 17 and Des O’Connor was one of the redcoats.

“When I was Lord Mayor they switched on the Christmas lights before me and Noel Edmonds were ready.

“And I had to sing Away in a Manger with Sonia - you’ll know her, I didn’t. I didn’t want to sing but they insisted on it, it was in the contract.

“Anyway I got round it - I switched off my microphone so the public didn’t hear me!”

I suggested to Keith that if he ever decides to go on the public speaking circuit I’ll be his warm-up man.

“You could be on cruise ships,” he replied immediately.

I asked whether he thought I’d cope as a deckhand or working behind a bar onboard.

“No I mean you could do talks to passengers. You are an experienced young man - I use young in its widest sense,” said Keith, a Yorkshireman who is a master at the backhanded compliment.

“There is a big demand for speakers on these cruises you know. You could tell stories about the people you have met and interviewed, you can speak about the big strike.”

I said I hoped he didn’t think I’d covered the General Strike, he said no he meant the miners’ strike in the 1980s.

I said I hadn’t been a journalist then, I was still at school.

Keith laughed.

Is a career as a cruise ship entertainer really beckoning?

It’s just my luck that cruise ship holidays are unlikely to bounce back quickly after the coronavirus pandemic.

Perhaps I can become a redcoat at Butlins instead.

I would have asked Keith for his opinion but he’d probably tell me that I couldn’t be trusted to successfully organise the knobbly knees competition.

Have a great weekend