I’ve got a ton of blog content all of a sudden so you’ll be getting a double dose this fortnight. Chronologically, I need to keep you all updated on LBS shares. We had our second instalment last Wednesday, and once again, the team managed to source a wonderful array of speakers from across the LBS community. I am beginning to suspect that the job is not actually that hard, the school is just populated with so many people who have enjoyed some frankly bonkers life experiences.
Firstly, the excellent Conrad Woodring spent his speech illustrating the highs and the lows of working and living in Gabon for two years.
As a lengthy aside, Conrad had a background in infrastructure, and before we got anywhere near the African continent, he showed us an image of an oil refinery somewhere around the Gulf of Mexico. I bring this up because, oddly, the miles of steel stretching out to an endless horizon had a certain romance to it. The thought that struck me was about how many people, families, lives were touched by that expanse of metal and concrete and steam. It brought home the marvel of ‘industry’ in its simplest sense – the ambition of humans to marshal themselves in the thousands like ants to build this epic construction which in turn powers the day-to-day lives of many millions. Are these edifices our era’s pyramids? Or perhaps those were yesterday’s pyramids, and today’s pyramids are intangible, digital and financial monuments. Anyways, I digress.
Conrad described life in Gabon: snakes, eating pangolin (an anteater-thing which tastes awful, apparently) suffering from dengue fever, and receiving death threats. As you do. More importantly though, he told us about the ‘Agence Nationale des Grands Traveux’ – ANGT, a newly formed government department tasked with more efficiently and transparently managing the government’s infrastructure spend. Conrad’s tale became a lesson in public sector reform and encountering corruption. He attributed much of the ANGT’s success thus far to the crusading agenda being driven by the new president, a sign of the good that can come from strong leadership.
Our second speaker was a member of staff, Miriam O’Regan. Miriam’s share was part travel guide, part memoir and part call-to-arms, as she related her myriad experiences of volunteering in both Nepal and Thailand. She was passionate, funny and charming whilst she brought home the pathos with photos of the orphans, prisoners and elderly who she shared her time and support with. Her stories were another reminder that there is a world outside the ivory tower – the aspirations of some of the children she taught were to be teachers and nurses, because the children wanted to help others. It’s a truth that altruism is not a middle-class, western conceit.
Finally, the last share, I’ll keep short and sweet – mainly because I’m not sure any words can do justice to my feeling of amazement. Fergus Davidson, one of the Masters in Management, took us on his journey to the North Pole… to play rugby there. The purpose of his incredible trip was to raise money for the rugby children’s charity Wooden Spoon. Not only did he hazard the harsh conditions of the arctic, treat us to some hauntingly beautiful images of the remote tundra, he also casually raised £50,000 for the whole endeavour. I was left wondering whether to be more impressed by the feat or the fundraising!
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Nov 20
20 Oct 2015, 09:17
Good luck!
