Rowing It Alone
My organization employs about 600 people spread between various projects, residential homes, hostels and different office bases. It’s a once a year do to give us a free lunch, give out some awards and make sure we hear the latest corporate message.
Most of my colleagues try to avoid or resist going but I really like to go to the conference.
I love hearing the latest corporate Newspeak (last year the conference theme was “The Va£ue of Care”, this year it was “Going for Growth”.)
I like seeing people that I only see at staff conferences, who work in Anerley or Richmond or somewhere. I like hanging out with the little gang of subversive queers that can always seem to spot each other.
I like cringing at the attempts to entertain us yet deliver a message, usually by using planted actors or through forum theatre. It is so Legs Akimbo!
This year the motivational speaker was Debra Searle.
I found her fascinating, but not in the way I think I was supposed to.
Debra’s thing is that she is a go-getting entrepreneur. She’s only 30 or something but she’s already got a few businesses under her belt. But the thing that really defines her is the fact that she rowed single-handed across the Atlantic Ocean from Tenerife to Barbados.
She spoke for bloody ages but basically her story is that she and her husband entered a race to row across the Atlantic. They were the only man/ woman team (all the rest were 2 men) and she got a lot of stick from the other competitors about being a girl. Very soon after setting out, her husband freaked out and had to be rescued. Debra didn’t want to give up so she decided to go on alone.
It took her over 3 months and she finished a good 6 weeks after the last of the other teams, but she did it.
She told us a lot about how she coped with the physical and emotional trials and about the support over the satellite phone that she got from her team at home.
Her message for us was that you can achieve anything if you don’t give up, encourage each other and if you “choose your attitude”.
This message didn’t really have much impact on me but I can’t stop thinking about the part of the story when her husband has a breakdown and she chooses to leave him to it and bugger off across the Atlantic for the next 3 months. I’d be interested to know what you lot think but, putting aside the millions of other reasons why I wouldn’t row single-handed across the Atlantic, if my loved one had just freaked out, I would go home with them and make sure they were OK not carry on pursuing my personal goal. I just kept thinking, God, you are so different to me, I can't relate to you at all!
My other lasting impression from the motivational speech was the jaw dropping revelation that it cost £80,000 for her to row across the Atlantic and she spent £12k on her satellite phone bill.
My post conference message to my employers! Try harder, kayisgay won’t be motivated that easily!