January started late, I took some days holiday with the family in North Wales in an amazing Georgian mansion, the one-time home of a branch of the Tudor family, i.e. Henry VIII et al. Restored to some of its former glory in the 1990s, it was acquired by a rock impresario who sadly passed on before he could have years of enjoyment.
The house is sited in an area of natural beauty near the Snowdonia National Park, so with various branches of the Evans family, I was able to revisit sites my father had taken me to see 50 or more years before. The weather was kind to us and much exercise was taken in the mountains. Nearby to the house was part of Offa’s Dyke, a Saxon king’s attempt to keep the Welsh in Wales; another monumental government failure like many great walls.
Emotional Indulgence
In mid-January I had been invited to go to Jordan to receive an award on behalf of Grass Roots. I get many invitations to visit places and have so little spare time, I rarely accept. In this case it was irresistible. The time was tight, out on a late flight, arrive in Amman at midnight. Get driven to the south to Aqaba with a 7am start, deliver a speech in the evening, contribute to a seminar on Sunday morning and then my reward – a visit to Wadi Rum.
Well, nothing could have prepared me for the total joy of the weekend. My nice driver had been briefed to take me to Petra – one of the wonders of the world. My private guided tour was breathtaking and I would recommend you put Petra on your list of places that you must see. So after several hours of this amazing place, off again in the car, across mountains sprinkled with snow, to the Port of Aqaba at the tip of the Red Sea.
The evening banquet and prize giving was delightful, his Excellency the Minister great company and in my speech I confessed the reason for me being there. When at school I was top in 11 subjects in one year. I got lucky. In those days you got a book prize and could choose the volume from the big book room laid before you. Even after some rapid negotiation I was told that being top in 11 subjects did not entitle me to 11 books – my first lesson in the art and science of recognition.
The one book was uprated to two and I chose carefully. The first volume was by Lord Mount Evans. As a young naval officer he went with Scott to the Antarctic on the ill-fated expedition. There were two Evans’ on the trip, one died with Scott, the other survived to become an Admiral in the British Navy and write a book. So I have yet to go and see for myself, but it’s on my must do list.
The other book was the ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ by T E Lawrence, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ to those less familiar with the man. It is 50 years this year since the film of the same name was released and Steven Spielberg credits this movie as the inspiration for his choice to become a movie maker.
For me T E Lawrence is the ultimate romantic war hero. A real live hero with a great brain and fascinating history. He crossed the desert and helped ferment a revolt against the occupying forces of the Ottoman Empire and a legend was created. If you have seen the mighty movie you will remember the vast sweep of director David Lean’s vision of the desert – that is Wadi Rum.
My prize was lunch in the desert and a four-by-four tour, with my camera never away from my hands. Magnificent, magical and yes inspirational, my cup of joy runneth over in a historical sense.
Reflections of Change
One of the trade journals asked me to do a short piece to reflect upon the changes in our business. The magazine’s editor (and proprietor) has been in business for 25 years in March and we had lunch reflecting upon the passing of trends and characters. It will pop onto our website sometime in March so I won’t repeat the messages here, save for one key idea.
It is a book recommendation . The author is Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Lebanese by birth, so there is a link with the Middle East story above. Taleb’s book is called The Black Swan. It is about the extreme impact of certain kinds of rare and unpredictable events and mankind’s tendency to find simplistic explanations for these events retrospectively. We all do that and we all plan in the hope of coping with the unforeseen.
I have always been happy to accept and embrace the random nature of our life, seeing where I can the opportunities such things may present. So in the year 1987 when the trade journal was created by my friend Martin, who could have predicted that a meeting between Gorbachev and Regan would precipitate the fall of the Berlin Wall? Or the stock markets of the world plummeting on so called Black Tuesday? You cannot prepare for everything, other than to always be prepared to act.
Many Happy Returns
On this day February 1st 2012, I will have sent out a record number of notes regarding length of service of Rooters and I will be doing a presentation to one of them at lunchtime. This year is the year 4710 in the Chinese calendar, it stared a week ago and it’s the year of the Dragon, an auspicious symbol for power, good luck, success and happiness.
I get a number from our payroll team periodically. The number is the total length of service in Grass Roots of all of our people around the globe. It is now a staggering 5307 years. Well that’s a black swan; an event totally unexpected by me when I named the company. I did not plan for that, it’s an unforeseen event and to me a great joy.
Today is the 9th birthday of my daughter Tilly, her excitement at the thought unbridled on her way to see her friends. We were out at the Grass Roots Court Theatre over the Christmas break and she was asked by a member of the cast “would she be following in her father’s footsteps?” Her answer was “No”, she had other plans. She is a bit too young to read Black Swan. Later perhaps.
Fraternally
David
