Mark’s Message: The Last Thirty Five Years
I first made it into a newspaper many years ago. It was an innocuous article about work we were doing at the Formica factory in North Shields, UK. It was featured in the local newspaper whose pages were covered with stories of Newcastle United’s latest failure. I remember feeling strange seeing my name and quotes in print. People like me (I’m from salt-of-the-earth County Durham mining stock) only make it into newspapers at the start of ours lives and, depending on the circumstances, at the end.
My mother thought it was great and started to keep a scrapbook. It was a long time before she troubled page two. However, as the career developed she collected articles from journals, trade magazines and the odd newspaper feature.
When the Formica CEO job came about we moved to Cincinnati. This coincided with the digital age and allowed her to continue with a virtual scrapbook.
A career is a funny thing. It starts off as a way of providing for your family, and at some point it morphs into a crusade to prove yourself. However, as the twilight of a career looms you realize that the one thing you take with you are the experiences. Things you’ve seen, places you’ve worked and, most importantly, people you’ve had the privilege to work with.
My career has taken me all over Europe; we lived in the US and New Zealand, worked in Australia and travelled throughout Asia. The profits and share prices are long distant memories but the people and places seem to grow deeper.
I was often asked about my career and experiences and finally decided to put my mother’s scrapbook online. I have to admit to a lot of help from my friends at Pioneer who took to the project with an enthusiasm I have to admit not initially feeling.
We’ve tried to be honest and have covered the good, the bad, and the ugly of a far from perfect journey, but one that ultimately is my own. The people that have contributed to the last thirty five years, who I’ve learned so much from and who enriched the lives of all the colleagues they worked with are the real story.