From plaster mixer to professor

Strategy at Southampton University, Professor of Strategic Analysis at Bath University, Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at Bath University and Director of Submarines at British Aerospace plc.
Professor Powell also holds a BA and an MA from Cambridge University, as well as a PhD from Cranfield University. His areas of expertise include strategic analysis, particularly using Operational Research methods in Strategy, Strategic Knowledge, and Scenario Methods. His research interest is in Operational Research methods in strategy including network scenario planning, epistemetrics, and systems methods for knowledge management. He is a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, as well as a Fellow of the Institution of Mathematics and its Applications.
We asked Prof Powell questions about his very first job that helped him get to where he is today:
What was your first job?
I was a labourer on a building site. I mixed plaster for two professional plasterers on “piece work” meaning they got paid for the work they actually did.
How did you get hired?
I turned up at the site office and asked for a job.
Were you prepared for work you had to do?
Not at all. It was the hardest work I’ve ever done. There was no electric plaster mixer, just a broom handle, a shovel and a bucket, so I had to mix by hand. The two plasterers worked at Olympic speed, needing vast quantities of gypsum plaster during the eight-hour dayshift.
What was your boss/es like?
My bosses were sympathetic but insistent. They would help me only if their work was being slowed up. I had no training whatsoever, not even an explanation as to what consistency the gypsum plaster had to be.
If you could go back and have that job again, what would you do differently?
I should have had the guts to walk and find a new job.
What was your next job and how did your first job prepare you for it?
I became a chef. My “training” as a labourer was useful as it taught me how to endure hard work over an extended amount of time, which all chefs need to be able to do.
How did your first job prepare you for your later work?
I suppose in a small way it showed me that you have to train workers for even the most humble jobs. Hard work never hurt anyone. Nietzsche was right, “What doesn’t kill us makes us strong”.
About the University of
Stellenbosch Business School
Since its inception in 1964, the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) has become a renowned player in the international business school community. The student body, which grows each year, presently comprises over 650 MBA students, some 150 students of two further master’s degrees, 26 PhD students and several thousand other students taking part in the wide range of shorter executive courses.
The USB MBA offers a solid theoretical grounding for the practical, real-world application of management and leadership competencies in any business sector in South Africa, on the rest of the African continent as well as in the global business community.
The USB is the only business school of a South African university with two international accreditations: EQUIS from the European Foundation for Management Development and AMBA from the Association of MBAs. — Visit www.usb.ac.za for more information.