FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Chapter 6 Putting the Pieces in Place

Fortunately, Ron had remembered to bring along the flask of sloe gin that he always takes on fishing trips.

never try to persuade him to do something if his heart wasn’t in it. So, he left to pursue a career as a racing driver (something I would love to have done at his age). I didn’t try to push my daughter, Joanne, into joining the family business either. When she joined, in 2003, I think we both thought that it was only a stopgap measure until she found something that suited her better. I had never put pressure on any of the family to get involved in the business. In fact, I might even have put them off, inadvertently. I had developed a tradition of leading a Family Outing around the Workshops or the Depots once a year to see what was new. The tradition was that this Outing would always happen on December 27 th and that tended to emphasise the cold, wet, and muddy aspects of our work, which don’t always appeal to young women – neither to Joanne, nor to my niece, Maria Pratt, who joined us recently. So, it wasn’t love at first sight for Joanne. But, probably to the surprise of both of us, the passion started to grow inside her. She started on the Marketing side, helping to co-ordinate the bids and proposals. Then she came to work as my PA, which gave her an insight into what I was doing. And as her curiosity grew, she got bolder, inviting herself along to meetings, and learning all the time. It was really the monthly Cost Review Meetings that got her going. We spoke a lot in the car, before and after these meetings, and I could see that she was forming an idea in her head. Then one day, she marched into my office and told me that there were a number of things we weren’t doing very well, and she thought she could do them better if I would let her. I didn’t say yes or no; I told her I’d need to see a business plan first. And when she came back two weeks later, her plan was good and I could see that she really meant business. The result was the Central

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