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MY FAVOURITE MENTOR
Page 9
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Even industry observers as experienced as our very own Brian Weatherly have their role models — and in his final thoughts of 2004 Brian offers insights from one of the greatest motoring writers of them all.
I've been thinking about mentoring lately and in particular my own favourite, Ken Gooding, the Financial Times'legendary motor industry correspondent. It was no idle boast that Ken knew all the major movers and shakers in the business; or that they knew him. And while he spent most of his time talking to car makers, I always felt he rather enjoyed roughing it with Her Majesty's Truck Press.
Ken's greatest skill was undoubtedly asking the killer question. On one occasion in the mid1980s he was standing just outside the scrum of reporters listening as one of the many "here today, gone tomorrow" senior managers sent over by General Motors to sort out Bedford issued a stream of platitudes about its future.
Ken's response went something like this: "That's not what Roger Smith [then boss of GM] told me in Detroit last week. He said if Bedford wasn't turned around in six months they'd close it." The poor bloke obviously knew Ken's message came from the very top, and Ken knew he knew it. After a suitably stunned silence came the response: "Well Ken, you know it's realty not as simple as that..." Oh yes it was.
I learned a lot listening to Ken ask questions like that— he could certainly spot the winners and losers of the automotive world. On the day David JB Brown took over Bedford I asked Ken what he thought his chances were of making a go of it. His answer was typically prophetic. "What worries me is that he's a man who hasn't experienced any real failure. And I think this will be his failure."
Ken once explained to me why he enjoyed his job: "It's like a jigsaw, watching all the pieces come together" But what I really miss is Ken's quirky sense of humour — often in the most unlikely places. Just before a major press conference he once leaned towards me as if to whisper something momentous in my ear. "Did lever tell you about the time I had dandruff of the eyebrows?," he asked. But then aren't all mentors supposed to be like that putting life into perspective for you?
"I always felt he rather enjoyed roughing it with Her Majesty's Truck Press"