Introduction

Like many young men in the early 1970's Mark's entry to the world of work was daunting. He had always worked as a youngster – Saturday jobs mostly – but summer holidays brought the prospect of full time work. He liked to work – he liked having money in his pocket – not that he could show any evidence of his earnings by the end of the school holidays!

Working in petrol stations, pubs and shops threw Mark in at the deep end as far as dealing with customers was concerned. Mark found that the general public were, in the main, quite easy to deal with but occasionally there were the difficult people and very difficult people!

It was also an eye-opener when it came to his co-workers! There were the lazy ones, the dedicated ones, the ‘I’m only doing this while something else comes up’ ones, the cheeky ones, the sly ones, the stressed ones, the dads (and mums), and other blokes just like him.

Mark liked to work and put maximum effort into all that he did, but sometimes fell foul of the existing working practices and even strange management styles.

As the years went by Mark began to realise that his early experiences were to be repeated and refreshed over and over again.

Keep reading as we discover how Mark progresses through his working life - what he learns (and re-learns) – his ups and downs – frustrations and achievements – and his conclusions.

We’ll re-live his youthful ambitions, his experiences in retail, engineering, construction, working in the head office and working away from home.

Mark will share his thoughts on management systems, IT, QA, Safety and training. We’ll see the board of directors through his eyes as well as the complexities of client management and customer engagement.

Judge for yourself whether you think business life has improved for the average manager or it is just the same as it’s always been!