My Hero, Ed Percival - 3 Great Bits of Advice

My dear friend, mentor and possibly my (and Chemistry’s) biggest fan, has his funeral today…I’m devastated, truly and utterly sad. His name was Ed Percival and if you met him, you would know that he is perhaps the best human being you are ever likely to meet.

We used to joke that he was immortal. His breadth and depth of life experiences could only be garnered by someone who had lived a thousand years...turns out he was mortal after all. He is a loss to the world, my only solace is that I had the privilege and honour to know him, learn from him and be part of his abundant world. He celebrated his 50th Wedding Anniversary the weekend before he passed. He loved his brilliant and beautiful wife, Val, "his girl" and his family most of all in the world. I love you Ed and miss you terribly.

I have been thinking about how this incredible man impacted my life and thought I'd jot down just 3 things that I learnt and have taken in to my life with incredible results:

1. When you live in a world of abundance, anything is possible. Ed believed, as I do (now) that there is plenty for everyone and no situation needs to be "for me to win, you need to lose”. It's not that he wasn't competitive, he was a brilliant basketball coach and loved no more than when Chemistry won a new client. He just believed you should give like there was no end to your giving. I learnt that the more I give, without expecting anything in return, the more the world gives back...perhaps not today, but someday. I go out of my way to help others, because I live in a world of abundance. Why wouldn't I? People laugh at this and say "but your time is scarce, all this giving is probably why you're late for every meeting.” I always laugh at this and quote my favourite Ed line, ”I don't believe in time, it's merely a human construct..." Lesson No.1, look at your life and say “if I believed in abundance not scarcity, what would I do differently?”

2. If you aren't getting the answer you need/want/expect, you're asking the wrong question. My son is an excellent footballer, picked up by Chelsea when he was 5, he now Captains Reading FCs U16s. However, his journey has not been without its "moments". One of these came following an injury. He returned to the game half the player he was before. Knocked off the ball easily, shirking tackles, concrete wall like touch, it was as if Harry had forgotten to play the game. He, of course, was terrified. His life's ambition was ending, his game spiralled out of control. As a father, but also as someone who's meant to know something about people, I thrashed around trying to get to the bottom of this crash in form. “Do you not like playing anymore?” “Why didn't you do "x" or "y"? And the ever helpful, "if you're going to play like that, I'm not driving 100 miles to bring you" <shakes head in shame>.”

At my wits end. I approached my sage, Ed. "Ed, Harry has completely lost the plot...nothing I say helps.” I went on to explain to Ed the full repertoire of my incisive questions, at which point he shook his head and said "you need to ask him a question, he can answer.” “He can't answer why he's playing so badly, if he could he'd fix it himself.” Err, that sort of made sense but what I cried “is the right question?” We arranged a session with Ed and Harry, Ed said I could stay for the first question but without hearing the answer, i'd have to leave. Sounded slightly unfulfilling but I agreed. So what did this sage ask? What piece of enlightening, wizardry did he communicate? The first question Ed asked Harry was, <wait for it>, "Harry, what size is the ball?" WTF?! Post that session with Ed, Harry returned to form, and Ed continued to support Harry on his footballing journey. So, Lesson 2., ask a question the person who is receiving it can answer!

3. “If you had no fear”…it was 2008, the downturn in recruitment had hit Chemistry hard, I was faced with certain ruin, I needed to act but was paralysed. This is when I met Ed. The universe sent him into my life just at the right time. Chemistry had been running five years, we worked Globally. We had known incredible success and the odd bump. However nothing prepared me for 2008. Money was tight, so tight I had been paying salaries from my own pocket for months, I had exhausted my personal money, racking up not insubstantial personal debts. I rang Ed on my way home, (he reminds me of this moment constantly), crying down the phone, I said “It’s over, it’s the end.” He said, “no it’s the beginning, you just haven’t realised that yet. Now, I want you to tell me what you would do if you had no fear?”…it was such a great question. As usual, I knew what the answer was, it was fear that was stopping me from doing it. So I told him two clear things I would do if I was not scared witless by the prospect of doing them. “I will meet you at 8am in the office” he said “and I will be there right beside you when you tell the team.” He was, and I did. The company has never looked back. Lesson No.3, ask yourself continuously “what would I do if had no fear?” Then do it!

Honestly the lessons go on and on. He was an amazing human being and I will be forever in his debt. I have no regrets in my life it has been said by others, (I am not sure if it’s a compliment or not) that I possess no rear view mirror, I can only see forward. I now have one regret, Ed always believed that I and Chemistry would make a huge dent in the world, I regret he will never get to see the dent. However, we take heart from the fact that a) we are determined more than ever to make the dent and b) we would never have got a chance to if it wasn’t for Ed.

See you in the next life, my friend.