Grumpy Old Pension Men

Today sees the start of me being filmed on a regular basis- albeit, it's to do with pensions!

I'm not sure I want to be called a 'Grumpy Old Pension Man' but it's a lot of fun. Check it out:

Link: Grumpy Old Pension Men

Pensions Rocks

Over two nights this week, the great and the good- and the musically talented- of the pensions industry have been gathering at a night club on Oxford Street for a battle of the bands. (Well done to Towers Watson who won on the night I was there. Although I though the Standard Life lot pushed them close with a great version of ‘Smoke on the Water’!)

And pensions really does rock! What started for me 34 years ago in the Clerical Medical & General Insurance Society pensions legal department has served me well. In those days, pensions really was a bit of a ‘backwater’, but I stuck with it, saw the light and got out of the legal department (apologies to lawyers reading this) and have enjoyed a great career. What I saw as ‘boring’ at the start of my career has ended up as anything but- challenging, political, front page, but never boring!

The reason for writing this then? It’s not going to be so much of my career from April. I will be stepping down as Pensions & Benefits Director at Mars and stepping into something new. A bit of church work, a bit of charity work in India, finishing my third book, a part time MA in Theology.... and, I hope, keeping a foot in the pensions industry with a trustee position or two. Anyway, no one is allowed to use the ‘R’ word. No retirement yet.

So thank you pensions, you really do rock. And thank you to all my friends and colleagues who have worked with me over the years at Clerical Medical, Bowring & Layborn, Swiss Life, EMI. EMAP, Brambles, ICI and Mars. Here’s to pensions continuing to rock (slightly more gently) for a good few years yet.....

The Law Of The Lid

“You can find smart, talented, successful people who are able to go only so far because of the limitations of their leadership.”

So says John Maxwell in his book ’21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership’. It’s the ‘Law of the Lid’. I may be good at something but if I can only do what I do without a vision as to how to apply it, grow it, achieve something with it, then my leadership lack limits my skills.

The most successful enterprises have skilful people who are also successful leaders. Their ability to grow the organisation means those who work for them also grow. The law of the lid again. If I grow, the people I work with have room to grow. If I stop, they hit the lid.

Pure Heart, Clear Head, Steady Hand

'We stay at our posts, alertly, unswervingly… in hard times, tough times, bad times….. working hard, working late…. With pure heart, clear head, steady hand.'

Paul writing to the Corinthian Church (2 Corinthians 6: 4-5, Message Version)

Follow Your Heart

"Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure; these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.

There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you. But someday not too long from now, you will gradually become old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic but it’s quite true.

Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped in dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart."

Speech to Stanford College from Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Computer and Pixar Animation

Slumdog Marley and Salmon in the Yemen

I’ve been travelling a lot recently. Both in the UK and to India, the States and the Netherlands. It’s a bit tiring and not as glamorous as it might sound. Airports and hotels begin to look much the same after a while!

But one of the advantages of travel is time to catch up on music, films and books. Slumdog Millionaire is a wonderful film. Its portrayal of the poor parts of India is very accurate. But most of all it’s simply a triumph of one poor boy against the system. And a great love story too.

‘Marley and me’ is a film we went to see as a family. I was a bit fearful that it would turn out to be a ‘Disney puppy story’ but the producer has been true to the original book (excellent too- by John Grogan) and it’s well acted. A bit near to the bone (excuse the pun!) as we lost our own Labrador just before Christmas.

You can see why Kate Winslet won the Oscar for ‘The Reader’. Beautifully acted. A fair bit of nudity though- you have been warned!

John Waller is a singer that my friends Holli and Andy introduced me to. Great lyrics. Sometimes you feel you are not where God would have you be. But what do you do with that time? Waller’s song ‘While I’m Waiting’ is a great response to such times:

I’m waiting on you Lord
And I’m hopeful
I’m waiting on you Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting
I will serve you
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait.

John Maxwell writes great business books. His latest, ‘Leadership Gold – Lessons I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Leadership’ is the best yet. He refused to write it until he reached age 60. Great wisdom.

And a wonderful first novel from Paul Torday. If you think Salmon in the Yemen are an impossibility, you have to read the book!

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 mountains....

Each day this week has been a mountain as I start my new job with Mars. I love it so far- but have a severe case of information overload! Inevitable with a new job I guess. Anyway, I’ll keep climbing…

Hello, I'm from Mars

Not many people can say that.

The paperwork was completed this week. From September I will be working for Mars as their Pensions and Benefits Director. I'm looking forward to it. So are the kids.... free chocolate rates better than discounted paint from my last job at ICI!

How the mighty have fallen

I’ve just walked from Baker Street tube station to Manchester Square for the last time. Or at least for the last time to the ICI Head Office. The office closes this weekend and I’m redundant from today.

I’m not sure the new Dutch owners have done a very good job of managing the acquisition, but I wish them well. For me it’s been a frustrating job, joining just 18 months ago. The clouds of being bought as a company gathered soon after my arrival and any worthwhile work stopped soon after.

I’m sure I’ll find another job, though I could have done without this after such a short time! What I will miss most is what I always miss on a job move- the people. Now scattered to the four corners of the job market, I hope to keep in touch with my former ICI colleagues.

ICI, once the ‘bellwether’ of British industry. How the mighty have fallen.

Pancakes in Paris

I had a job interview in Paris this week and went over early to walk around, enjoying coffee and crepes in the sunshine, by the side of the Seine.

I also visited Notre Dame. It was full of tourists of course, all very noisy, but as I sat in the church and prayed, there was a real sense of God’s presence. Even though the school children around me were so loud, it was as if there was a silence you could listen to as well.

The Bible talks about God speaking with a still small voice.

We live in a noisy world, one full of pictures and images. But God still speaks for ‘those that have ears to hear’ (one of Jesus favourite sayings).

Coffee with Fred the Buddhist

I had a coffee with Fred the Buddhist this week. He was very helpful.

I call him Fred the Buddhist, though I’m not sure he’d agree. But he believes a lot of that stuff, reads the books and is going to see the Dalai Lama in a couple of weeks, so I think I can legitimately call him that.

Fred works in the pensions industry and has a tremendous number of connections- very useful to me at the moment when I’m looking for a new job.

He sent me a book not long ago, applying Buddhist teaching to the stresses and strains of the workplace. It was very good, a lot of good ideas and stress busters in there.

The problem is, I can’t do it- follow what the book says, I mean. I could try. I might manage one or two of the recommendations, but I’m doomed to failure. You see, that’s the difference between Buddhism and Christianity. Buddhism says you can do it. Christianity says you can’t.

For example, I might be able to slim for a while, go out running every morning, practice some good life disciplines. But in the end, because it depends on me, I will fail. Unlike any other ‘religion’, Christianity starts from the point of failure. I’ve done things my own way and it didn’t work. So I ask God through Jesus to forgive me and my efforts and to take over. Then I can succeed!

I look forward to many more cups of coffee with Fred the Buddhist. And maybe I should send him a book or two to read…..

Necker Island

Amazing. I still can't quite believe it. In fact when the phone call came in, as it was April 1st, I thought it was an 'April Fool'- but it wasn't.

I'm a 'gold frequent flyer' with Virgin Atlantic and as such, am entered into an annual prize draw. And out of 4,500 others, I was picked out.

The prize? An all expenses paid week for two on Richard Branson's private island in the Caribbean, plus first class flights there and back. The island is called Necker Island and it's part of (of course) the Virgin Islands. We go at the end of September.

It's our 30th wedding anniversary this year, and I can't think of a better way of celebrating. I know we have a lot of friends praying for us right now, for a new job, due to redundancy. As one of our friends said the other day- this is God's way of saying 'chill- enjoy the break - I'm in charge!'

The God who lengthens bones and changes cities

Still buzzing with the excitement of an amazing time out in India, I got back today to learn that I am to be made redundant, with my company having been bought by a Dutch company.

One of the talks I gave in India was on the theme of the 'God who lengthens bones and changes cities'. Claudette, one of the team, had spoken very powerfully in one of the church meetings on the miracle God had done in her life, growing a bone in her leg by three inches after she and her mother prayed- it's quite genuine and the physio has verified it! I spoke on the story of Nehemiah in the Bible where God restores the broken down walls of the city.

So as I face another job search, I have the 'God who lengthens bones and changes cities' on my side. How can I possibly fail?!

Fear

Have you noticed that so many issues and conflicts are as a result of fear? The whole cold war was the States fearing Russia and Russia fearing the States. The same is true today with the West and Moslem countries. On a micro scale, how about us? A fear of open spaces, for example, leads to staying inside. A fear of the unknown leads to sleepless nights.

The new job has gone well. 3 days in, and i'm still there! Whats more, the fear of the unknown is no longer present. I can sleep at night.

Stepping off mountains

I don't know if you remember the old Indiana Jones movie where he's on a mountain side and has to step off into thin air? That's how I feel right now... In a few hours I start a new job. It's the middle of the night, I can't sleep and it seems to me that I'm about to step off a mountain into thin air.

But if you remember the movie, it's as he takes this step of faith, that a whole new path opens up in front of him. The Bible talks about God giving us a hope and a future. So as I step out in a few hours time, I'm trusting there's a whole new path to step on to. A hope and a future.

In the meantime, if I could just get some sleep....