ABOUT 25 years or so ago, I was designated to attend on behalf of Kenny’s Bookshop a day long workshop on motivation organised by the Chamber of Commerce, Digital, and NUI Galway during which an American professional motivator was to bring the audience through their paces in terms of business organisation and goals.
Everybody was to come away energised and determined. Coming down High Street about 5pm, looking somewhat dazed, I met the younger brother who asked me what is was like and I told him, I did not know whether I had been at a revival meeting or a brainwashing session.
A couple of hours later, after a few reviving pints, I arrived home still a little dazed. Herself was in the kitchen ironing, the four kids all demanding different things, the pots on the cooker simmering, the sheets on the line not drying, and I asked her had she a vision.
“Yes,” came the curt reply, “the brown envelope every Thursday, and if you don’t come back to earth now, I know where this iron is going.”
Since then, there has been a major growth in these sorts of motivational days in Ireland with the almost inevitable appearance of several similar type publications which could probably go under the general appellation of the ‘Bullet Point’ book. These are almost to a book either sober publications chock-a-block with agendas, graphs, and ‘to do’ lists and have such didactic titles as Don’t Get A Job – Build A Business or You Can Do Better or, hagiographic autobiographies of a ‘From Rags to Riches’ type with the inherent message “If I can do this so can you, but you have to buy this book first to find out how”.
There are, however, others who set out to draw a middle line and that come from a genuine belief that the author has something tangible to offer, and that are motivated by a genuine wish that whoever may pick up the book and read it will benefit from its dictums.
One such person is Pádraic Ó Máille who has a long time experience in coaching people through interviews, of helping businesses “sort themselves out”, and whose first appearance in print was with a series of successful businessmen’s portraits published in the Galway Advertiser which were positively received.
With the rather ambitious title, The Midas Power - From Powerless to Powerful in Seven Days, Ó Máille relates the parable of one Rory Murray “an overworked, burned out and deeply in-debt business person who is thrown out by his wife and given an ultimatum to sort himself out”. Murray seeks refuge on the Aran Islands where he meets the enigmatic Rebecca who leads him to the great Guru Midas. This meeting, in turn, leads to a seven day spiritual cum business retreat out of which Murray emerges a changed and revitalised man.
Bearing in mind this is Ó Máille’s first excursion into book publication and that his approach is innovative, this is a brave book that almost works. The production is atrocious and the editing is, at best, poor, but despite this, Ó Máille’s energy, infectious personality, enthusiasm, and lively prose, along with the local resonances, carry the reader and there is no doubting the author’s authenticity.
Curiously, after reading the book I found myself in a slightly stressful situation on a very busy and wet M50. I remembered one of the positive recommendations given by Midas to Murray, reacted accordingly and, to my surprise and delight, it worked. In this instance, the seemingly simple act of counting backwards from 20 under the breath had the desired and immediate calming effect.
With all its faults, The Midas Power demonstrates that Pádraic Ó Máille has a great deal to offer not just to business people and budding entrepreneurs, but to the community in general, and deserves our attention. He undoubtedly has a future as a prominent author in this field and it is to be hoped this is the first publication of many.
