Everyman’s Open Champion

All of us here, “Northern Ireland everyman”, are so proud of Northern Ireland’s finest; Gmac, Rory and now Darren – our Champions.

Darren is a hero for Northern Ireland everyman. His triumphs, low times and emotionally charged highs are what we all experience in our lives, though perhaps to a much lesser degree. Due to his humility, we can identify with him as an easygoing affable personality despite the fact that he is a world-class sportsman. We care about him.

Just a really nice, friendly, unaffected guy. Smoking a cigar, having a drink, sharing a joke. In enjoyment, smiling and laughing; in pain, vulnerable and crying; in defeat, gracious and phlegmatic; in triumph, generous and mindful of his family. A role model for Northern Ireland everyman. We care about him.

The unique frankness with which he personally relates his ups and downs, while facing life’s challenges under a constant media spotlight, has also made him a positive cult figure within and well beyond the golfing world. Peter Alliss said he was the most popular Open champion in his 50-year memory of the competition.

As Darren sank the final putt with his own inimitable aplomb and humorous touch, I poured a celebratory brandy to toast the man from my hometown; “Come in Dungannon, I know your knock”. Let the celebrations begin.

Nobody should rain on Darren’s parade – enough rain fell at Royal St George’s over the weekend anyway.

And yet……… From the caring admiring Northern Ireland everyman, to our role model hero –“Darren, enjoy your celebratory few pints – but not too many. Let the party roll – but not for too long”.

Man, we were so happy – but reflective - to see you with the Claret jug as your private jet landed in George Best Belfast City airport. George Best – Northern Ireland everyman’s earlier hero. We cared about George. We care about Darren.

News of the World

The closure of the News of the World seems like a good outcome in light of the appalling behaviour of its journalists in the phone hacking scandal. But fear not, the vacuum in provision of intrusive tittle tattle and invasion of individual privacies to find "scoops" for the titillation of the great British public will soon be filled.

What irritates me is the universal po-faced righteous response to all this. There is no fundamental moral difference between hacking of phones and the time-honoured "legitimate" intrusive practices such as those of the paparazzi, or the sly journalistic eavesdropping on private conversations that has been the stuff of media fodder for generations.

Indeed, even the revered BBC is happy to condone the regular cringe-making hurtful activities of their interviewers when they ask a distraught bereaved parent "how they feel" in order to make a dramatic piece for their own six o'clock News of the World.

Elements that respect the rights of individuals, such as privacy, restraint and dignity, used to count for something in the media. Now it appears that anything goes, so why all the surprise?

BP and Obama – playing the demonisation game

Yes we can!

I shared the world’s excitement at Barack Obama’s accession to the position of “most powerful man in the world”. I like his firm but inclusive and tolerant tone. Whatever the difficulties and trials of his presidency, I feel that overall he will do much good and in due time there is a strong chance that history will judge him well. I really hope so.

Or can we?

Recently however, he has disappointed me by demonstrating that for the sake of populism, even the leading statesman of our time can sink to tactics of demonisation worthy of the redtop press.

When a person or organisation such as BP, or indeed an industry such as banking, is being tagged as “evil” by strident, aggressive accusers, look carefully behind the rhetoric for the real issue from which they are trying to divert your attention or for other underlying motives. Barack Obama’s hammering of BP and demonisation of Tony Hayward raises my suspicions.

What is the president really after?

I have a feeling that demonising hyperbole has a close correlation with the demoniser’s own insecurity, guilt or evading of personal responsibilities. While it may appeal to the rabble and buy a few short term votes or serve another devious smoke-screening purpose, in the long run it only undermines the credibility of the accuser. It seldom stands the test of rational appraisal. Barack, what are you up to?

BP and mistakes

BP made mistakes in the Gulf. Companies and people make mistakes every day. You make mistakes, I make mistakes, property developers, bankers, politicians and even presidents make mistakes, but to turn BP or any of us into public enemy number one is generally way off the mark in terms of fairness or truth. BP is no more or less evil than Exxon; banks, bankers and indeed property developers are no more or less evil than the general populace. Demonisation serves no worthy purpose.

Demonisation and you

In the cut and thrust of your business, by all means argue, by all means criticise where necessary - but never demonise your opponent. As an example, in these cash-strapped times many business owners are unable to raise finance and demonising the banks has been a frequent response. It won’t get you a loan and you are using your intellect and effort in a fruitless unprofitable rant that shows you up in a poor light.

Rational dialogue

Instead, whatever your negotiation, whether with a bank, supplier, customer or competitor, take a rational approach using the following pointers and explore the opportunities in a measured dialogue. Be the calming influence.

• Of paramount importance, be aware of how your own past behaviour and circumstance may have contributed to the present state of things,

• build confidence on a basis of respect. You are not the only righteous party

• take a long view – you have to work with these people in the future,

• recognise your counterpart’s own pressures and try to address their problems while solving yours,

• focus on building a partner relationship to solve your problem

Confrontation or coalition

In his demonising response to the tragic oil spill in the Gulf, Barack Obama failed BP – and himself - on all these vital points and in due course it could cost him dearly. No matter how strong the temptation, don’t take the same futile demonising response to the business crises that may hit you in these volatile times. Stay rational.

And a word of hope

It is of course early days, but in Britain we are seeing coalition at work between political parties who not so long ago were demonising one another.

As with Barack Obama, whatever the difficulties and trials of their term, I feel that overall they will do much good and in due time there is a strong chance that history will judge them well. I really hope so.

Guilty brothers - A Tale of Two Pities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

1. Brothers aged 10 and 11

Two small boys from a troubled background were before a British court last week. They cannot be named.

The crime

The world is shocked by the news of the horrific assault started by these brothers, aged just 10 and 11, in which two boys, aged 11 and nine were lured to secluded woodland on a pretext and subjected to an hour and a half of cruelty, which nearly ended in the deaths of their victims and included torture, extreme violence and sexual abuse.

The inquiry

In court, the elder defendant described how he often watched his father’s pornographic DVDs and horror films such as Child’s Play and Saw. By the age of nine he also had a cigarette habit, drank cider and vodka and smoked cannibis.

The younger brother was more sinister. A child psychiatrist described his behaviour as sadistic and said he was showing signs of becoming a psychopathic offender.

Pity number 1

In the entire investigation of this crime and throughout the court proceedings, neither brother showed any remorse whatsoever. Broken Britain?

2. "Brothers" aged 50 and 51

Two grown men from a privileged background were before the Iraq inquiry last week. They can be named as former Defence Minister Geoff Hoon and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

The crime

The world is shocked by the continuing tragedy of the Iraq war started by these "brothers", aged just 50 and 51, in which nations were lured to Iraq on a pretext and subjected to 6 years, and counting, of death and destruction for their soldiers, including death, torture and abuse of countless Iraqis.

The inquiry

In the inquiry, the elder defendant described how he could have prevented Britain taking part. "If I had refused, the UK's participation in the military action would not in practice have been possible"

The younger "brother" was more sinister. While Secretary of Defence, he was condemned by an international delegation of European MPs for blatantly evading questions about Britain's co-operation with the CIA.

Pity number 2

In the entire investigation of this crime and throughout the enquiry proceedings, neither "brother" showed any remorse whatsoever. Broken Britain.

Eric's story - Child abuse in rural Ireland; 1955

Crime, cruelty and concealment

This is a story of cruel abuse. A day in the life of Eric, a neglected 10 year-old child from a large poverty-stricken family, living in a two room cottage. His father was dead and his poor mother worked long hours for a pittance in a wet, cold, apple-peeling plant.

The Murphy report of 2009 lifted the cover on sexual abuse of children within the Catholic church in Ireland and exposed those who colluded with its concealment. In separate investigations, the church's education system has also been rightly condemned for turning a blind eye to the physical brutality suffered by children at the hands of many Christian Brothers in earlier times.

But it wasn't only a Catholic problem and it wasn't only the bishops who turned a blind eye to such criminal excess. Eric knows. I know.

A silent schoolmate

Over 50 years ago I was a pupil at a small village school in Tyrone where I saw, from time to time, cruelty inflicted on the weakest who had no one to speak up for them. There were many abuses, but one in particular, perpetrated on my friend Eric, has troubled me all my life and always will; because I sat mute when I should have spoken out.

Colluders

I share the rising tide of disgust for churchmen who concealed or ignored the evil within their ranks towards children. I hear and support the calls for resignation and other punishments. These colluders with evil were mature adults.

Not fearful children like me and Eric's classmates who, if we overcame our cowardice and spoke out, were subject to the same brutality as the victim we tried to protect. But nonetheless, the effect of our neglectful collusion was as telling as that of the bishops and allowed the same evil consequences for Eric.

Eric goes to school

Early on a chill winter's morning, it was raining heavily when Eric left home to cycle the 4 miles to school. He had no waterproof clothing. Just a thick wool hand-me-down pullover, short flannel trousers and wee lace-up black boots that I saw him in every day. Eric always had holes in his battered boots and he never looked well washed, clean or cared for. But he was tough and cheerful and one of my pals.

Eric's teachers

For some reason the teachers regularly picked on little scruffy vulnerable Eric, but no matter what happened to him - and he was often beaten at school - he never whimpered or cried. I thought he was so strong.

I was a year ahead of Eric, in the Headmaster's class. The class below that was taught by a severe elderly lady who gave great attention to her favourites from better-off families, left the bulk of us alone, and mercilessly picked on the poorer children.

Eric's 'crime'

As Eric pedalled through the rain on his old heavy bicycle, she overtook him in her car and, according to her, he wobbled because he looked backward at her, causing her to swerve.

The Headmaster's class was just about to start when this teacher brought the shivering soaked boy into the room, the water still running out of his leaking boots. She told her story, following which the Headmaster, a pillar of the local community and leading figure in the Church of Ireland, took a cane to poor wee trembling Eric.

Eric's beating

I knew what was coming and I was sick to my stomach - and silent. With the first 6 on the left hand Eric flinched but was quiet. The next 6 on the right hand brought tears but no cries.

This was worse than I had expected and my own eyes filled with tears. My heart pounded and I almost shouted aloud in protest, but conformance and cowardice choked me and stopped my mouth.

Then he was put out alone to the outside toilets across the yard with two final sadistic cane-slashes at the back of his cold wet bare legs.

'Will, don't tell anybody I cried'

The school carried on.

Ten minutes later I was sent out to bring Eric back to his class. He was shaking with deep racking sobs. He couldn't speak. Swollen hands and seared red weals on his legs. When he could, all he said was, "Will, don't tell anybody I cried".

I washed his face, cleaned him up and he walked pathetically and cowed back to the classroom, showing no signs of crying as a result of his trauma. But he carried the physical marks. Everyone had seen the brutal physical abuse. I alone had seen the beaten, crying, broken, shattered spirit.

That wee boy had no love, no respect, no standing, no protection, no hope. The only thing he had to cling onto for survival was a pathetic inner desperate defiance and determination that nobody should see him cry.

I never told that Eric cried sore. I never told. I never told anything.

Sin of silence

My sin was that I told nobody. My puerile weak defence is that I was only ten years old and anyway, this sort of thing happened all the time. God forgive me. I should have told my parents or somebody in authority.

Like most people, I have had my share of ups and downs in life, but the number of regrets I have are few; very few. Today, neglect in failing to intervene for Eric is my only regret that still has the power to reduce me to tears of shame.

That unhappiest day of my childhood materially influenced the way I have interacted with people ever since.

Who casts the first stone?

When the inflamed mob lifts its missiles of righteous anger to target all abusers and their protectors - with shame I remember my own silent sin. I may not be entitled to cast the first stone.

But when I think of Eric's long-dead tormentors I'll lift and let fly anyway.

To Atheists, Christians and Don't Knows at Christmas - From meek and mild Old Will

Folk are OK

My world-view tells me that despite the often horrendous acts of inhumanity that make media headlines, most folk want to be kind and helpful to others.

Perhaps the unseeing crowd rushes by uncaring; but engage one-on-one with any person, say to ask for directions or to wish them Merry Christmas and almost without exception they will give willing assistance or respond cheerfully. Goodwill is a characteristic of most people in our society.

Ho Ho Ho!

Pretty much everybody, whether they believe in God or not, participates in Christmas and enjoys the season which marks the birth of the man whose values "set the benchmarks by which we judge every aspect of human behaviour".

That phrase is borrowed from David Adams, writing in the Irish Times under the headline "Jesus gave the finest blueprint, whether you believe or not".

David Adams, on his own declaration, does not believe in God, but verbatim extracts from his powerful article eloquently explain the resonance of Christmas for everybody.

David Adams, December 17th 2009

I don't believe in God ........ However, I believe totally in the values that Jesus espoused.

........ I hold a concept of right and wrong that derives entirely from the teachings of and examples set by Jesus, and was passed down to me by my family, my church and, crucially, by the society to which I belong.

What Jesus had to say about how we should conduct ourselves and how we should treat others is in essence what we now think of as civilised behaviour. It follows that if a society is to be deemed worthy of being called civilised it must be underpinned by his values.

....... Most of what Jesus taught us runs completely counter to our natural instincts. Kindness, tolerance, compassion, forgiveness, concern for others, protection of the weak, fairness, understanding, non-violence, and so on.

....... When one looks around the world today, the sense is not just of humanity being far removed from the gospel of Jesus, but of something much worse. It is though we, in our arrogance, have determined that we no longer need his blueprint for humanity.

...... We should never stop celebrating his birth, or ever forget precisely why we are celebrating it.

Indeed.

Arrogance

I detest the arrogance of rabid foam-lipped fundamentalism. Whether it comes with an insensitive, guilt-inducing, Christian rant or with the cold, rapier-like, atheistic, faith-threatening thrust of Dawkins and Hitchins.

Either way, the outcome of this vicious religious or intellectual arrogance is hurt abused people. Either way, it repels me. Either way, they may win the argument, but they lose my respect.

But most Christians are not rabid ranters and most atheists are not fervent faith-killers.

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, one of the greatest English poets, was an avowed atheist, yet his iconic poem of the World War 1 era, "The Oxen", conveys the spirit of Christmas in words that resonate with believer and unbeliever alike.

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.

"Now they are all on their knees,"

An elder said as we sat in a flock

By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where

They dwelt in their strawy pen,

Nor did it occur to one of us there

To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave

In these years! Yet, I feel,

If someone said on Christmas Eve,

"Come; see the oxen kneel

"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb

Our childhood used to know,"

I should go with him in the gloom,

Hoping it might be so.

Perfection

For all of us, whether Christian, atheist or agnostic, in this world of ups and downs there is no such thing as a state of perfection; but there are intense moments of perfection - and Christmas is a time when they appear.

Be alert; recognise, savour and share the precious moments when they come.

Today, Old Will is stepping out of his Grumpy persona to wish you many Merry Christmas moments of perfection. And a Happy New Year. So now, my blog friends, post me a cheerful encouraging response and prove my point!

Budgets, Banks, Blame, Barbarians - Reflection for 2010

These penal cruel budgets. The Banks are to blame! - or are they?


Society's rampant blame culture infects us all. We just love to find a target for blame - provided that we ourselves are not in the crosshairs of the gunsight.


Reactions to the worldwide financial crash show that in general, individuals don't readily accept any personal responsibility. It seems we all prefer denial. The faults were nothing to do with you or me.


Well I for one am heartily sick of this shallow, self-serving, simplistic, scapegoating blame-game.

Misdirected unfair blame for the fundamental cause of the meltdown; whether from the rantings of red-top media lightweights, or politicians, or cab-drivers, or bar room bores.


The heavyweight "I told you so!" commentators like Robert Peston, David McWilliams and Vincent Browne, while providing insightful opinion on the unfolding drama, have also been guilty of focussing undue blame in the wrong quarters.



Since the problems emerged, without fixing on the real culprits, these whingers have blasted away at a wide and ever-changing set of lesser targets. They started with hedge funds, short-sellers, Northern Rock, currency speculators, fat cats, Sir Fred Goodwin, Lehman Bros, Bear Stearns, property developers, tax exiles etc.



Now after a year of this guff, their mixed stew of opprobrium has settled and coalesced into almost universal condemnation of "evil bankers". So, now we know - or do we?


Bankers are a tempting target, - and the banks have to shoulder their own responsibilities - but that they are the original cause of the mess is a complete misrepresentation of the true facts. Their actions were symptomatic, not causal.


The current negative portrayal of banking executives and employees is totally unfair to the thousands of good hard-working people who labour on in trying to provide an essential banking service to their customers. This, despite having to endure misplaced, insensitive, sometimes vicious, criticisms of them and their profession.


At worst, the crime of the banks is analogous to the barman who pours another drink for a drunk, or the server who sells a triple king-size hamburger to a morbidly obese person.
Bad judgement, yes; but it is clearly the personal responsibility of the customer as to whether or not the liquor and the burger is consumed and paid for.



In this whole sorry tale of financial mayhem, banking was merely a conduit and a tacit instrument of government; albeit in many instances a very badly managed, weakly regulated instrument.


Nonetheless, the banks operated competitively, and generally quite legally, within the overall economic ecosystem created by national and international government fiscal trading frameworks.


The undoubted disarray, inequities and abuses in parts of the worldwide banking system are certainly clear symptomatic effects of the catastrophe, but the root cause and original blame belongs to populist vote-chasing democratic governments - and their voters!


Cheap politicians buying your cheap vote in return for cheap money.

At the express impetus of the national political will of virtually every western democratic government, the banks conveyed vast amounts of uncollateralised credit to the spendthrift electorate.



In return, we as voters duly and gratefully put the Congressmen, MPs, TDs et al into their privileged positions of power. They loved it! And we loved it. Every last one of us. Vive la décadence!


We personally voted for cheap money - and got it. Basics weren't good enough any more.


Everybody turned up at the trash-filled consumerist trough for the intoxicating feast.
Today you have the inevitable hangover, as government budgets land the true bill on your mat with a thud.



So who is ultimately to blame? Michael Jackson said it. "The man in the mirror".
Take a look in the mirror. Stop blaming other people. Get over it. Move forward into 2010 - and the rest of your life.



Acknowledging, learning from and dumping your mistakes of the past and moving on will help your career and enhance your attitude to work performance. You'll also be happier.


And to make things even better, look for opportunities to help the hurting people who are much less fortunate than yourself. You have a responsibility there too.


When the Roman emperors needed to pacify the mobs, they offered spectacular games and massive entertainments, funded by their far-off plunder.



And the suckers bought it until the Barbarians were at the gate. Hail Caesar!
Sound familiar?

"Mental reservations" and the latest tiger collapse. The blindness of selfish arrogance

There is something about successful achievement in any aspect of life, whether sport or business or even religion, that encourages dangerous arrogance and an over-rated sense of our own importance.



Sure, an attitude of positivity and self-belief is a good thing. Indeed it is essential in order to succeed to any degree in any dimension of today's competitive world.
But there can be a fine line between its uplifting benign aspect and a destructive arrogance that precedes the fall of hubristic tigers, bishops or developers.



We all had a good run in the heady days of the Celtic tiger yet none of us are world-class golfers or zillionaire bankers or princes of the Church. But beware!
The reality is that the blinding effects of selfish arrogance can also apply to ordinary folks like you and me. With consequences that are never good.


My wife Swmbo - that's not her real name, it's just short for "she who must be obeyed" - looks after my own frequent trips to the naughty corner. For example, when I fail the dishwasher test.



There's a rule in our house (guess who made it up) that if you innocently open the dishwasher to put a cup or plate in - doing your bit to help in the house even though you are a pioneering hunter gatherer, Phg for short (she pronounces it pig) and it has just finished its cycle, you have to immediately empty it and put everything away neatly!


Another useful assist to my humility came to mind earlier this week when I was about to give a speech on selling to a group of business owners and I was being introduced to the audience in glowing terms.

As the hyperbole continued and my head was swelling with pride, it just flashed into my mind how my sweet Swmbo would interpret the introduction. Her comments are in brackets.


"Will McKee is one of Ireland's leading entrepreneurs (he can't even boil an egg) with a distinguished persona (if I didn't watch what he wears, he'd look like Forrest Gump) and lifetime reputation of support to all his colleagues (what about the dishwasher?). His easy unhurried approach (you must be joking!) comes from ......etc......etc....... (more home truths) ......etc.......etc." You get the picture.


Despite any short-term advantage that accrues through our own flights into selfish arrogance, its inevitable longer-term effect has serious consequences for our personal lives through damage to our careers, businesses and relationships.



Sometimes it goes to the extreme of a crack on the head with a golf club. He had a wife to remind him that worldwide fame is not a licence for infidelity.



Or a summons to the Vatican to be fired. He had no wife to remind him that a "mental reservation" is just a lie.

Courage and personal resilience - Failure is an incident, not an identity

My son John and I are directly involved in helping entrepreneurial enterprises cope with the current turmoil, but difficulties for individuals are not confined to the private sector. I am aware of many public sector employees who are also under serious financial stress due to their involvement in speculation.



On top of all the European property investment it is estimated that up to 10,000 Irish people are exposed, badly exposed, to the Dubai debacle and not all of these are "rash entrepreneurs".


Whatever our occupation, the core underpinning of effective response to current problems must be courage and personal resilience. Do not let an incident or incidents of failure swamp you.


This true story of an incident from some years ago when John and I were struggling to raise capital to save a business illustrates the point.


We were on the 16th floor of some of the most expensive real-estate in London, sitting in an oak-paneled boardroom at a massive table under crystal chandeliers.


The public school, Harvard-educated venture capitalist, whom I will call Henry, pried and probed in a very condescending intimidating way, but still John answered courteously and
capably to every question – except what proved to be the last.



“I recognise that your company has a strong IP position and the financial prospects look good. So good that we feel comfortable in considering an investment. But you failed to complete your last deal, so I have to ask myself ‘Why I should invest in failures like you people?’.”


John jumped to his feet, threw the pencil he was holding at Henry and, with passion, told him that, yes, we had failed with that deal, yes, we had failed at many things and yes, we would fail at many things in the future, but he was not going to sit there and let us be called failures.
We didn’t get the investment.



On the way down in the mirrored elevator, I assured John that I agreed with every word he had uttered and that he should never allow anyone to call him a failure, but: “Son, you shouldn’t have thrown the pencil at Henry”.
John looked me in the eye and spat out: “Will, I wish it had been a brick!”.



We failed to get Henry’s money, but we roared with laughter – and we were certainly not failures.


Failure is an incident, not an identity. Whatever your current personal stresses; remember that - and press on.

The Sultan of Bling - why Dubai matters to you

With Governments committing billions and trillions (whatever they are) to bailing out toxic banks, many people were of a notion that the worst was over.


In the language of the economists the world is now emerging from a U-shaped recession. Green shoots, world stock markets roaring ahead, everybody feeling better. Spend our way out of recession.


Well, hold up. Over the weekend proof has emerged that all is not rosy in Dubai, the small city-state which is the greatest exemplar of "mine is bigger than yours".


Biggest building in the world, biggest indoor ski-slope, biggest swimming pool, biggest hotel (7 star no less), shopping mall, theme park, airport, and biggest sweet shop for goodness sake.
Now it appears to be on the edge of producing, relatively speaking, the biggest financial crash in the world because of its fragile sovereign debt position.

The ripple effect of Dubai on confidence will affect international lending decisions and interest rates out of all proportion to the actual amounts of money involved.


Hey, Dubai is a long way away with its possible debt default being fairly inconsequential in the context of trillions of worldwide debt. A little sandy dot with a pile of essentially useless real estate bling. Does its hubristic economic collapse matter to me and my business in Ireland?


I think it does and I would advise you to take note and take early action. Now that everybody is getting a bit complacent, Dubai reminds us that recovery is still shaky.


When the downturn started to bite and borrowing was tight, remember how you made cuts in overhead, reduced staff, slashed expenses and focussed on cash flow?
Well, go into your business this week, take another hard look and follow it up with some hard action as before.


Oh, and at a personal level, delay your car change, take a much less expensive holiday, cut all unnecessary expense. Christmas is coming and here is Mr Scrooge already.


Do this and do it now! I have a feeling that in 6 months time you will be thanking me.

Cheats win at business - or do they?

Like most sports fans, I was appalled at Thierry Henry's deliberate cheating to put Ireland out of the World Cup. So today's subject is soccer - with a business angle.

In this blog I am borrowing heavily from some great thoughts given to me by Colin Reid of Consilium Technologies on the analagous comparison of players on a football team to the people in a business.

The strikers, Kevin Doyle and Robbie Keane (smashin' goal Robbie!), are your sales people, scoring goals / getting orders.

The defence, Kevin Kilbane, John O'Shea, Sean St Ledger, Richard Dunne (titanic performance!) and the great Shay Given, are your customer services/support team, not conceding goals / not letting the customers down.

The midfield, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Liam Lawrence and Damien Duff (brilliant game!) are your production/product people, winning the ball to feed your strikers / giving them good products to win orders, protecting the defence / delivering quality product that doesn't cause customer service problems.

Then there is Trappatoni's superb individual coaching (that is the job for the MD) and each player/person having to be the best they can be individually; as good a striker as possible but being a committed team player as well, i.e. when your team don't have the ball the strikers are aggressively tackling back.

Everybody comes back to help defend corners and defenders come up when you have a corner. So the sales people help out with difficult customer issues and your customer services people help out with sales.

The development of a football team is a good guide as to how a business develops. Starting out in the lower leagues is like starting a business in Ireland; then you get promoted to the premiership which in business terms is making it in the UK market; then competing in the Champions League is like being successful internationally.

The analogy plays out further in that the players who got the team its early success are not necessarily the people who will get them to the Premiership and the people who achieved promotion to the Premiership won't necessarily keep the team there, never mind win the trophy.

That rule applies to the Manager as well as the players, but football is demonstrably more efficient than business at making the necessary personnel changes in line with growth.

What about the cheating? Thierry Henry will be considerably richer and French football will make millions from his blatant openly-admitted action.

But despite my indignation, I do feel rather sorry for the sublimely talented Thierry in the "long game" of life and how he will be remembered.

Turning the analogy round, what first comes to mind when you think of the following business people who were superstar successes in their time?

Bernie Madoff, Robert Maxwell, John DeLorean.

We all lost the run of ourselves! So, what now?

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s classic grief cycle model of response stages to bereavement was created to help people cope with the most terminal of traumatic events.


Elizabeth’s 5 non-linear stages are; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. In essence, the sooner one can come to the point of Acceptance, the better.


By extended application, this simple yet powerful model may also enable many of us to understand and move on from lesser though extremely serious events or conditions in our business and personal lives. How about the fall-out from the international financial turmoil and closer to home, the demise of the Celtic tiger?


Almost without exception in Ireland, North and South, we suffered from and were severely damaged by a syndrome that I call “WALTROO” (We all lost the run of ourselves).


WALTROO-induced traumatic events are being experienced by people all over Ireland. Traumatic events such as losing jobs, houses, status, peace of mind, or stacks of money are tough to face, but it is essential to accept and then work with the new realities.


Elizabeth’s model can help in coping and moving on.


Denial – Get out of it!
• We are not among the richest nations of the world any more.
• In reality, we never were. (but we had a smashin’ time while it lasted!)
• If you can see green shoots anyway soon, you are colourblind or deluded.
• Lower your short/medium term expectations with regard to personal wealth and expenditure.
• Take personal responsibility for the money you spent (sometimes well, in fairness), borrowed (OK far too much), wasted (don't go there), misspent (apartments in Bulgaria? Crikey!)


Anger – Get over it!
• Bankers, politicians, Government, builders, developers; Grrrr! Rant! Grrrr!
• Blaming others won’t help you. You were delighted the banks lent you the money! You loved the ride, big-shot!
• You bought the houses, second homes, new kitchens, Armani suits, Jimmy Choos, long-haul holidays, tasty meals and you ran up the debts; so if you have a strong uncontrollable urge to blame somebody, blame yourself.
• Take personal responsibility.


Bargaining – Forget it!
• You can't stay in the old paradigm - the Tiger economy is gone.
• You can't be a big-shot any more - or even a middle-shot.
• Accept the truth that you are currently a wee-shot, and build from there.
• Attempting to bargain will only delay your emergence from the deep darkness of depression.
• Take personal responsibility


Depression - Won't fix anything!
• This is a natural, and probably inevitable, stage
• The toughest one to deal with
• Essential to get out of it, quick
• Be courageous, take personal responsibility


Acceptance - This is the only positive stage!
• Acceptance of personal responsibility is intensely liberating and uplifting
• Get here as quickly as you can
• Now, and only now, can you make real progress
• This is when you make the emotional adjustment to the new realities
• There is life after the Tiger!


The platitudes that go with times of trauma such as "time brings healing" or "look for a silver lining", while well-meaning are often hard to take, but they contain more than a grain of truth.


Elizabeth's model can help. How do I know? - I got smacked in the meltdown too!


By the way, if you see a grumpy (but otherwise generally happy) geezer with WALTROO tattooed on his forehead - that'll be me!

How to change someone's life

READ THIS SLOWLY

Kindness in life – Kindness in business

I love this true story broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland, where Sheila Quigley, a 70-year old lady from rural Ireland was reminiscing on a moment in time and an act of kindness that inspired her as a nine-year-old child:

“We always were sent to Confession on Saturday. I was on my own that day and I went into Confession and when I came out again the sky was very overcast and I just got down past the beautiful thatched house called Farthings, when the skies opened and the rain came dashin’ down. And you couldn’t shelter, so I began to run down the road.

And I was coming past Greenfields Estate and the door of the gate lodge was opened and a lady was standing at the door. And she said to me, “Come on in, wee McCallion”, she said, “you will be drooped to the skin, you can wait here until the rain goes over”. And she brought me in and she said to me, “Sit down there by the fire until you get yourself dried”.

She took my shoes and socks off and she dried my feet and she hung my socks up over the rack of the stove, and she took the bow off my hair and she dried my hair with a towel and then she combed it, and by the time she did that the ribbon was dry. She put it back in my hair and she tied it. Oh … she was just … the loveliest woman you could ever imagine!

She said to me, “Would you like a wee drop of milk?”, and I said, “Yes, please”. And then she gave me, not one, but two jam tarts. Now this was the war and one jam tart was a luxury but two jam tarts were riches beyond treasure.

But I sat, and I ... I was in heaven. And they were the most delicious jam tarts. A real treat to me. Whenever the rain went over, she put four jam tarts in a blue sugar bag and she gave them to me to take home to the rest.

And I went down the road and I thought I was in heaven. And I said to myself, “When I grow up, I am going to be kind and good and lovely like Mrs. King”.

SEQUEL

I used this story verbatim in a speech I made last year to Londonderry Chamber of Commerce. After the event, a young woman came up to me and said “ Mr McKee, Sheila Quigley is my aunt and I can tell you that she is the kindest, best and lovliest person anyone could ever meet”

What a tribute to Mrs King! What a lesson for how we can help the people we work with in our businesses and live with in our families.