With passion, anything's possible

During the holidays I went in search of a role model for delivering value, only to be reminded (through the fascinating book about the Otiwhiti Station and the Duncan Family) that one existed in my own lineage.

It is 1988 and I am in the middle of a conversation with my grandfather, talking about what I was going to do following successfully attaining an 'A' Bursary and looking forward to embarking on my studies into the pantheon of excitement and wonderment which is accounting (cue Tui Billboard).

"I just love what I do, always have, always will".

My grandfather was describing his life in physiotherapy which began in Australia, moved to the USA, was interrupted by World War II and saw the Bell family finally land in Wanganui; working at the Duncan Hospital on Durie Hill. He ended the sentence above with "... just make sure you feel the same way about what you do, because you will spend a long time doing it."

Right now, I am loving what I do because I share what my grandfather had: Passion. Where my passion is fuelled by helping businesses excel, his was in seeing polio sufferers and, later, general patients improve their physical capabilities.

Passion can carry you to great achievements. You already know my view on having a strategic plan. Think of a strategic plan as the aeroplane to take you to your goal/destination and passion is the fuel. The higher the grade/potency of your passion the further you will be taken. And passion took my grandfather a long way.

Bill Bell followed his cousin, Sister Elizabeth Kenny, to the United States to set up a clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to treat the most insidious of diseases: Poliomyelitis.

There, he pioneered a method which ran counter to medical convention. The treatment got results and went on to be accepted and replicated throughout the USA, encouraging patients to use and exercise muscles rather than immobilise them.

Naturally, as the method proved more successful, demand rose for the treatment and my grandfather travelled extensively. However, the Duncan family of Hunterville obviously encouraged him to set his roots in Wanganui because he settled here until his passing in 2005. The Duncan Hospital is where I spent a great deal of my childhood and there I saw my father and grandfather in action treating patients and making remarkable progress even with the most severely afflicted.

My grandfather's passion for recovery manifested in a determination to see improvement through an often extremely rigorous exercise regime. The hurdles for the patients were great, and Bill at times cajoled action from his charges like a drill sergeant, but he was loved for what he did and he achieved the results he wanted.

He had defined his goals and channelled his passions into achieving them. For all that he did and achieved he went largely unrecognised. Accolades were not important, nor were they a reward, his legacy was his patients.

I was named after the Duncan family and the part they played in the lives of the Bells. But I think that ascribing the middle name of the first-born son was more about what the Duncan family did for the polio patients who were also such a major part of our family. The community owes a debt of gratitude to the Duncans for their huge generosity which continues to this day.

Perhaps our DHB should go to the Duncans to understand their blueprint - setting up an entire hospital from nothing - and apply that to attracting a doctor or two to our town. With passion anything is possible.

Zenith Solutions is a Wanganui-based management consulting practice. It specialises in providing strategic planning, business process improvement and financial management services. Contact russell@zenith-solutions.co.nz or phone 021-244-2421.