: Irvine Nugent
: Leadership Lessons From The Pub Harnessing The Power Of Emotional Intelligence To Build A Fully Engaged Wor
: Indie Books International
: 9781952233340
: 1
: CHF 10.50
:
: Management
: English
: 158
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
Leadership is a noble calling that requires courage. It is not for the faint of heart. Stepping forward and putting yourself on the line takes a toll. Success lies in going inward to explore and expand your emotional intelligence, which is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. The end result is thriving relationships which are at the core of great leadership. This book was born out of the unique Irish wisdom Irvine Nugent learned growing up in his family's pub in Northern Ireland. Journey through Ireland's rich pub culture and back to the boardrooms and offices of the organizations you lead or manage. It's a journey into the struggles and joys of leadership that will show you how to harness the power of your emotions to have deeper connections, make better decisions, and increase your influence.
CHAPTER 1
Watch Me Build Again
Friday, March 30, 1973, was a perfect spring day in the sleepy Northern Irish village of Ballymagorry. As the sun began to set, the only noise came from the village’s only pub, Ballymagorry Arms. Little did anyone know the horrors that were in store.
The pub’s owners, Brian and Teresa, were just returning from a shopping trip in Belfast. Teresa immediately went upstairs above the pub where their family lived. She was excited to show her daughters—Susan, Ann, Kate, and Mary—a new dress she had purchased to wear to the wedding of her sister-in-law, Maureen. Brian was anxious to get into the pub and relieve the bartender who had been working all day.
An hour later, two masked Irish Republican Army (IRA) gunmen stormed into the pub. One of them gathered all the customers and held them at gunpoint against the wall. The other went to the counter, placed a firebomb on top of it, and lit the fuse.
The gunman looked at Brian and said, “You’ve five minutes to clear the place before this goes off. If any of ye tries to move it, it’ll explode.”
After the gunmen left, the customers fled out the front doors. Brian ran up the back stairs to warn Teresa and their daughters, who were still chatting in the living room. Finally, he ran to the bedroom of his sleeping six-year-old son. Brian grabbed his son from the bed, ran out the bedroom door, down the stairs, out the side door, and across the street. He was relieved to see Teresa and his daughters had already made it outside safely.
Just then, an explosion so terrible and powerful erupted and the roof lifted from the building. Fire instantaneously spread throughout the pub and home. Brian, Teresa, and their children watched as everything they owned went up in flames before their very eyes. Still clinging tightly to his son, Brian raised a clenched fist in defiance and from deep within himself he cried, “Watch me build again.”
Brian was my father and I still remember that clenched fist.
Figure 1.1. The remains of Ballymagorry Arms after the 1973 bombing.
Figure 1.2. The front of Ballymagorry Arms a day after the bombing. The burnt-out window upstairs on the left was my bedroom.
In Northern Ireland in 1973, “The Troubles” entered a new, more dangerous phase. Between 1969 and 1998, the world watched in horror as this beautiful and charming land was torn apart by violence that bordered, at times, on civil war; this conflict was euphemistically called The Troubles. These troubles had been brewing for many decades, if not centuries. The 1960s saw mounting civil rights demonstrations demanding an end to discrimination against the Catholic and Nationalist minority population by the Protestant and Unionist majority.
This conflict was inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States.1 Indeed, during the marches in Northern I