Credit Management APRIL 2019

INTERVIEW
FLYING
VISIT
Sean Feast FCICM speaks to
John Pears about collections,
customer communications, and
the flying characteristics of the
De Havilland Chipmunk.
JOHN Pears never intended to work
in credit but always wanted to be
a high-flier. His dream was to be a
pilot, and even chose his further
education based on whether there
was a University Air Squadron
(UAS). Sadly, the Government’s controversial
‘Options for Change’ put paid to any real
plans for a career in the Royal Air Force
(RAF) and he was obliged to find a ‘plan B’.
Born in New Brighton on the Wirral,
John comes from a comparatively modest
background. His father worked in Finance
for Stanley Racing (and played in a rock and
roll band) and his mother was a part-time
cleaner. Educated locally at Mosslands, he
did well enough in his exams to secure a
place reading Geography at the University of
Liverpool. The real draw, however, was the
opportunity to fly: “We moved house when
I was about five and I remember that the
previous occupants had left several large
model aircraft behind. From that point on I
was interested in aircraft and wanted to fly.
With the Air Cadets and at University I got to
take the controls of a Chipmunk, a Bulldog
and a Tutor T1. I liked the Chipmunk in
particular; it’s the closest thing you’ll ever get
to flying a Spitfire. She is very responsive on
the controls and tight turns and aerobatics
were never a problem.”
FASCINATING CHARACTERS
Within the UAS he not only got to fly
different types of aircraft, but also meet
some fascinating characters. One of these
was the Harrier Display pilot who perfected
the art of the ‘air show bow’, a nodding
farewell to the crowds after a breath-taking
series of low-speed manoeuvres and highspeed
runs.
A desired career in the RAF came to a
grinding halt with ‘Options for Change’, a
major restructuring of the British Armed
Forces in the early 1990s. Airbases were
closed, aircraft fleets reduced, and some
aircraft types withdrawn: “Training was
being put on hold,” John recalls, “and some
of the RAF trainees went off to become
airline pilots but that, to me, was like being
the driver of a very big, very fancy bus, and
so I had to think about a different path.”
John quickly realised that his BA (Hons)
degree in Geography, although enjoyable,
did not especially equip him well for the
wider world of employment: “I decided to
take a Diploma in Management in the hope
that it gave me some business credentials,”
John laughs.
It worked, after a fashion. On graduating,
he joined the Child Support Agency working
in collections. It was not a good experience:
“It showed me a lot about what bad
management and poor leadership look like.
It was good learning experience, if not an
enjoyable place to work,” he says.
After the CSA, he joined MBNA, the bank
and credit card company, in collections – it
wasn’t his first choice of role but it was to
be his making. It was the start of a happy
nine years with the firm, during which
he rose through the ranks and took on
greater responsibility: “MBNA had a really
interesting, positive culture – everyone
understood it and bought in to it,” he
explains. “They were customer obsessed.
Our European CEO was General ‘Chuck’
Krulak who served in Vietnam, the Gulf War,
and Operation Desert Shield. As a leader
he was exceptional; he was one of the first
leaders I’d ever come across who said ‘thank
you’ when you’d done a good job.”
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / April 2019 / PAGE 14