Barry Phegan — Background
I ask myself, “How does my history shape who I am now, and guide my next steps?” Our life’s experience is the stage for our future. It tells us who we are and what to do. It defines meaning. Here’s my story — in brief.
I grew up in Sydney Australia. My dog and my elder brother, who later became a psychiatrist, were my closest companions. I vividly remember the feeling of freedom riding a scooter, and later, how a bicycle expanded that freedom to include wide-ranging adventure. My parents, married during the Great Depression, were proud that their three sons were the first in the family to attend university.
I graduated from the University of Sydney with an architecture degree, enjoying a brief stay in an architectural office, and in my own private practice. The architectural firm held an internal competition to design their new office. My design was chosen. The finished building, featured in local architectural magazines, brought mild local recognition. Yeah!
Three years out of university, my car was stolen. The insurance payment covered a ticket on the SS-Oriana (before planes were the default) from Sydney to Port Said, Egypt. After Youth-Hosteling around the Middle East for six months, exhausting my meager savings, I took a job as a draftsman in an architecture firm in Stockholm, Sweden.
15 months later I moved on, tried London, found it less than inspiring and flew to New York. With no work permit, I soon left, taking a Greyhound bus to Toronto, Canada, and a draftsman job in an architectural office. Through a peculiar twist of fate, this mid-20s immigrant draftsman became the principal designer of the Ontario Government Pavilion for Expo 67 in Montréal. Yeh!
I wanted to know more about management and large-scale project design and found a program at Washington University, St. Louis. After graduation I became a US citizen and was swept into the civil rights movement, working my way up the management ladder in several organizations. Finally, with over 100 people reporting to me, and a large construction budget, I was completely over my head, but didn’t know it. (Fortunately, others didn’t seem to know it either). I needed a career break, deciding to return to school, and study management. The best offer was from the University of California Berkeley. That year I married and U-Hauled it from St. Louis to the west coast.
I completed the core doctoral requirements in both the Business School and the Department of City and Regional Planning. By graduation, I was the father of twins and had met the person who became my business partner and closest friend.
Together we launched a professional services company, working closely for 35 years with corporate management teams, improving their company or business unit culture. The spectacular results vividly illustrated the vast untapped human potential within organizations — and sadly, how such person-based performance and profitability take second place to top-down power issues of obedience and control.
My wife and I drifted apart. She left the Bay Area. I raised my three children during their teen years. When the youngest left for college, I remarried. After seven years, my new wife showed signs of memory loss, eventually full-blown dementia, and then death.
I love writing. My first book, Developing Your Company Culture is largely based on my consulting experience. I taught many management-related seminars throughout the University of California. One series led to my second book, Conflict, Meetings, and Difficult People. I also edit www.CompanyCulture.com.
I have twin daughters and a son, three grandchildren, one stepdaughter, and one step-grandson. For me, the family is number one, particularly grandchildren — everything is on hold when I’m with them.
Let me leave other subjects such as Retirement, Volunteering, Hobbies and Pastimes, Travel, and so on, and so on, to the blogs.
This brief bio sketches my personal story influencing this blog.
I welcome your suggestions, questions, or comments.
Thank you for visiting,
me, Barry Phegan, May 2019
