Terry Leahy (or Sir Terry since his audience with the Queen) is the man who in twenty years transformed Tesco from third rate shabbiness to one of the biggest retail businesses in the world.
He was brought up on a tough council estate in Liverpool and, like his brothers and most of his friends, he expected to leave school at the earliest opportunity and drift into low level jobs.
But one of his teachers, Mr McCann, lit a spark of ambition in young Terry
Mr McCann would talk about life beyond the council estate — he’d say such things as: “When you grow up you’re going to be a lawyer or an accountant or a businessman,” ’ says Sir Terry. ‘He talked about things you never dared imagine. He made them seem possible. He made me realise that if you worked hard, you could do as well as anyone else.’
His teacher’s words motivated him to grammar school and university and into the rather unfashionable world of retail management
Isn’t that what education should be about – not just learning facts and doing well in tests, but also inspiring young people to have confidence in their own ability to fashion their own futures by hard graft, determination and a sense of vision. A good teacher is someone who can sow the seed of inspiration in young minds and make them realise that all things are possible.
Sounds a bit old fashioned, doesn’t it – maybe because we appear nowadays to celebrate the idea of not rewarding/celebrating achievement for fear of offending those without ambition….
Not much room for inspiration in the cultivation of mediocrity…….
