A Few Rotten Apples

It’s the time of year when I am supposed to write something inspirational.

As I pushed my trolley around a superstore run by a company with accounting challenges I was not feeling inspired.

What is there to feel good about when you earn a living providing training to the banking industry? Will anything really change? The FX rigging fines really did cause me to question whether we are dealing with a few rotten apples or maybe something that is much more corrupt.

As I queued to check out I was struck by how beautiful a new born baby looked asleep in her pram. My temporary pleasant thought was disturbed by the notion that this new human could be destined to missell, mislead and be missold to in years to come.

My mind turned its attention to the most inspired training programme I ran this year. It involved my almost 90 year old father. He was born in a small village in Italy. Trained as a shoemaker he immigrated to the UK to pursue my mother and ended up working in the West End making shoes for famous artists such a Pavarotti, Jagger, Tom Jones as well as many blushing brides. This man took great pride in his work and its quality.

What on earth is my father doing associated with a training programme?

I was commissioned by a well-known bank to reacquaint its staff with the notion of “customer”. The notion of people who need to be provided with a service. The notion that banking products do serve a purpose in society.

My father acted as a powerful symbol that people work hard to produce goods and services. He acted as a symbol that without collaboration with other people these goods and services cannot be delivered on time and in a manner that serves society as a whole.

This training programme has been delivered to about 60 delegates to date and has helped make a strong connection between these peoples’ day to day working lives and the customers they serve.

I have come to a conclusion that perhaps there is cause for optimism as we head towards 2015. I think that rotten apples will always exist.

Our challenge is to make sure that they do not contaminate the innate positive human spirit that we are all born with.