Shaun the Sheep On Tour

Many years ago Richard worked for a company in the Virgin Group called the Virgin One Account.

At the time it was owned (roughly) 50:50 by Virgin and RBS... but the feel of the place was more Virgin than traditional bank.

For example, there were some great parties.  Given the Virgin One Account was based in Norwich probably 25 miles from the sea at its nearest point, you wouldn't have thought a beach party in March was a great option.

And because of that very fact we decided to put one on... a beach party, that is.  So we shipped in 40 tons of sand and some whacking great industrial heaters and had limbo competitions, a barbeque, Malibu (lots of Malibu) and a steel band.

It was at that party our Richard first met Richard Branson.  At the urinals as it happened.  He always says it was a surreal little moment in his life.  There he was, standing at the urinal minding his own business when he became aware of a person standing next to him.

Being a bloke he didn't really want to look over, 'cos it's just not the done thing, but he happened to glance to his left and, stone the crows, if it wasn't RB himself.  It was all Richard could do not to swing round to introduce himself.

Anyway, he refrained and just did the bloke thing: 'Alright? ' And a manly nod.

Be that as it may, they were certainly interesting times in those early days at Virgin.  There was a real sense of taking on the corporate world and there was a bit of money to spend on management development, too.

So it came that Richard and the training team designed a management development course for team managers to help them understand business a bit more and to help them develop resourcefulness.  The way they did is was to recreate a business journey in an actual physical journey.

The 50 or so managers were told to turn up at a certain location in Norwich with their passports where they would be given further instructions and some money.

They were split into smaller groups and told to meet again in Paris and then again in Vienna.  On the way they had to interview members of the public about banks and what they liked and didn't like.  They also had to interview bankers about why things were done in a certain way.

Richard was observing one group on the way to Paris.  One of the guys in the group didn't want to be there and started complaining about everything from the food to the work to the fact he didn't have the right gear (despite the fact that everyone else managed to pack the right stuff).

Richard does have to admit, though, his bag wasn't really suitable for the venture.

It was a furry Shaun the Sheep rucksack:

In Paris, the team managed to secure an interview with a relatively senior manager at BNP.  So up we fetched, a little travel worn but looking okay...

And then there was Shaun the Sheep.  The guy whose bag it was had taken it from his back and was clutching Shaun to his chest - face outwards.  As he talked the sheep's head jiggled up and down a little... in fact, it looked for all the world as though Shaun the Sheep was interviewing the bank chief, not the fella from Virgin!