Christopher Garnett was the only real ‘servant leader’ I have ever come across. The famous quote ‘The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, and the last is to say ‘thank you’ – in between, the leader becomes a servant’ could have been written to describe him. With Christopher at the helm, everyone knew what was expected. We were there to create the ultimate travel experience, and everything we did was about that, or we questioned why we were doing it. Simple but effective.

From Day One, he was visible. He seemed to know every one of the company’s nearly 3,000 employees personally. I certainly felt as if I had a ‘personal’ relationship with this smart, sophisticated, well-spoken yet down-to -earth man who had higher expectations of himself than he had of anyone else.

The story went around that soon after he took on the job of CEO, he had asked if there was an office available for him at King’s Cross. He lived in London, and head office was in York, so he wanted to spend one or two days a week in a London office.

‘We have been expecting this, Mr Garnett’ came the reply from a former Brtitish Rail manager, who was used to bowing down to the elite BR senior managers. ‘We have prepared an office for you’. This office was massive, with an ornate fireplace, special wallpaper and a large and imposing desk.

The story goes that Christopher (he didn’t like anyone calling him Mr Garnett or Chris) took one look at this office and said ‘You had better give this to someone much more important than me’.

He would collect rubbish on trains, never lost his smile and always had a kind word for every member of the tem that he came across. If things weren’t going well he would listen and try to change the way things were done. The customers came first, and the people who served the customers were a very close second.

Christopher Garnett asked me to apply for a job in training and development. I was successful, and that changed my life. He gave opportunities to many, supported and developed people, while not being afraid to have difficult conversations when they were necessary.

If I have ever been anything of a leader, in any area of my life, I learned the way to do it from Christopher Garnett, Jimmy Stevenson and John Davoren.

The post Inspiring People – 3 appeared first on Graham Frost.

When I work on the railway in 1979, I didn’t expect to find inspiration there. I applied for the job because my girlfriend wanted me to have a job ‘with prospects’. Little did I know that two of the people I would work with there would become my greatest positive role models. The first was Jimmy, a Chief Steward I worked with in the mid 1980s.

I was on standby one morning at King’s Cross. Jimmy came and asked me if I wanted a day’s work, and I went and worked with him and a team on a train to Leeds and back. I was immmediately impressed by how friendly everyone was and how everyone was working together as a team. It didn’t take me long to realise that Jimmy was at the heart of this. He was an energising force, always busy himself, leading by example. Although he was the team leader, no job was beneath him. I remember thinking at the end of that shift ‘That was the most enjoyable day I have had on the railway so far’.

A few days later Jimmy asked me if I would like to go and work on his team full time. I accepted immediately, and spent a very enjoyable year or so working on Jimmy’s team. It really was a pleasure to go to work. he always had a smile on his face, was professional (quite unusual on British Rail in those days) and fair. On the one occasion that I disappointed him and he had to speak to me about a misdemeanour, it was all over in five minutes, and we went for a pint after work as we usually did. My transgression was never mentioned again.

Jimmy trusted me to do my job, respected my opinion and helped me to grow and develop by suggesting that I cover his annual leave. That put me on the path to being a Chief Steward myself by the late 1980s.

Needless to say, when I was promoted, I used all the skills I had learned from Jimmy and managed to run a successful and happy team myself. Who are your positive role models and what did you learn from them?

The post Inspiring People – 2 appeared first on Graham Frost.

Part of my life story which is as yet unwritten involves what happened when I started to find some other ex-members of the fundamentalist religious cult that I was brought up in. This started to happen when I went on to the internet in 1999. Two of the people that I met were Gordon and Patricia Martin. They were a wonderfully loving elderly couple from Canada. I met Gordon first, during one of his frequent forays over to London and the U.K. The second or third time I met Gordon, he had his wife, Pat, with him.

Gordon had been born into the same cult as I was, in the 1930’s. He was around the same age as my own father, although he couldn’t have been more different. Pat was born a Baptist, I seem to remember her telling me. I have never met two more patient, understanding and tolerant people in my life than Gordon and Patricia Martin.

When my younger brother escaped the clutches of the religious cult in the early 2000’s, we decided to take a trip to Canada to look up a relative of our mother’s who had emigrated there in the 1960’s. This turned into a three-week road and air trip that took in several cities in Canada and I have many happy memories of that time. We started by spending two nights at Gordon and Pat’s wonderful book and music-filled apartment in Montreal. I remember Pat preparing the best nicoise salad I have ever eaten for us – I remember waking that first morning to the smell of fresh coffee and almond croissants that had been fetched from a nearby patisserie. I remember feeling really at home in that apartment. Perhaps it was the bottle of wine that was opened at 11.30 am – but no, it was the ability that the Martin’s had to make people feel part of their family.

I have felt part of that family ever since. Gordon and Patricia have six children, I believe sixteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. I had the privilege of meeting them all at their 50th. wedding anniversary celebrations in 2002, and I will be going to celebrate with them again in Montreal in July of this year. One very special person will not be there this time, because Patricia Martin passed away this weekend. I was privileged to know this remarkable woman, and if there were more people like her, and her husband Gordon, and their family, on this earth, the world would be a far better place, in my opinion.

So Rest In Peace, my dear friend Patricia Martin, my world was a much better place for having you as part of it.

The picture above is of the River Thames at Cookham. The last time I saw Patricia Martin we were walking along here together, with a group of friends going to have Sunday lunch at a pub in Cookham after a convivial weekend spent together at Maidenhead.

The post RIP Patricia Martin appeared first on Graham Frost.

Travelling back from a 4Networking breakfast meeting in Dereham this morning I was listening to the car radio where there was a discussion on Digby Jones’ latest idea to introduce young people into the workplace at 14 years of age. Once I had got over my initial reaction, which was ‘slave labour…’, I remembered back to my own experiences aged 14.

My mother had come home with some clothes for me that I found completely unsuitable. They were all that she could afford, as I was the eldest of six children and there was not a lot of money to go around. Being an independent lad, I asked my Dad to find me a job in the school holidays so that I could buy my own clothes. My mother never had to buy me another item of clothing and I had money of my own from the age of 14. I guess that wouldn’t be allowed nowadays, but I fail to see why not, as long as young people are protected from unscrupulous employers.

You can read more of this story in my new book, ‘Growing Forward’, which is available here

The post Working at 14 years of age? appeared first on Graham Frost.

I am very excited to be able to tell you that my first book ‘Growing Forward’ is now available to order online – at the moment in the U.K. only. As soon as I have ascertained how much demand there is from other parts of the world, I will be making arrangements to have copies printed in Australia, the U.S.A. and Canada. This will reduce the amount that readers will have to pay for postage and also hopefully reduce our carbon footprint a little too.

Alternatively if you are in the U.K. and you would like me to deliver my keynote speech ‘From Borstal to Business – It’s Never Too Late to Change Direction’ please contact me at graham@grahamfrost.com or call me on 07766 916317 and I will arrange to bring copies of the book to the speaking engagement to sell to your audience. I currently have dates available from September onwards.

It has been a fantastic journey writing this book and I have already had some great comments from friends and acquaintances who have bought and read the book over the past week. People are saying that the book is really honest, open and truthful, that it left them wanting more, and that it is really well-written and their expectations have been exceeded. I have been really humbled by this because I was not expecting such a great reaction! I’m looking forward to hearing your comments too, and thank you for ordering the book.

The post ‘Growing Forward’ now available! appeared first on Graham Frost.

It has been a very exciting last few days for me. I received the first copies of my book ‘Growing Forward’, which is currently available personally from  me, and will be available online and through other media during the next few weeks. I have just arrived at the end of my year as Division Governor for Toastmasters International, and that has involved attending a number of special occasions this past week. Friday evening saw me at the Grand Finals of the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge in London where I saw the best teenage speakers in London competing at the Speak Out Challenge Final – it was an inspirational evening – imagine 15 teenagers all delivering a 3-minute speech to an audience of 900!

Saturday I was in Aylesbury, partaking of afternoon tea and cucumber sandwiches (yes, really!) to celebrate Aylesbury Toastmasters 55th birthday – Aylesbury Toastmasters is the oldest established Toastmasters club in the U.K. and Ireland. My good friend Andrew Brammer was the guest speaker and we agreed, while drinking proper tea, poured through a tea strainer, that joining Toastmasters International was the best decision we had made in our lives as far as our personal development was concerned. On Sunday night I attended the Area 20 Toastmasters Gala Dinner in Watford, where I officially handed over the role of Division Governor to my successor, Ann Nunn. We were entertained by Malachi Talabi, the current UK and All-Ireland Public Speaking Champion for Toastmasters International and heard his contest-winning speech ‘Keep On Walking’. In the preamble to his speech, Malachi asked us if we were drains or radiators!

Now I have been asked this question before and I am pretty sure that I am a Radiator most of the time – in other words, I exude positive energy and have a ‘warming’ effect on people! I do, however, have the odd ‘Drain Day’, where I perhaps don’t feel so positive – what I tend to do on those days is keep myself to myself and find a way to recharge my batteries, ready to unleash my usual ‘Radiator’ self on the world again as soon as possible.

What would your friends, business colleagues and family say about you? Are you the sort of person that people want to be around – a Radiator – or are you one of those people who Drains the energy from everyone else when you are around? Which would you like to be?

The post Drain or Radiator? appeared first on Graham Frost.

Over the past few months, I have thought a lot about John Davoren, a man who played a very important part in my life. It was 1974, and I had left my family the year before. I had fallen into bad ways, and this had led me to be in trouble with the police. One day I decided that I had to separate myself from the circumstances that I was in, and after spending the night sleeping on Victoria station in London I decided to walk around the pubs in the area to see if I could get a job and a place to live. The first pub I went into didn’t have any vacancies, so I tried the next one. The landlord there was Don O’Toole, and he told me that he didn’t have any jobs, but he knew his friend in the pub around the corner was looking for staff, and he advised me to go and see him. That friend was John Davoren, and I went to see him. He gave me a job, and a home, on the spot. For that I am very grateful.

Not only that, but when my misdeeds caught up with me a few months later and I was whisked off to Borstal, John and his wife Pauline kept the job open for me and also came to see me while I was inside. I worked for them until 1977 and we parted company.

I recently contacted Pauline through a well-known social networking site and we spent a couple of hours chatting on Skype at the weekend. John unfortunately passed away in 2008, but I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to thank Pauline for what she and John did for me over 35 years ago. I will be dedicating my next book to John Davoren – a very special Irishman, who had a much more difficult start in life than I did, but always tried to do right by people.

Thank you John and Pauline!

The post John Davoren 1936 – 2008 appeared first on Graham Frost.

I’m really excited that I will have copies of my first book ‘Growing Forward’ available from next week. There is also an undercurrent of nervousness – ‘will people like it?’ ‘is it any good?’ going on, but overall I am looking forward to it coming out.

I was recently talking to a group of people about my story and it struck me that if a certain Irish gentleman hadn’t practically taken me in off the street and given me a job in London in the mid 1970’s I wonder what would have become of me. Of course, I had lost touch with him and his wife many years ago, but writing the book and speaking about my life has made me realise that I owe these people a lot. So, I decided, after nearly 35 years, to try to track them down. Yesterday, I hit on the right combination of words on my Google search and the lady’s name came up on Facebook. Fortunately, she had left her photo visible, and I was able to see that she was indeed the wife of the man who had given me a chance all those years ago.

Yesterday afternoon I sent her a message on Facebook, and she has replied. Unfortunately, her husband passed away three years ago, but I have been able to thank her for what she and her husband did to help me when I was in need.

What are you doing to help others, or are you only interested in helping yourself?

The post ‘Growing Forward’ is nearly here! appeared first on Graham Frost.

Well, I have just pressed ‘send’ and my first book ‘Growing Forward’ has gone off to be published. As late as yesterday evening, I was thinking that I still needed to make some changes, but there comes a time when you just have to be content with something the way it is, and the book will be available during the first part of July! I have enough material written for nearly another full book, so expect Book 2 before the end of 2011!

This week is a busy one! Tonight I am off to further polish my public speaking skills with a visit to Cornerstone Communicators, my Advanced Toastmasters Club. I am giving a speech, but I don’t yet know what the title is, as I will be given that when I arrive at the meeting this evening. I will also be given a character that I have to assume while delivering the 5 minute speech. Then I will have a few minutes to prepare something. This is how we challenge ourselves and have tremendous fun at our Advanced club. I have to confess that I am feeling rather nervous about this evening!

Tomorrow morning I will be up early to catch a train down to Enfield in North London, where I will be delivering a snippet of my keynote speech ‘From Borstal to Business…It’s Never Too Late to Change Direction’ for the 4Networking group there. This is also an opportunity to meet some business owners from the area and make some new contacts, and potentially friends too!

Wednesday morning finds me in Ely, Cambridgeshire giving a similar presentation for the 4Networking group there, and on Thursday I will be making another trip to London to visit Wembley Stadium as a guest of People 1st., the sector skills council for the leisure and hospitality industries. The occasion is a networking meeting to promote WorldHost Principles of Customer Service training, for which I am a Quality Assured trainer.

On Friday I am attending a Mind Chi’ workshop, and I will write more about that soon. In between all these engagements, I plan to start work on Book 2!

The post Exciting Times! appeared first on Graham Frost.

Well, the sun has shone on my birthday. I’m 55 going on 35 today, and I started the day off with a visit to the gym, 10 minutes on the exercise bike, 10 minutes rowing and half an hour on the treadmill.

I have been amazed by the number of birthday greetings I have received on Facebook today, there have been over 60 messages, and they are still coming in. I am very fortunate to have some great friends in many parts of the world. How did we ever keep in touch with each other before Facebook?

Today I have been working on the final edit for my first book, ‘Growing Forward’ – this will be completed tomorrow. The book WILL be out in July!

I also had some interesting telephone conversations about business, of which more later! Suffice to say that all the business connections that I am making at the moment are as a result of using my Passport Membership of  4Networking effectively.

I also had another two calls today about delivering my ‘From Borstal to Business…’ speech.

Tonight I am off to Cambridge City Communicators Toastmasters club to deliver a speech and get it filmed. If it’s suitable for human consumption it will be on You Tube in a few days!

Looking forward to spending the weekend with some special people – there will be a fair amount of celebrating going on there!

The post My Birthday Blog Post appeared first on Graham Frost.