AMW, a Scot, always reported for work earlier than me. If it could have been a tennis tournment, he would have gotten all the Grand Slam.

At 10 minutes before seven in the morning, I was seated on my desk almost infront of AMW who was busy scribbling on his notepad. Having an open space arrangement, we have a 360 degrees view of the department as the staff of FIC/7 reported for work one by one.

A notepad supervisor, that is how I would describe him. Every morning, sensing that I am seated, he would raise his face from a stationery position and smile at me. With his notepad marked AMW FIC7 on his right hand, he walked to my desk and sat on my visitor's chair.

Business as usual, he started recalling the activities we had yesterday with the users from Petroleum Geology (DPG)and scribbled my things to do for the day. With about three bullet points of things to do, he demonstrated his exceptional skill of remembering user requirements by discussing the details of the tasks.

A very inspiring supervisor with happy disposition, I was motivated to excel in my work.

The notepad worked, the following year I got the maximum increment of six percent. Without wasting any minute, I was on the phone talking to my father at his office at the Insurance Commission informing him that I was one of the top performer at FIC7.

Work at Brunei Shell ended at 4PM. With Panaga Club and Brunei Shell Recreation Club, most of my officemates played golf, tennis, squash to name a few sports and activities. Before a game of tennis, a two-kilometer of jogging along the beach fron of Panaga kept me ready for my opponent usually a British or Dutch guy.

With a dog leash and not a notepad on his hand, AMW and his wife was also running along the beach. Aside from running, golf and squash were what kept him very fit.

Then, a FIC memo was circulated. A few minutes before the end of work, I stood in front of his desk and inquired about the contents of the memo. Without referring directly to the memo, he said that it is about time for him face other challenges.

Most mornings, the notepad session went on and on until he was finally posted to Shell UK.

A few days before AMW left Brunei, he shared a piece of advice on how to prepare for life after Brunei Shell. Vividly I could remember when he said -"be very flexible and be a generalist".

About two decades have passed since we last shook our hands together. After unsuccessful attempts to obtain his email address from web searches, I hope this blog could reach him soonest.

Oh, 'soonest' is one of his favorite words.

Labels: Alan Wood, Brunei, brunei shell, business 101, CEO blog, Efren Ricalde, FIC

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