I came across a great article the other day from Smart Company which I thought was worth sharing.
Boost Juice founder Janine Allis talked about four things that she learnt from her experience of working on David Bowie’s yacht when she was only 21.
Janine says the two years working for David Bowie were very important in shaping her attitude later in life. The thought of working on his yacht sounded very glamorous “but gee – guess who had to clean the toilets”.
It is important that we realise life is not all beer and skittles – to appreciate the good things in life we have to experience the tough things as well. When we do receive rewards we certainly appreciate them far more having worked for them, rather than having them handed to us.
Janine makes the comment that “being a girl from the suburbs, I didn’t think of them as humans.
They were on these pedestals with glamorous lives and money… but they had the same dreams and challenges with family, marriages and self-esteem as the person who works at a checkout at Coles… That was one of my biggest take-outs.”
Janine recalls a party on the yacht with several famous actors coming on board; she was so shocked to see that David Bowie was so nervous. “It was such an eye-opener. It is interesting when you see people behind closed doors, the human side of them.”
David Bowie ensured that his team were always invited to parties and went to the effort of making sure everyone felt “like a gang”.
“He didn’t want the people around him to be seen as less than someone else… it was a formative time for a young girl to learn how to treat people, no matter who you are… He was humble, he had his feet firmly planted on the ground.”
At the end of the day we are all the same!
