Magazine - Twenty Questions with Frank Newberry

By Laurence Gale MSc in Editorial on 28th Jul 2010 10:10

Frank Newberry - wants to learn to play the piano in another language and is gaga about Lady Gaga!

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Who are you? Frank Newberry, Performance Consultant and Conference Speaker. I have been happily working in the turfcare sector for over twenty years.

Family status? I am married with three grown-up sons. Just to keep the balance my brother has three daughters.

Who's your hero and why? My clients are all heroes. Any individual who wants to improve themselves or the work performance of their people is taking up a heroic position in my view. Their 'heroism' inspires me to do better.

What is your dream holiday? In recent years I have been asked to speak at conferences abroad. This makes it possible for me to travel to some of the places I have always wanted to visit. I can do my work at the conference and then have a few days holiday with my wife. I love the work I do so I guess a working holiday is my dream holiday.

What annoys you the most? More than anything else I get annoyed with myself.

What would you change about yourself? I would get less annoyed with myself.

Who wouldn't you like to be? I wouldn't like to be anyone who was without hope.

Favourite record, and why? Lady Gaga sings three or four of my current favourites. It's great that she can be so talented and so scary at the same time.

Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? My gorgeous wife.

If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? I don't do the lottery.

If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? The tuba. I am somewhat round and I have a big mouth at one end.

What's the best advice you have ever been given? Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

What's your favourite smell? I love the smells you get at the seaside. The sea air, hot dogs, candy floss etc.

What do you do in your spare time? I like to relax by reading whilst I am soaking in a nice hot bath.

What's the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? I was once asked by a client to 'keep my eye' on someone during one of my training courses, because the client intended to sack him if I did not think he was up to the job. I was to be his last chance. Thankfully, I was able to quickly explain that a lot of people behave quite differently on training courses than they do in real life, so his work on my course would not be a reliable indicator.

What's your favourite piece of kit? It's boring, I know, but I have two rather expensive, but cleverly designed and very robust flip chart stands that I like having around on seminars.

What three words would you use to describe yourself? Positive, competitive, expressive.

What talent would you like to have? I would like to be able to speak other languages and to play the piano.

What makes you angry? More than anything else, I get angry with myself. I tend to the view that a lot of the time, when people get angry, they are angry with themselves first. 'Why did I trust this person?' 'Why did I not check this out properly?' They cannot cope with feeling bad for very long, so they quickly turn their anger onto someone or something else.

Read more articles in Editorial, by Laurence Gale MSc or from July 2010.