Page 55 - Be Reasonable – Do It My Way , Peter E. Daly AM, My Story
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CHAPTER 4 - PEOPLE WHO HAVE INFLUENCED MY LIFE
Chapter 4 - People who have Influenced my Life
There are many people who influence our lives and when we look back it is interesting to see how this has happened at various crossroads or decision points. One obvious one was the L&G merger with Norwich Union to form Aegis. We were overweight execs with a Senior Executive management group of five people all competing with one another. Along came Ken Williams, the Head of NW Group (UK) and quite by surprise, at least to me, he offered me (a non-Norwich person) the opportunity to head up the Norwich Winterthur Group in Australia.
That not only brought me and the family to where we are today but was the catalyst for changing the future of lots of families. We were followed (maybe I had some influence as well) by Pat and Stan Spanner, Alan and Janice Mason, Brian and
Beth de Kock, Don and Agnes Campbell, Brian and Maureen Osborn, Cynthia Hill and Sandy and Margaret Rawlinson to name a few. Some of these transfers caused some arguments with the Aegis MD John Bull, but I don’t think any of those people have looked back or regretted the move from South Africa.
What I would like to say however is that much of my success is down to the people around me. I always tried to build teams of people who were better or smarter than me, and for the most part it worked. Some people sadly disappoint or let you down, but they are few and far between.
On the other hand most of the people forming part of this story were not only work colleagues, but became true friends and family friends as well. Like good friends they have shown me great loyalty and I have always tried to return the loyalty myself.
I would love to write about you all but I think that if I did it would be like an Encyclopaedia (not a very common sight these days). Many of you have been part of some momentous family occasions including past retirement functions, family weddings, my 80th
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