Over the past year I found myself having to review my CV after a hugely challenging year in 2016 and I took some time to really appreciate some of the amazing things we have managed to achieve.
My career in the broadcast industry has been exciting, invigorating, stressful at times and constantly changing. I realised some years that being versatile and having the ability to adapt to pretty much any situation is a hugely important skill to have and one that should be highlighted and embraced. I also found, almost by default, that Change Management was something I had a great deal of experience in and thanks to various mergers, acquisitions and the occasional headline in the newspaper suggesting that, in one particular case, a memorandum of understanding had been signed and a new company was to be created. Reading it in the newspaper whilst broadcasting live on that particular radio station was something of a shock as it had not been communicated internally to our team. What followed was tremendously exciting, very challenging, gratifying and hugely rewarding in the knowledge that the hard work meant that my team would all have the chance to shine. Working hand in hand with the Human Resources Director we created a brand new network and I was given a blank canvas to build a new radio network from the ground up and months later Gulf News Broadcasting was born.
Some years before that I found myself working with a fantastic broadcast group in the UK. This company really invested in its people and we all benefited greatly from the training, experiences and challenges that were thrown at us. It's here where I was introduced to the concept of Brand Planning and creating new brands in the radio landscape. I have sworn by the Brand Plan ever since.
It's important to note that in 1992/3 I vowed to venture out in the media world and had made a promise to my parents that one day I would establish a radio station for young children. How did I make that decision.. The event that sparked my desire to launch such a set up for children was one that was extremely complicated, incredibly upsetting and impacted the world of child protection forever. The murder of 3 year old Jamie Bulger affected me greatly and when my father sat me down one day in 1993 to ask what I wanted to do for a career, the answer came to me immediately. You see at that time in my life I was contributing as a volunteer at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, such magical place full of wonderfully dedicated staff. It is here where I realised that for every negative event in life there is ALWAYS a positive to follow and I have lived by that mantra ever since. Little did we know just how much we would depend on that mantra in 2016, more on that at a later time.
In 2014 the dream to establish a radio station for young children and families was realised and on the first day of broadcasting live I wrote to Jamie Bulger's mother,Denice, to let her know that the concept of the children's radio was dedicated to Jamie. Denice replied almost immediately, it was amazing.
Establishing the children's radio brought with it all kinds of challenges and protocols which I may share briefly in a seperate posting. Needless to say embracing change proved to be extremely important and studying the psychology of acquisitions and mergers and being culturally sensitive was very important.
The biggest change that was thrown at me from thin air is what I will share in my next blog post.
If you are currently going through some kind of change in your workplace and you have some concerns about what may lay ahead for you I would be delighted to hear from you.
Whatever you do and wherever you do it be sure to embrace change and 'Go for it!'
My career in the broadcast industry has been exciting, invigorating, stressful at times and constantly changing. I realised some years that being versatile and having the ability to adapt to pretty much any situation is a hugely important skill to have and one that should be highlighted and embraced. I also found, almost by default, that Change Management was something I had a great deal of experience in and thanks to various mergers, acquisitions and the occasional headline in the newspaper suggesting that, in one particular case, a memorandum of understanding had been signed and a new company was to be created. Reading it in the newspaper whilst broadcasting live on that particular radio station was something of a shock as it had not been communicated internally to our team. What followed was tremendously exciting, very challenging, gratifying and hugely rewarding in the knowledge that the hard work meant that my team would all have the chance to shine. Working hand in hand with the Human Resources Director we created a brand new network and I was given a blank canvas to build a new radio network from the ground up and months later Gulf News Broadcasting was born.
Some years before that I found myself working with a fantastic broadcast group in the UK. This company really invested in its people and we all benefited greatly from the training, experiences and challenges that were thrown at us. It's here where I was introduced to the concept of Brand Planning and creating new brands in the radio landscape. I have sworn by the Brand Plan ever since.
It's important to note that in 1992/3 I vowed to venture out in the media world and had made a promise to my parents that one day I would establish a radio station for young children. How did I make that decision.. The event that sparked my desire to launch such a set up for children was one that was extremely complicated, incredibly upsetting and impacted the world of child protection forever. The murder of 3 year old Jamie Bulger affected me greatly and when my father sat me down one day in 1993 to ask what I wanted to do for a career, the answer came to me immediately. You see at that time in my life I was contributing as a volunteer at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, such magical place full of wonderfully dedicated staff. It is here where I realised that for every negative event in life there is ALWAYS a positive to follow and I have lived by that mantra ever since. Little did we know just how much we would depend on that mantra in 2016, more on that at a later time.
In 2014 the dream to establish a radio station for young children and families was realised and on the first day of broadcasting live I wrote to Jamie Bulger's mother,Denice, to let her know that the concept of the children's radio was dedicated to Jamie. Denice replied almost immediately, it was amazing.
Establishing the children's radio brought with it all kinds of challenges and protocols which I may share briefly in a seperate posting. Needless to say embracing change proved to be extremely important and studying the psychology of acquisitions and mergers and being culturally sensitive was very important.
The biggest change that was thrown at me from thin air is what I will share in my next blog post.
If you are currently going through some kind of change in your workplace and you have some concerns about what may lay ahead for you I would be delighted to hear from you.
Whatever you do and wherever you do it be sure to embrace change and 'Go for it!'
Thank you Jeff, embracing change is such an important topic and needs to be discussed more. Our world and our individual situations move so quickly, only one thing is guaranteed, CHANGE. Our children have to learn how to (as you rightly say) embrace change and all of us have to keep moving and take action every day. The mantra has always got to be 'Onwards and Upwards'. Looking forward to reading more from you Jeff <3
ReplyDeletevery inspiring piece Jeff, thanks for sharing!
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