Wednesday 1 September 2021

Phil Wright - Unchartered Territory - someone has switched the light on


 


                                                            HOW TO ORDER


SOFTBACK PRICE £14.50  & UK P & P £2.50

By Post: Lynn Davidson, The Memoir Club, 34 Lynwood Way, South Shields. NE34 8DB

Cheques payable to Lynn Davidson

Telephone:   07552086888 

Email: memoirclub@msn.com

Experience is not a commodity that you can pay for upfront. It is rather like taking out a life insurance policy and then listening to friends, colleagues and peers for advice to acquire the skills necessary to build a successful life.

It can all be achieved when somebody switches on the lights and you then have clear vision to make those important decisions.

INTRODUCTION

You have the job and then are told you should work your way out of it in four years.

The book reflects a life’s passage from the unknown to the real world and beyond. It is about finding one’s feet in life, and eventually taking the plunge and making a career in an ever-changing corporate world, and then, finally, giving something back. In 2013 Tony Turnbull had this to say:

Phil has played a major part in assisting the Sustainable Development Partnership through his input and considerable skills. He has been the mainstay in becoming involved in working with community groups and has been instrumental and influential in making North Tyneside a better place to live.

Tony Turnbull, Sustainable Development Officer at North Tyneside Council

 

Family and work had to be truly juggled at times, you may be in a similar situation at some stage. How will you cope? There is a great deal of well-trodden experience in our Uncharted Territory, it literally went on for mile after mile.

The experiences on life’s journey provided a variety of unplanned circumstances which had an equal variety of unplanned outcomes. Life can be like that for many of us.

Your ambitions can be achieved if you want it. Some of what did happen may help you during your life and career. You will only know that when you have read the story.

We enjoyed our journey and we hope you enjoy yours. 

REVIEW

Getting to travel to such exotic places, experiencing first hand their cultures.  I think you were born at the right time to have those many overseas ventures in the business world.  

You saw places before they became commercialized in the tourist industry. Your descriptions of places, people …and the food: brought the book alive.  

How lucky your wife Eileen was too willing to go wherever you were sent, which meant you could enjoy the adventures together.

Well done documenting your memoirs Phil. I’m sure there are more stories to come.                                                                                                                                        Fi Nicolson                                                                                                                                         

Oh your book, I am just loving reading it, SOOO interesting. What a lovely time you and Eileen had, travelling and living in so many countries, and the interesting people you met. The retired gentleman in India, and for a large gin and tonic, he would talk to you about all the past history, these sort of people are a joy to meet. And not forgetting all the cows Phil.

Throughout all your journeys, Eileen was always there for you, through the highs and lows, and when you would say to her, what should we do? She always said, let's go for it. So many happy times you spent together Phil,  and did amazing things, so good memories for you.                                                                                                                                Joyce Jordan


I have been reading your book again! What a life you have led!! It is certainly interesting and exciting to see you in the business world, on an international stage, with all the political and commercial ramifications. Fitting all in with Eileen, Andrew, and networking too. I am sure many readers would find it most enjoyable and very informative. Such a base for all the deals and businesses of today.   Helen Moran


This book gave an insight into the many intricacies of the business world, There were also fascinating glimpses of the social and family life at the time,
 
A well-written book, eminently readable.   Margaret Davidson  



A very interesting read which started with your love of cricket and continued with the explanation of your journey through your business life in many different countries. Some of which we have also visited and indeed get a mention in your book. We always enjoyed yours and Eileen's company and meeting Andrew in Dubai.

We did not realise that you had travelled so extensively in the Far East, or for that matter your American connections. I am sure you both enjoyed finding our about the different cultures of the Far East and to a varying extent America.

Before retiring, returning to the UK and starting your own Consultancy must have been quite a challenge, and continuing on to do charitable work.

Again I would like to say we enjoyed your book and hope more folk have the opportunity to read your fascinating journey.  Brian and Sheila 


Unchartered territory. What a great title!

I found this book enjoyable and informative. A fascinating journey through a life well lived across the globe and back.

The challenge of being in the right place at the right time against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, in the business world.

Yet what goes around, comes around, and so our hero ultimately finds himself…back home in Tyneside.

Another door is shown to open up. It’s no good, Phil, you’ll never turn the light out.

Your final chapters point to pastures new. So, what comes next? Surely a sequel simmers on the stove?

Will you expand on further calls to arms? Move seamlessly from pressurised environments to life in the Voluntary Sector and beyond?

Stands the church clock at ten to three.

Will there be cats to herd?

We wait and see!    Wendy Bradley


Like the late Lord MacLaurin’s memoir, Unchartered Territory combines lessons learned on the cricket pitch and the boardroom and is a seamless memoir.  

The opening chapters describe a common theme in business biographies: School leads to sport to training and to a career. So far, so formulaic. What is remarkable is the trajectory Phil’s career took. While pitching and delivering on different continents is commonplace in most senior commercial leaders now, it was not in the early seventies, doubly so for one who had not developed through a graduate training programme.  

As at the crease, Phil’s sense of timing in business seems to have been impeccable. To be based at the heart of the much missed ‘common market’ as it came to life and then to move to Dubai during the time it was developing into the commercial ‘bridgehead’ to the Middle East (and not the playground of footballers) shows a keen nose for an opportunity.  

I enjoyed particularly the ‘view from the boundary’, his prowess in the middle order and determination not to give his wicket away. There is that delightful whiff of linseed oil and cut grass which inspires good cricket writing. The same determination infuses the tales from the boardroom during the latter part of the book. 

I finished Unchartered Territory shortly after reading the late ‘Lord Ted’ Dexter’s memoir. However briefly their sports careers met, to be able to recount sharing the field with a Cambridge and Sussex great must have been a great memory among great memories! 

Finishing the book I recalled an interview with the late President Mandela, who described a telephone call with then Prime Minister John Major; “we spoke briefly of sanctions and of investment, but the majority of our speeches were about cricket”.  

Once again, Phil may be on to something!   Richard Beveridge


Don’t put your washing out on a Sunday. Finally someone else had been told the same as I.

Mobile phones – no one had them in the 1970s.  Computers were so large, they filled a room.

This is a fascinating tale of an international career during a fast-changing world.  Add into the mix a cricketer who played with past masters and ends it with a missing engineer.

The result is a jolly good read. Mary Hamlyn







                                                        

 


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