Your Job Can Be a Great Adventure… It’s Up to You!

Summary: One of the reasons modern work is becoming so boring is that businesses are standardising their internal processes in such a dramatic way that it requires employees to do the same thing day in and day out. People are simply forced to become specialists. However, deep in their hearts, they would be more fulfilled if they could have more ‘Adventure-Like’ jobs! Here I share some considerations and memoirs of my first job ever… 

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” (Confucius)

Over time, employees may feel like some aspect of their job, if not their entire job, has become boring. When this happens, it is not a surprise that their ability to perform diminishes. If you are an individual who doesn’t just crave, but needs, variety and adventure, then it is important that you seek it out in all aspects of your life, including your work.

Adventure at work? Yes, it is possible, you can turn your job into an adventure! Your job doesn’t need to be boring! If you are just starting your career and have no major family responsibilities, then you are more flexible and may not need to spend most of your time in an office in front of a computer screen. You may want to explore how to do things differently! (Read more: Employee Motivation).

“Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy” (Paulo Coelho)

The COVID-19 Quarantine has got me looking at old pictures and thinking about my past jobs. As part of my journalism studies, I was asked to write about ‘Adventure Travel’ – But how can I do that? My preferred subjects are HR management, workplace matters, employee engagement and business ethics... The solution was to write about jobs that are potential adventures in themselves, and I could not think of any better example than to write about my first job ever! 

Without a doubt my fondest memories are those of my time at Backus & Johnston Breweries in Peru. These recollections tinged with nostalgia and reminded me of the thing I love most: Adventure! Like many people of my age, now I have family responsibilities and a sizeable mortgage, but that does not stop me from remembering and acknowledging what elements of my work make me happiest. These reflections also ensure that I make the most of my current job at Great Place to Work, which in itself is a very different kind of adventure altogether! So, let me share a few of my first job memoirs with you…

Backus & Johnston Breweries (Peru)

Clients always ask about my accent, yes, it is a Spanish accent, part of my identity I would say, exactly the same accent as when I landed at Heathrow 25 years ago. People are always surprised when I tell them that I am Peruvian - “Do they speak Spanish there?” – Yes, but “with our own South American intonation” I respond. The second question I always get is why I have such a surname – “SHOOBRIDGE isn’t a very Peruvian surname, isn’t it?” – People are amazed when I tell them that my grandfather was a British national who emigrated to Argentina and then to Peru, where he settled down and spent the rest of his life.

In 1989, just when I had finished university, I applied for a job at Backus & Johnston, the largest brewing group in Peru. The company was founded in 1879 by Jacob Backus and John Howard Johnston in the Rímac District in Lima. In 1889, the two founders incorporated ‘The Backus and Johnston's Brewery Company Ltd’ in London. The company operated as a British corporation until 1954, when the company management transferred the company assets and incorporation to Peru. Nowadays the brewery is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev which was obtained as part of their merger with SABMiller in 2015.

During the selection process, in my final interview, I had to be honest and tell them that I did not drink alcohol at all – their answer was “Don’t worry we will teach you” - and they did indeed! This job did not only offer me the chance to apply and develop all the sales and marketing skills that I had acquired during my business studies at Lima University, it also allowed me to travel to every single corner of the country. The job was a great combination of my personal interest for retail marketing and my passion for rough/adventure travelling… in other words, my dream job!

Lima – Getting to Know the Capital of Peru

The job took me to places no one would ever dream of visiting. At the time, new recruits were always sent to the most difficult areas of the country “to toughen them up” as they said. My first field assignment was in ‘Nocheto’ in ‘El Agustino’ (see picture below) – one of the most dangerous squatter settlements in the capital city at the time, not even the police dared entering there!

My first project was to evaluate the market and beer consumption patterns in that district. I had to visit and interview bar owners and all sorts of alcoholic beverage retailers to assess competitor activity. No need to say that I had to enter those shanty towns by foot, with police and local bodyguards.

I remember it was Monday early in the morning, so most bars were being cleaned after the busy weekend. Something that called my attention were the red stains on the floors of most bars… what was that? “Blood” they told me! The owners explained to me that “customers sometimes got a bit drunk and started fights” – My conversations with these local business owners and entrepreneurs provided me with new perspectives of a hidden world within the city I lived in, a world that I would have not otherwise ever accessed in my life had it not been for my job at Backus.

La Oroya – The Poisoned Town

Three months later, after finishing that initial project, I was given a new ‘mission’ – I had to stop discounted beer destined for the Peruvian highlands staying illegally in Lima. So, I was assigned to ‘La Oroya’ – a crossroad mining town in the Peruvian Andes, nearly 4,000 meters over the sea level. There we had to rent a place and open a control point in the middle of nowhere, by the side of the main motorway, to verify that all beer deliveries for the central Andes reached their final destination. The checkpoint we created had to verify that all trucks leaving the breweries in Lima passed through La Oroya with their full cargo. No internet, no email at the time, so all coordination had to be done the old-fashioned way, via fax from a communal telephone switchboard in town! In the picture below I am with my colleagues and good friends Carlos de la Flor (right) and Rodolfo Rios (left).

This mining town in the Peruvian Andes is not the prettiest place on earth. The area is highly contaminated by mining waste and by dust and acidic fumes from the smelters. The average lead level, according to a 1999 survey, was triple the WHO limit. Even after active emissions from the smelters are reduced, the expended lead will remain in La Oroya's soil for centuries — and there's currently no plan to clean it up. All this thanks to American-owned smelters that have been polluting the town since 1922 (Source: TIME USA).

At least we felt that our beer brought an element of happiness and hope to people in this forgotten corner of the world. Backus reached those areas of the country where no other providers dared to go. Some of the highlights of this trip were my ‘guinea pig’ and potato-based diet and the hostel where I was staying (no hot water/heating, no insulation). At night temperature descended to minus 10, I had to sleep with so many local quilts on me that I could hardly move in bed. The next day, the radiator of my car broke after I realised that I had forgotten to apply antifreeze, believe me, walking at 4,000 metres over the sea level was no easy feat!

Huancayo – Mountains and Guerrillas

Two months later we sponsored and organised the National Agricultural Fair Expo Yauris 1990 in Huancayo (The Backus team in the picture below). This assignment was happening at an important historical conjuncture in the country. This is when Peru was at war with Marxist guerrillas ‘The Shining Path’ and ‘The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)’. These guerrillas mostly operated in the Peruvian central highlands, and both were against the organisation of this agricultural fair that we were sponsoring. Solution? We asked the military to guard and protect visitors at the event.

The first night at the event, there was a terrorist incursion, bullets were exchanged between the military and the Marxist guerrillas. Everybody was lying on the floor head down, but what really struck me was the fact that while the bullets were flying above our heads, the locals were still drinking their beer. All of them sipping from one glass, their local custom: “real friends drink from the same glass” - People were so used to the violence...

At that time in Huancayo, terrorist groups used to decide which days cars could circulate. Those who did not comply had their cars blown up with dynamite. It was commonplace to hear explosions at night, when the electric towers surrounding the city were being blown up by terrorists. Blackouts (or ‘Apagones’) in Huancayo and different parts of Peru were so common. Candle business was booming! Difficult days indeed. Again, while others read about it in books, I had the chance to experience this situation first-hand thanks to Backus. In the picture below I am with Carlos de la Flor (right), behind us some terrorist graffiti instilling soldiers to kill their officers. 

Just before taking my next assignment to coordinate beer warehouses in Huanuco, another city in the Peruvian highlands, in a sudden twist of destiny, I was ordered to travel to the northern coastal towns of the country, near the border with Ecuador. As it happened, those colleagues replacing me were kidnapped by guerrillas on their way to Huanuco. Fortunately, Backus & Johnston managed to negotiate their release from captivity – my colleagues emerged safe and sound after the ordeal.

Piura & Tumbes – The Land of Eternal Sunshine

As for me, I was enjoying the sunshine in Piura, Sullana, Talara and Tumbes, which boast of the most beautiful sandy beaches in the country. If you have been to Peru, you might have heard of Cabo Blanco, Punta Sal and Mancora, well, I used to live there when these were just fishermen's coves in 1991. I was the brewery's sales and marketing manager for all the beach resorts in the northern coastal towns of Peru. Most of my friends in Lima complained they worked the whole year to spend couple of weeks there, while I was living there… “so unfair!”

My job consisted of monitoring all beer distribution channels in the region (e.g. avoid our beer crossing the border to Ecuador) and sponsoring seaside resorts, hotels, nightclubs, beach parties, concerts, etc. Not a bad job for a 22-year-old!

Once we organised a concert by ‘Los Shapis’ - an Andean ‘Chicha’ musical group from Peru (see image below). I remember I had to save ‘Chapulín, El Dulce’, their singer, from a mob that wanted to beat him up. I had to enter the concert in my car (!!!) for him to jump from the stage onto the cargo bed of my pickup truck! According to Chapulín they just wanted to congratulate him… yeah, right.

At the time, most of the beer retailers also had fishing businesses, so most of my weekends, if not hunting deer in the northern highlands, I was fishing offshore in one of my distributors’ fishing boats. Those days, this part of the Peruvian coast was full of black marlins. In 1953, American oilman Alfred Glassell, Jr. set the world record here for largest marlin caught - a 709 kg (1,560 lb) specimen (see image below). Cabo Blanco drew the likes of novelist Ernest Hemingway (where he wrote part of 'The Old Man and the Sea') and US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in the 1950s. 

Piura and Tumbes are the land of ‘Ceviche’ – their abundant sea food has developed one of the best cuisines in the country, famous for dishes based on sea bass, grouper, sole, swordfish, as well as molluscs and shellfish from the ocean and the mangroves such as black scallops, crabs, oysters, lobsters, and prawns. I remember in one of the many weekend events we organised, I ate 37 perfectly cooked lobsters! All carefully washed down with ‘Cerveza Cristal’ - our local beer brand. So, on top of rewarding work, great clients and colleagues, and stimulating travel, I can also add great food to the list! Memorable times indeed! In the picture below, I am on my way to Tumbes, driving through old oil refineries at Los Organos, Talara.

My work at Backus was an endless adventure. I was very lucky indeed to work for such a great organisation. In the words of my former boss Javier Mantilla (Regional Sales Director): “This is a company (Backus) where you could happily work even without getting paid” - I couldn't agree more! (BTW. I was always paid!).

Work is such a big part of our lives, we spend one third of our daily existence at work, people need to grow in a job that truly fulfils their interests in life. It is simple, if you do something that feels like work, it means you don’t love it too much!

Top Secrets for an Endless Adventure…

If you want to turn your job into an adventure, then stop self-reflecting on happiness and quit trying to find your one true passion. Also stop thinking the grass is greener on the other side, and as long as you can pay the bills, don’t worry too much about money.

Irrespective of the stage of life you are at, if you want to enjoy the ride at work, you need to consider the following:

• Choose a job that is engaging and a good fit for your personality. Your job should allow for freedom, empowerment, clear tasks, variety and full flexibility on where you work, and provide opportunities for continuous learning and development.
• Ensure your skills, attention, and focus are a good match for the job you do. You need to be good at what you do. It’s hard to feel satisfied if you constantly struggle with the tasks at hand.
• Camaraderie, cooperation and social support are top predictors of job satisfaction. You have to work with colleagues you can laugh and have fun with.
• Work with employers that value and recognise the work you do. Having leaders that inspire and encourage you is a huge source of pride at any job.
• Understand the value of your work. Choose a job that benefits people, supports and protects the communities where you operate.
• Finally, make sure your work fits with the rest of your life… your family, friends, personal interests and passion.

Good employers and choosing the right job have such a tangible impact on people’s lives. In the early 90s, as a 22-year-old, Backus & Johnston more than ticked all and each of the boxes above: ethical leadership, great management, fantastic colleagues, the most varied, interesting and fulfilling work you can ever imagine, full support for local communities and endless personal growth opportunities (Read more: Employee Engagement).

Some Final Thoughts…

Perhaps this blog is aimed at younger generations, all those who are just starting their careers. But for more senior professionals, it could be an opportunity to stop and reflect... It is never too late to rethink your current job, change is good, it widens people’s horizons. 

As you may have noticed, it is with great affection that I remember all my former colleagues and those fabulous years working for Backus & Johnston. I have been so lucky to work with some incredible people, who I am also honoured to call friends. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard work, the job was not everybody’s cup of tea, there were constant ups and downs, but I enjoyed the ride so much that, still 30 years on, I vividly remember this great work experience. Nowadays, how many people can say the same about their first jobs? Not many I guess…

As an epilogue to the story, I decided to leave my beloved Piura and Tumbes when the British Council offered me a scholarship to study an MBA in the UK at the University of Bradford School of Management in 1994. An offer that I could not refuse, thus I changed the desertic Peruvian coast for the green fields of the Yorkshire Dales in England! This was the end of an era for me, and the right time to hang up my boots at Backus & Johnston, and so, a new adventure started in Europe, which is still going on!

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Disclaimer: The author is making this ‘Opinion Blog’ available in his personal effort to advance the understanding of best practices in workplace related matters. The author assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this ‘Opinion Blog’ or for the results obtained from the use of the information provided. The information is provided on an ‘as is’ basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness and without any warranties of any kind whatsoever, express or implied. The views expressed are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of any entity whatsoever with which the author has been, is now, or is to be affiliated in the future.