Bank of Ireland brought together over 300 mainly SME businesses yesterday as the concluding event of its Enterprise Week. The pitch was how the bank can help business to reach the goals it sets itself. The magic came from having two sporting legends hold the audience in the palm of their hands.
There were two business stories as well, from Glenilen Farms and Mick’s Garage, both told well and giving inspiration as to how those gathered could expand down different avenues.
The main reason why most were there though, why they thought it was worth taking time out of what is always a busy morning, was to hear and meet Paul O’Connell and Henry Shefflin. They weren’t disappointed.
Blend
The key to an event like this is to get the right blend of ‘inside’ stories allied to a particular theme. Shefflin works for the bank in business development so his personal magnetism is put to good use in an everyday environment as well as on special occasions like this.
He spoke of how he failed to get onto the school team when he was 15 and 16 and how that created a real crisis of confidence. Bouncing back from setbacks and keeping on doing what you do well was resonating around the room.
O’Connell hit the same note when he supposed that any rugby career was likely to have 20 per cent of your time on the injury list. You have to enjoy the good moments and not get too down when things are going through a rocker phase.
He spoke of Joe Schmidt’s mantra to ‘play the moment in front of you,’ and also of the importance of preparation.
Prepared
“Donncha O’Callaghan was the best trainer and the best prepared teammate I have ever played alongside,” he told the room.
“If he was coming here today he would have packed a little box with his own breakfast, weighing out what he needed for fuel at this particular time.”
“He never drank, never smoked but he was the biggest messer you could meet.”
“From the minute he woke up he was always looking for the next trick or joke to play, so long as it didn’t get in the way of being as well prepared as he could possibly be.”
Energy
There was a lot of affection on stage for Roy Keane who both had grown up idolising for his energy, attention to detail and ‘having made it’ from Mayfield to Man United.
Another to have shown the way to carry on was Jerry Flannery.
“When he made his debut, there was a movie at the time called Any Given Sunday where the players would celebrate with all the moves. Jerry scored a try that day, bounced the ball high into the air and did a ‘Big I Am’ dance running backwards and rousing the crowd.”
“Declan Kidney was coach at the time and Jerry didn’t get a Munster contract that year.”
“He didn’t give up though.”
He tried Connacht and they had nothing. He went then to Glaswegians where he played second string hooker for a season before getting his place. He then went to Connacht again, played second string again and overtook the lad that was there to stake a regular starting place.”
“Munster came calling again and he finally established himself in the side at the age of 26. That same year he was player of the year in the 6 Nations.”
Believing
“He never stopped believing in who he was or how good he was.”
“He just stopped doing the dancing.”
Shefflin gave insight into Brian Cody’s management style, that it was always to focus on doing what you do well in the smallest basic details.
“He would see things that might happen in a Championship match and rather than rail or shout from the sideline, might wait months to bring it up again and make sure that some way you had let yourself and the team down wouldn’t happen again.”
“To achieve is one thing but to do so continuously over such a long time and with so many different players is another thing entirely.”
There was commitment to this morning from the very top with Bank CEO Richie Boucher opening proceedings and staying throughout to mingle with his customers right through the end.
Fo some gathered they will have taken inspiration from the stories of Glenilen’s Valerie Kingston or Mick’s Garage’s Cathal Crean. For others it will be a signed shirt from O’Connell or the shake of a hand from Shefflin. Nobody though was leaving Croke Park yesterday to explore how to switch banking partner, and more than a few were likely looking to see whether they should in fact be the bank for them.
That was the objective for the bank. That was delivered. The magic of sport played a part in getting the audience in the first place and holding their attention throughout.
