IT WON'T BE EASY, BUT IT WILL BE WORTH IT!

I don't know about you but throughout my life people have told me things are impossible and it's not worth even trying to succeed in so many areas.

If I had listened to the skeptics and the gloom merchants I would still be teaching physics in Leicestershire or worse claiming benefits in Newmarket in Suffolk where I was born! People told me York wouldn't work and Leeds was impossible but, however you look at my story, it was fifteen extraordinary years with successes, surprises, brilliant stories, shared adventures, bizarre mistakes, enormous learning, extraordinary people and, like a Puccini opera, a really sad ending! Wherever I have worked, together with some extraodinary colleagues, in York, in Leeds, in Nottingham, in Sheffield, together with some extraordinary colleagues, we have built something wonderful. The journey from won't work/cause for concern to cause for celebration is a long and, at times, difficult one but just look at what we’ve achieved together in those wonderful places over the years. And importantly success is about team, about system leadership, about valuing the contributions everyone can and does make. Success is rooted in creating culture, in developing shared values, in establishing common behaviours and beliefs and in a consistently positive and supportive attitude which changes people and places forever.