20 Feb You are responsible for your patch.
Blaise Brosnan At Ferrycarrig Hotel
by Jack: Business Lessons From Life, Life Lessons From Business on Monday, 23 May 2011 at 13:56 ·
Journalist Michael Freeman wrote a review of Blaise Brosnan’s speech to businessmen and women in the Ferrycarrig hotel.
Blaise Brosnan, ceo of the Management Resource Institute was talking at the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford at a breakfast meeting organised by the Wexford County Enterprise Board and Wexford Owner Manager’s Network this week where they launched his new book ‘You are the Limiting Factor – Unlocking your true business potential’. The book is published by Outside the Box publishers, Naas, Co. Kildare.
Blaise explained the recession and recovery in metaphorical agricultural terms in a rich native Kerry accent to the sophisticates with the modulated accents present from the leading businesses and banks who would hardly know the difference between a bull and cow. He now advises many of them how to turn around their businesses.
Sheep
He asked his audience: “What will sheep do if they face a gap and one goes through the gap?”. One intellectual shouted up “All the rest will follow”. “Exactly”, said Blaise. “The early adopters, or the leader sheep, have already gone through the gap,” he reasoned,” and they are going to gain on the upturn in the economic cycle, which I predict will be faster than the economists think as statistics are usually up to six months out of date. To move the sheep, you’ve got to get one to move first. But then when the entire herd ( or should that be ‘flock’) arrives, it’ll be too late”.
Wall of Money
“There’s a wall of money out there and it’s going to move.”
Business
“We all should mind our own patch and ask what can I do enhance my output so that I can write an invoice for that.”
Cowboys and the Recession
“One good thing about this recession is that cowboys need to suffer. We have all acquired a lot of fat and this recession is going to get rid of a lot of the cowboys.”
Cattle
But the metaphor that caused those present to ponder reflectively was his reference to ketosis , a disease in cattle. “If you look into a cattle shed and if there’s a sweet smell during the feeding season the cattle have lost a lot of body weight as their diet was poor. In other words they were living off their body fat. There’s been a sweet smell in lots of businesses over the last 18 months or so. Any business that came into this recession with some fat built up is burned off at this stage.”
His book is littered with similar metaphors:
Cows
“The successful people that we see out there are not sweating; they are working their heads. We are all creatures of habit, just like the cows coming into the milking parlour one at a time in the same rotation.”
Bacon and Egg
“There is a link between the bacon and egg and the concept of commitment. The pig is more committed since he must die to give the bacon. The hen just naturally drops the egg, moving on to new pastures.”
Rabbits
“If you went out at night into a field hunting rabbits how would you bag the largest number possible? Snare them? Lamp them? Shoot them? It is important to remember that you have one lamp, a field full of rabbits and you want to come home with great number of them. The correct answer is to hunt just one at a time. This will give the most beneficial results. If you go out with your lamp all over the place, trying to catch them all, the rabbits will scatter and you won’t catch any. However, if you go out and focus in on one, kill it, focus in, kill, you will come back with a bag full. Act like a sniper.”
Horses
“It is a physical impossibility for a jockey to ride two horses at the one time. Imagine the pain if they start to run in non parallel lines. “
Cattle Fairs and Tanglers
“For those of you who have never been to a cattle fair and stood behind a bullock to sell him, you are missing something. Everything you wanted to know about business you could learn at one of these fairs. The very same games are used when you are buying or selling your business. You have a buyer on one hand and a seller on the other side and tangler in between. Nowadays the tangler comes with a collar and tie and a brief case. In the old days, the tangler was the guy who moved around in the shadow sensing where the weakness might be and then moved in to bring the parties together and negotiate the deal. The deal was confirmed by the spit on the hand and the ‘luck penny’. There was no signing of papers. It was all finalised over pints in the local pub later, with the tangler getting his cut – often from both parties to the deal.”
The Farmer and the Bank manager
“Paddy… the farmer asked the bank manager if he was worried about his account. The bank manager was worried. Paddy went over and shook the manager’s hand. “There’s no point in two of us worrying”, he said, and he walked out.
Denis Brosnan, former ceo of Kerry Group, Philip Lynch, ceo, One Fifty One plc have given testimonials on the cover of Blaise Brosnan’s book “You are the Limiting Factor” extolling its advice in glowing terms. They must know. Their agricultural backgrounds have taught them how to run successful businesses and make money even in a recession. Every entrepreneur , would-be entrepreneur and MBA student could learn from this book. Blaise Brosnan is former regional chairman of the IMI and is a board member of Wexford Festival Opera.