Alfred Dawes | The Hart of a man
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” These words were spoken by Winston Churchill, but I associate them with the man who first uttered them to me, the recently deceased Anthony ‘Tony’ Hart.
I met Tony when he served as chairman of the Western Region Health Authority while I was the senior medical officer (SMO) for the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital. I found him to be a humble, genuine soul, quick to give advice, who had natural predilections towards mentorship and philanthropy. Although he was a consummate capitalist, starting over fifty businesses, he was always mindful of the less fortunate.
He lived by that mantra and left the world a better place than he found it. Many tributes would have been written upon his passing by those closer and dearer to him. I share a few experiences I had with Tony in the hope that someone may appreciate the outsized impact they may have on someone else’s life without much effort. Whether it is sage advice or giving back in time or money, we can all create ripples that will spread out, positively affecting those we would never meet.
Tony would wear shorts and slippers to our meetings. I tackled him about it once, asking if others wouldn’t find it inappropriate for formal gatherings. I shared that since moving to Sav-La-Mar I had swapped my preferred attire of scrub tops for long-sleeved shirts and ties, which I found uncomfortable but necessary. At that time, I was supervising several doctors who were ahead of me in years and senior in the profession up to the time of my leapfrogging them.
I felt I ought to adopt the dress of the older SMOs, now my peers, and this would aid in fostering the respect of those I intended to lead. Tony was of a different opinion. “If you are as good as they say you are, it doesn’t matter how you dress. All you have to do is open your mouth and the respect will follow.” Needless to say, the ties went much to the relief of my neck, and I never attempted to be someone else that I never felt comfortable being.
Of course, it is easy to fall into the trap I did as a young professional. We are told that clothes maketh the man and the infamous “fake it till you make it”. With a superficial society that judges one based on attire and what they drive, we fall victim to living above our means trying to impress people we don’t really care for or need.
SHORTS AND FLIP FLOPS
Dressing to look successful can, in fact, aid in your rise, but if when you open your mouth or display your talents, you would be a prime example of the Peter Principle - being promoted to your level of incompetence. There are those who enjoy the finer things, but for those who don’t, sacrificing your individualism will not take you to the top. I believe this because one of the most successful Jamaican tycoons told me so while wearing Bermuda shorts and flip flops.
A long drive into the hills of Trelawny to visit the Ulster Spring Health Centre was the setting for one of the realest history lessons I have ever received. The oral history of the Hart family spans several generations, and it was interesting, to say the least, to see the history of Jamaica through the eyes of a family with rising and falling fortunes. The story that struck a nerve the most was that of Sam Sharpe. Sam Sharpe grew up with the masters’ children and was treated almost equally. He learned to read and write with them and was a house slave when mostly women were selected for those positions.
It was a privileged position that any slave would have aspired to attain and maintain. There was shock and disbelief among the masters that it was Sam Sharpe, who was treated so well by them, that was the one who was guilty of such a betrayal. At 31 years old, Sharpe led the single most decisive rebellion in the British Empire.
It was because of the anti-slavery sentiment that the rebellion and its aftermath generated in England that the Abolition Act was passed in 1834. Little is told about how well the boy Sharpe was embraced by the ruling class and the torment he must have felt when he decided to disappoint and offend those he grew up with and follow his conscience. It is a powerful lesson for those who are in positions of comfort and privilege yet haunted by their conscience when they see injustice meted out to those less fortunate. Will they stand up for what they believe in, or will they preserve their privileged positions at the expense of their conscience?
The third Tony Hart story I wish to share is that of thinking outside of the box in entrepreneurship. When Tony founded Northern Industrial Garage (NIG), a Ford dealership, fewer than 100 Fords were sold per year in Jamaica. He sold 300 in the first three months of operation. How did he do it, I asked? He realised that the biggest problem facing car buyers was servicing and the availability of parts.
One would have to wait sometimes months for a car part to be brought in from the US while their prized vehicle sat in the garage. By setting up a parts and service centre, Tony was able to sell more cars to buyers who felt comfortable knowing that they would have their cars on the road in no time if anything went wrong. NIG was successful not because of better car-sales pitches, but because it was an excellent automotive repair centre selling cars. A modern-day parallel is that of Amazon, which started as a bookseller in name but was always a logistics company able to get your order anywhere reliably. Sometimes the solution to the problem is not doing what everyone else is doing better. It is doing what they never thought of doing even better.
I cherish these lessons from this giant of a man. I hope even after death he, through these and other gems left behind, continues to have an impact on the lives of Jamaicans everywhere. Walk good, Tony, don’t lose your slippers in the heavenly clouds.
- Alfred Dawes is a general, laparoscopic, and weight-loss surgeon; Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; former senior medical officer of the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital; former president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association. @dr_aldawes. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and adawes@ilapmedical.com.