By Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
Earl Moore (left), president of Guardian Life Ltd., in discussion with university students Sharnon Williams and Dwayne Berbick.
- PHOTOS BY RICARDO MAKYN/Staff Photographer
"YOU GUYS play tennis?" Surprisingly for university students Sharnon Williams and Dwayne Berbick these were the first words uttered to them by Earl Moore, president and CEO of Guardian Life Insurance Company, when the two met with him late last month, as part of The Gleaner Company-sponsored 'A Day in the Life of ...' series, which aims to pair university students with CEOs of major corporations in an effort to give them a clearer idea of what the business world requires of them.
"Tennis, no sir," was the only reply an obviously startled Sharnon managed to mumble.
The pair of students met Mr. Moore at 6:30 a.m. at Campion College where they soon learned the CEO starts his day every morning with a small group of friends playing tennis.
So there they were, armed with pressing questions on the complicated and intricate workings of the business world.
They had rehearsed their greetings over and over, having been nervous for days about spending an entire day with the president of a major company.
They were expecting to meet, as Sharnon put it, "a dreary old man who was really boring and serious".
Yet here was Mr. Moore, smiling brightly with a tennis racket in his hand, dressed in a pair of white shorts and a white T-shirt, sweating heavily.
"You guys just relax and watch me practice, you might learn a thing or two," Mr. Moore joked.
And that they did.
UNEXPECTED SIDE
After watching the group play together for about a half-an-hour, the university students realised that being good at tennis was not a pre-requisite for becoming the head of a major company.
Soon the game was over, and it was time for Mr. Moore to head over to the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston where he was to have an 8 o'clock breakfast meeting with members of the Jamaica Medical Foundation (JMF).
When they arrived at the hotel and the meeting got under way, Mr. Moore made sure that Sharnon and Dwayne had as good a breakfast as the dignitaries at the meeting. Not one to let a good opportunity pass, the two indulged in the hotel's finest dumplings, callaloo and bananas.
When the JMF meeting was over, Mr. Moore came over to the students and asked them how they found the food. When they both gave the dumplings positive reviews, Mr. Moore added, "You guys stay like me, mi cyaan start my day without my banana and dumpling."
It was now time to head over to Mr. Moore's office at the Guardian Life building on Musgrave Avenue. Little did Sharnon and Dwayne know, this visit was about to reveal a side of the CEO neither of them expected and which many people would not believe unless they saw it for themselves.
It was about 10:30 a.m. when the trio got to the office. Mr. Moore stood in front of his office door about to open it, when he stopped himself and said, "I just want you to know that I inherited this office when the company bought the building. It wasn't designed for me."
BEAUTIFULLY DECORATED ROOM
He opened the doors and revealed the largest and most beautifully decorated room both Sharnon and Dwayne had ever seen. It was huge with lush green carpeting and beautiful mahogany furniture.
Seeing the look of amazement on the faces of the university students, Mr. Moore said, "You see how the place massive? I cannot understand why one man's office must be so big."
He carried Sharnon and Dwayne around the office, showing them the closet and even a shower equipped with telephone that had been built specifically for the gentleman who occupied the office before Mr. Moore.
"When mi just move in here mi used to hear mi heart a beat too loud so I moved over to this other part of the office," the CEO said, leading the way to another section of the gigantic room.
He opened a door and revealed not only where he does his work, but also a great deal about him self. Mr. Moore abandoned the huge mahogany desk, comfortable leather chair, state-of-the-art computer which were the centrepieces of the office and had settled himself on a tiny wooden table in the far corner of the office, placed a laptop computer and a telephone on it and was more comfortable than ever.
"Dem things too fancy fi my liking. It was a big waste of money as far as I'm concerned," he said with his characteristic bright smile.
Mr. Moore showed Sharnon an obviously antiquated picture of himself and made her laugh when he said, "Mi did handsome, nuh true?"
RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CEO
He then told the students to make themselves comfortable and to go ahead and ask him anything they wanted to know. "Anything you want to know just tell me," Mr. Moore said.
The first question came from Sharnon, who asked the Guardian Life president how he managed to cope with the responsibilities of being a CEO.
"Look here, man, when I was growing up, mi used to think CEO job was some big thing. But it's not anything. All mi do is sign paper every day. I have finance people dealing with money matters. My secretary gets me organised and the public relations people tell me where to be and when. All I have to do is show up and sign paper. It's the easiest job in the world," he said, drawing laughter from the university pair.
"You laugh? But it's true. When I was a salesman that is when I used to work hard. People make it look like CEO life pressuring but is not true at all. We just sign this and sign that for the whole day. When you reach my age you nuh have nothing to worry about. You only worry that them might fire you and mi get fired so many times mi nuh worry."
The 55-year-old CEO went on to explain that the fact that he was born and grew up in an inner-city community perhaps influenced his views on several things.
"There are some things I see other people who occupy positions similar to mine doing, that I just can't get into. Like golf, I tried to take up golf but then I realised it was a big society game. You find a lot a people just coming together to drink liquor and chat foolishness, and that is not my thing."
LUNCH WITH STAFF
Mr. Moore was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He excused himself, took the call and when he was finished speaking to the caller, returned to the group.
"The company bought this small jet plane and they are trying to get me to fly to Trinidad on it. But mi tell dem, 'No massa, it too little. Mi rather the big, regular planes'," he said, explaining the purpose of the phone call. Sharnon and Dwayne turned to each other with looks that said, "Who would turn down a flight on a private jet?"
Mr. Moore asked the duo if they would like to go to lunch. "Sure", they said, and started to walk out of the office on the heels of the CEO. "We going across the road where the company subsidises lunch for the staff," he said.
When asked if he ate lunch with the staff every day, he said, "Of course".
When the group got downstairs and crossed the road to the cafeteria, a small line of people stood waiting to purchase their meal. Sharnon and Dwayne were both notably surprised when they realised that Mr. Moore wasn't going around the line, neither was he signalling his arrival to anyone. He simply joined the line, quite content with his usual happy smile and waited patiently for his turn to order.
Like any other staff member, Mr. Moore quietly ordered, paid for and collected his food and with Sharnon and Dwayne beside him, went over to one of the small tables to have his lunch.
During lunch, Mr. Moore continuously joked with employees sitting nearby, all of whom he knew by name.
They talked so freely with the CEO that if someone were to walk in, it would be next to impossible for them to figure out who the boss was.
When lunch was over, the group went back to the office across the road. When there, they talked and joked some more like old friends who hadn't seen each other for a while.
So as evening drew near and the students' day with the CEO came to an end, they bade their host for the day farewell and went home happy, yet somewhat confused.
After all, neither of them expected that the most powerful man they had ever met would also turn out to be the most humble.
