[2108]
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
My career has been something of a voyage of discovery, or as the title of the collection suggests a Dance Through the Fires of Time. It certainly has been quite adventurous, indeed dangerous, at times. It has also ranged over a wide spectrum of different roles, from salesman to international diplomat, and across a variety of industrial sectors, from FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) to government. As such, a question that has been asked of me and I have asked myself is: am I a...:
9117 Dilettante or Generalist?
In truth, my CVs show evidence for both of these:
9994 David Mercer CV
2000
9138 Personal P & L
9302 Illness & Fate
Nothing like this could have been predicted, even as late as when I went up to university. At that time I was still aiming to be a practicing physicist (preferably even an astrophysicist) , though I was starting to have second thoughts.
0079 Scientist my future career mapped out in the sciences.
00137 Rockets - especially in this field which, as the space vehicles of the future, fascinated me
0170 RAE - at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, as my first (gap
year) full time job.
0154 Government Research but my work was on computer circuits
0128 Physikalische Technische Bundesanstalt - and in Germany it was on the
Hall effect
How different was to be the eventual outcome! It might have looked as if my change of career came about because of my poor results in Physics. In fact the reverse was true. By the time I had reached Imperial I had already decided to do a second degree in Economics and pursue a career in this field. When, in fact, I realized I couldnt do this, and had to wait to take up my place at Harvard Business School, I went into marketing as it was at the leading edge of business practice. Partly because advertising was then at the leading edge of marketing and more pragmatically because it was the most suitable job on offer I joined FCB in a positive move.
0136 Graduate Recruitment & FCB (0136T*)
In fact, my job at FCB was a very junior one. On the other hand, the next one a brand manager at PST offered unique experience of being a powerful (project/networking) manager. Despite being fired from it, because I applied for my own job, it set me on my high-flying career in marketing.
9268 PST - Phillips Scott and Turner
(9268T*)
0157 Brand Management at PST
Even so, having been fired, it took me some months to find the best job:
0135 Jobhunting in 1966 & Westons Biscuits
But the job at Gallagher's which I switched to soon after joining Westons, was just about the most satisfying private sector job I ever enjoyed. In it I was able take my brand management role to its ultimate achievement; as, in effect, the managing director of an incredibly successful brand and all in my mid twenties!
0111 Gallahers training
0177 Tobacco Division
0197
Condor to brand leader
0105 Gallahers market research
0146 Condor advertising
0126 Gallahers Commercials
But all good things come to an end, and my next job at Cussons though with a more important sounding title turned out to be not as powerful as it had appeared and was hindered by poor management before it was swamped by politics.
0107 Cussons
0145 1001 Dri Foam
0175 Cussons sales force
0167 McCann Ericsson
0169 Cussons - financial madness
0115 Fired Again
My subsequent job at BTR was the most powerful I ever held in the private sector. It was, in all but name, as a main board director of a major multinational conglomerate - while still in my late twenties. As such I was responsible for everything that happened in my division, with £8 million turnover and 600 employees in two factories. I loved the responsibility but once again hated the politics which once more saw me being fired!
0151 BTR -- British Tyre and Rubber
0127 Polymeric Production (boots)
0101 BTR moulding shop
0183 BTR new products
0189 BTR management
(0189T*)
0160 My Week & BTR production control
0158 BTR politics and no hope
Having, almost, reached the top of the management pyramid and been disillusioned by what I found there, I then effectively went into retirement; taking a junior position in what was then the most successful corporation in the world. Even so, although my title never reflected the fact, over a decade and a half I was given progressively more significant amounts of responsibility - across an amazing range of senior roles in both line and staff functions.
0143 The Advantages of Working There
0162 Sales Enthusiasm & Learning
0165 Account Management
0153 Teaching
0163 Business Education
0244 GSD Education
0220
GSD Business School
(0220T*)
9120
LBS Teaching
0246 GSD Marketing Group
0255 System/38
0209 IBM 5110
0181 Terry Osborne
0224 Joining Biomedical
0134 Biomedical Entry
(0134T*)
9181 Biomedical - Medical experience
0131 Biomedical Research
0213 Demise of Biomedical
0219 IBM Corporate Strategy Group
9126 IBM Exhibit
0193 Exhibit 2
9131 Exhibit -- Corporate Entertainment
Although after a decade and a half once more it all ended in tears, it provided the subject material for my first published book and set me on the path to being a successful author now, as you will realize, my favourite pastime.
9412 IBM Book Chapter 1 - Introduction
9104 Author 1 Publishing
9165 Author 2 - Writing
My last career, as a university academic, was very different from the earlier ones. But it was one I should, perhaps, have followed much sooner. Academic life, at least in the earlier years, suited me down to the ground.
9180 OU 1 - Starting at the Open University
9124 OU4 - The OBS Family
(9124T*)
9179 OU14 - Head of Centre -- Strategy and Policy
(9179T*)
This was especially true where it involved both managing a course team and writing teaching units.
9119 OU 2 - Marketing Courses in Maintenance
9132 OU 3 - The New Marketing Course B732
9128 OU5 - The Start of B885
9192 OU12 - Writing B885
And, when I eventually got to it, my research was intensely fulfilling.
0387 Future Observatory 1 - The UK Millennium
7227 - Proposal - Futures Observatory
9109 Futures Observatory 2 - And the European Commission
9118 Future Observatory 3 The US Millennium Project &WFS
9106 Future Observatory 4 United Nations and others
9172 Television and Radio
The resulting papers are respectively included under 2012 MARKETING MATERIAL and 2018 FUTURES RESEARCH
With this work I was after another frustrating 5 years able to gain my PhD; but not until two weeks after my retirement!
7174 PhD - Reducing Uncertainty 1 Abstract,
List of Included Publications, Introduction,
Background
7187
PhD Reducing Uncertainty 2 - Context and Initial Field
Research, Simpler (Corporate) Scenario Forecasting,
Robust Strategies, Global
Scenarios, Applications
7120 - PhD Reducing Uncertainty 3 - Hypothesis of Aggregated Expectations,
Government (Global) Action,
Conclusions, Appendix -
Research Methodologies, References,
Acknowledgements
Even so, the climax of my career undoubtedly had come a decade earlier, in terms of my key role as an international diplomat in Ethiopia. It is true that this initially came about as a result of pure luck, but I believe I then was remarkably successful in this role; as the evidence shows:
9196 OU15 - Ethiopia -- The Decision
9149 OU16 - Ethiopia The Dinner Party
9157 OU17 - Ethiopia - The Minister of Defence
9122 OU22 - Ethiopia- The Triumvirate
9108 OU23 - Ethiopia -- History
9164 OU24 - Ethiopia The Tigrayan Family in Government
9105 OU26 - Ethiopia -- Go-Between
0388 Report to Ambassador
9146 OU27 - Ethiopia - Civil War Again
9161 OU29 - Ethiopia -- The New Famine
9103 OU31 - Ethiopia RTZ
9107 OU32 - Ethiopia -- Commercial Development & Eritrea
9167 OU35 - Ethiopia SIS/MI6
0374 - SIS 2 Secret Intelligence Services - Ethiopia
I believe that the years I spent working with the government there, on behalf of the FCO, were the most productive I ever spent in any role; not least since it is arguable that my interventions saved tens of thousands of lives, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of lives.
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