TBK Tells- The things I missed the most – part two, my books

            My new mahogany bookshelves hand crafted by Rodel Furniture

For those who missed part one of this series- this blog is dedicated to Jane Frost, a friend of mine for 36 years in the UK. We were discussing how I missed so many of my possessions which were packed in Awali, Bahrain on 4 December 2021 and unpacked here in Palawan on 1.5.22. She asked me to let her know which I missed the most and why! Also, she wanted to know how I felt as I was reunited with them. In the first part of this blog I talked about how I missed my recipe books ( If you missed it click here The Things I missed the most- part one, my Recipe books )

My new plant, a gift from Landlady Maggie, has pride of place atop the bookshelves

Jane wrote to tell me she loved reading the blog and also shared some great news- she has been promoted to Director of HR Services for Road Chef. Who would have thought back in 1986 when Jane worked on the Training Calendar with me at Little Chef that we would still be friends after all these years and that she would become a Director. I hope you had a great trip to see your family in the USA Jane . Having had to wait for one year to move here to the Philippines due to COV19 I can only start to imagine how excited you must be to see your Pamakin ( nieces ) after 4 years.

       One of the first books I unpacked from Leadership Guru, Ken Blanchard

So while I was writing part one I realised that it was not only my recipe books that I missed- but also my other books that I have collected over the years. As I unpacked and cleaned each one I read the inscriptions in the inside cover and drifted off down memory lane. I decided that such special memories from my past needed somewhere special to keep and display them. When Mr Rodel and his family delivered my 6 seater dining room table I asked them to make me two mahogany bookcases for my office. We measured them exactly to take all my scrapbooks on the bottom shelf ( very heavy and wide) , my new folders on the next shelf, and then my books on the second and third shelves- leaving room for my ornaments, gifts, stationery etc. on the top shelves. Spookily , as I write this on 24.6.22 Rodel Furniture texted me to say my 10 CD storage racks and my new chopping board were now ready for collection - which you can read about in part three of this Blog series next week!

                     The inscription in the front of my book by Ken in 2007

So, Mr Gregory, here are the stories- and I know you will remember well some of the key players. Let us start with Mr Blanchard. Phil and I had the honour, and challenge, of training the Forte Roadside Restaurants Executive team in Situational Leadership 11 at the Swan Hotel in Alton in ( we think) 1995. It was then successfully cascaded throughout the business. 

When Phil could not remember the date I checked with Mark Johns, the guy whose idea it was to bring SLII to Roadside. He told me:

"We had started the SLII training for the HR team inn 1994 with Sue Newton at Banbury. We had a follow up planned at Matlock Bath, but that had to be cancelled when my position was made redundant"

Many years later I read that Ken Blanchard was in town ( London, UK) signing his then latest book "Leading at a Higher Level". My then Boss Mark Johns told me there would be a big crowd there and I might not even see Ken. I drove to London, parked and got to the venue early and selected a seat with a good view of the stage. A while later in walked the one and only Ken Blanchard. As I was one of the few people there he came and sat at our table and chatted away for 30 minutes. Eventually the venue filled and his agent rescued him and led him to the stage where he introduced the book and personally signed my copy. I still remember it today,  15 years later. I felt like I was a small child visiting Father Christmas as I sat with Ken while he signed my book and shook my hand. 

As I unpacked the book and dusted it the memories flooded back of all the "Blanchard" workshops I ran in so many businesses and of all the wonderful people Phil and I worked with , and socialized with , in the Ken Blanchard companies . Phil , Huw and I went to the wedding of then UK Sales Manager , Tony Dickson;  Garret Demarest flew over from the USA to train us:  Bill Foster joined us for the drive from Manchester to London for the wedding and we stopped for lunch at the Complete Angler in Marlow.  More recently in Bahrain I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Youssef Arraki, VP Global Markets, EMEA. I gather from my former colleague John Power , in Bahrain , that they have all, like me retired now. I hope they read my Blog! I am delighted that John is still delivering Situational Leadership programmes at the Oil & Gas Academy as part of ALP.

Somehow I mistakenly took a copy of this book from the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) at the Oil & Gas Academy in Bahrain - apologies!

Another Guru of mine for many years has been Dr Meredith Belbin. He wrote many books and produced a Training Video with Video Arts. Again I was lucky enough to meet him at the Video Arts Preview of the video where I hoped to gain some valuable quote from the wise man ! However his answer to every question was " Buy the Video!". I also had the privilege of being trained by and working with Barrie Watson from the Belbin team. We flew him to Bahrain where he ran a 2 day Team Roles Certification programme for our Oil and Gas Academy team . He also spent half a day ( and many hours of on line emails and videos ) with Zainab and I on how to use the Belbin Interplace system. Barrie emailed me as part of my research for this blog and said that it was sad that since I left Bapco has not used the Belbin Interplace system that Peter Conway and I invested so much money and time in , and like many other companies we hired to train the Oil & Gas Academy team the training has come to nothing. He said he was sure the LRC book would be put to better use here in the Philippines than left in Bahrain. Barrie, I share your frustration that after building such a good reputation for ILM and Belbin in Bapco and the other NOGA companies that it has faded to mothing since my departure. Thanks for your kind words as ever. 

Dr Meredith Belbin, Barrie Watson and Nigel Belbin at their 240th Birthday last year

I always like to have a little quiz with my Belbin delegates and the question is always the same- I show a picture of the great man ( Meredith, not Barrie!) and ask how old he is this year. In my research for this Blog I was in touch with Barrie ( now aged 81 Years) and he sent me this photo of Meredith and his son Nigel at their combined 240th Birthday lunch last yead.

So, if you want to wind a prize email thebritishkabayan@gmail.com with Meredith's age this year.

       My Leadership books and the scrapbooks containing my Bahrain memories

The final author that all my ILM delegates will be familiar with is David Pardey whose book , "Building and Leading Teams" was the course text on ILM 2 at the Oil  & Gas Academy in Bahrain. One year I wrote to ILM as usual to order copies for my students to find that David had left ILM and become an independent author. His first task was to update the text and we were the first 50 people to get a copy, signed by the author. In the box was an envelope with my name on and I found my own special copy which I have here in Palawan-many thanks David!

 
                            My signed book from David Pardey

I was updating the list of books I wanted for Birthday and Christmas gifts and dear Mr Gregory told me that as I was about to retire I should stop buying books on Leadership and buy books about retirement in the Philippines. As usual I took his advice and my first purchase was a book called " A man's guide to Life and Love in the Philippines" which, contrary to Evan's ( Evan who? That's business)  sarcastic joke " But this is about finding a wife Neil" has been well read!

               One of what I hope will be many new books on the Philippines

Having created a new list and with my 60th Birthday approaching on 18.9.2020 Mr Gregory emailed to say that as he and Diane could not get to Bahrain to help me celebrate ( due to COV19 British Airways cancelled their flight) he would send me 60 books for my 60th Birthday , from my list.

I quickly hobbled out of bed ( I was recovering from a hip replacement operation and off work for 6 weeks) and with the help of my houseboys threw out books I thought I would no longer need ( sorry Meredith, Barrie told me your book     would send me to sleep so I gave it to charity!) to make room for the new books.

We created 2 empty shelves and when we received notification that the parcel had arrived at Awali Post Office I sent Corleen and Jake to collect the heavy box. Mr Gregory, when he heard of all these antics , was laughing so much he split his sides! The 60 books were on a Kindle, which, in his memory, has its own shelf on my new book case here in the Philippines. As I approach my 62nd birthday it is still unused! I am sure one day someone will teach this old dog a new trick - how to turn it on.

      My new Kindle with 60 books on , a 60th Birthday gift from the Gregory's

Before I end this blog my special thanks to my fact checkers, John Power in Bahrain; Phil Gregory , Barrie Watson and Mark Johns in the UK. Thanks also to Rodel Furniture for my amazing bookshelves ( and dining table and chairs and bedside cabinets, and 10 CD racks and my marvelous wooden chopping board which they presented me with as a free Gift today) . If you ever need any furniture making in Palawan then please contact them. 

Having broken two plastic chopping boards cutting chickens into 10 pieces I needed something stronger- special thanks to Rodel Furniture for my wonderful gift- a very heavy wooden chopping board!

Next week when we will be looking at my final thing that I missed while it was in storage- my CD collection!  

This is "The British Kabayan" signing out

As is traditional here in Tagalog- 

Ingat Palagi and Kita kits