Steve Gill is flying! Just goes to show that great refrigeration engineers can make incredible ambassadors for the industry.   There are others of course and rising stars too such as Chris Baillie.  In Britain, we have been blessed with a long history of prominent industry  figures who rise to shine on the world stage.  Steve is right, the Internet has opened up the opportunity to a great many more who would not normally be considered as leaders. But it today's world they are. Great read Steve. Keep flying! 

I think this post is excellent. It is a similar theme to another of Steve's posts proposing a 'Fred' Award for frontline staff. These are the really ambassadors for the industry because their actions can make or break the reputation more easily than anyone else.  If they get it right, we all do. But if they get it wrong, the reputation of the industry suffers.

These man  and women on the frontline out number the rest of the industry many times over, but they are rarely considered as holding an important role. 

Well said, Steve. 

I agree that we need more women role models.  I don't know Jane Gartshore although she was over here recently.  I would say that Ania Hampton, the first women to be elected at President of AIRAH is a wonderful role mode and industry ambassador, and it seems others would agree as she has this month won the inaugural CCN 201 6 Women In HVACR Award.  There were three other finalists - Kim Limburg, Lisa Dainty, and Louise McCann, all of them great role models and worthy winners. 

As for male ambassadors, I would add   Stefan Jensen, and Stuart Saville. 

Also agree with one of the previous comments regarding Steve Gill's poster campaign that proved to be very popular in Australia and New Zealand.  Steve, of course, is one of the few what I would call global ambassadors for this industry.  I've never met him but heard nice things about him.  And yes, he writes an inspirational blog post too! :-)

I think one of the finest examples of being an ambassador for the HVACR industry has been the refrigeration poster campaign that Steve Gill produced.  It was a global success and rightly won awards around the world.   I have read that AIRAH are now following up and building upon this.  It is great to see international bodies working together.  The posters were a huge success in Aus and NZ. I also saw them in Dubai translated into Arabic. 

I think the success story of the poster demonstrates that with social media, one can be an ambassador for the HVACR industry in so many new ways than previously possible.

I would like to add another name to the list of people mentioned. Klaus Visser here in Aus as been a great ambassador for the industry both at home and abroad.   Klaus is a fine example that age doesn't dampen a person influence or passion or ability to be an ambassador.  As Steve says, age is not a barrier, but nor is it the sole qualification.  It is passion, knowledge, and  enthusiasm for the industry.

Great post Steve.  I couldn't agree more

Inspiring post. Just the sort of positive outlook this industry needs at the moment

The negative comments left by some about older people acting as ambassadors really misses the point of this post as Steve says that EVERYONE CAN be an ambassador. No one is excluded.  So old, or young, male or female, working in whatever capacity, senior or junior for any organisation.  So spread an inclusive message, we are all potentially ambassadors. 

Thank you Steve

I guess I am old school. My grandchildren laugh at men when it comes to even using my smart phone. But I am an apprenticeship trained ammonia refrigeration engineer from back in the 'good old days'. 

I recall as an apprentice having a old guy who had all but retired from the company come around and give us a talk about the possibilities that a career in refrigeration would give us.  'What does this old man know?' was my thought at the time. Looking back, the truth is that what he told us was both right and wrong.   The importance of refrigeration to the world and how useful having skills in this field would prove to be for us, was correct.  He said that I would have a job for life, and yes, I did have. 

But the business world and working practises he described had changed, even back then, we knew that he was 'thinking and talking' like an old person.  It is a shame, and very shallow,  but I have to say that his appearance put me off, I didn't want to be like him. I associated the industry with this old man.  Clever, indeed, very clever and respected as he was, I didn't like to think that the fridge industry was full of old men like him. 

But now I am like him, in fact I am at least 10 years older than he was when he spoke to us. And human nature tells me that if I went to speak to young people today that I would more than likely have the same disconnection with them as he had with us. We respected his knowledge, but truth is, we didn't want to be like him.

Then along came the internet, which I can and do use. In fact, it is my window to the world.  I spend several hours a day on it reading industry news and technical articles. The world is changing so fast.  I recall having to almost steal the catalogues from competitors to try and find out what they are up to. Now I can download almost all the information including prices from most of them online. It is all available. Remarkable.

The Internet has also opened up the potential for me to engage with others from around the world about the industry that I love.  I have online chats with fellow fridge engineers from all over.  I can help them, and I can offer advice.  What is more, the basics of the systems are not changed, so my knowledge is valued.

I never ever wanted to end up like the 'ambassador' who came to talk to us apprentices all those years ago, and I haven't, but that doesn't mean that like him, I am not feeling the sense of 'putting something back' into the industry, by sharing my passion and knowledge. 

Steve, you are 100% correct.   We are all ambassadors for the industry, and what is more, there are endless opportunities for us to keep involved. 

Keep up the good work Steve. I intend to, and feel that I can wear the ambassador badge with pride, along with many many others that choose to do so.

 

I don't think that anyone can deny that when they think of an ambassador, they immediately think of a person holding face to face meetings, or carrying out official visits.  But Steve is right, because I thought deeply about it, I realised that all the ambassadors that I thought of  I have actually only ever come into contact  with digitally. I have seen them on news reports or on TV, or youtube, or even just read about them.   
But then I thought about other ambassadors for companies, and these are not the sales people, these are the ones that I come into contact with through our daily working.  They are ambassadors for their organisations, not the CEOs. In fact, I don't even know who most of the heads of the companies that i deal with are.

So then I thought about the ACR industry, and again, Steve was right. The people that I naturally think of as the great ambassadors for the industry are either ones that I read about, but more than that, they are also the ones, who are also in other ways quite ordinary, but who face the industry in a positive way.  We have so many when I think about it. The top students and trainees, the service engineers who go out of their way to help their customer, there are so many examples, and yes, none fit the old world vision of the retired guy visiting schools.  This is not meant to be ageist because it is more a mental picture than an actual one. Because being past retirement age doesn't stop one being an ambassador.  

We do need more women flying the flag for this industry and it is good to hear that Steve has launched the Women in RACHP network.  

This is a very good post, and inspires me to step up and do more, or perhaps just do what I am doing but be aware that in my own way, I am also an ambassador for the ACR industry, and that these words here do matter. We all have a voice now.

 

Very smart and intelligent read.  So many out there blame others for not doing enough to support our industry, yet at the same time, do nothing themselves.  It is true that with the power of the internet we are all ambassadors for the industry as our words travel far and wide in a split second. Equally important is that our actions do too. There have been many names mentioned here as being great industry ambassadors and I would like to add Mark Forsyth from Skillfridge.  He has been working hard ro raise standards in this industry through the Skillfridge competition.   I think Steve Gill is also involved in that too.   Thank heavens that we have guys like this out there.  The ACR Industry may always need more of us to be active in a positive way, but we have also been fortunate to have the ones that we have.  Very good article. 

Hi Glenn, Frankly the IoR stuff is very dated. As a STEM ambassador I'm looking to engage students up to the age of 18 including relatively young children. What I think is needed is either games or toys that focus on our industry. You have to engage the student very quickly and their attention span is usually no more than 10 minutes. I take a hand held Sterling engine around the careers shows that  I attend and both the kids and the adults love it. What we use must first be safe, very safe, have no batteries and be fun. It must be very portable and robust. It must engage the students in the core of our business, in other words basic temperature and pressure demonstrations. To give you an example here is link to a web site in India, this is how one teacher does it.  http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/fun-with-pressure.php

Thank you Roger for reminding me that this post existed.  There are some really big names leaving comments here. I agree with you, this was a fine post from Steve.

Spot on. The notion that an ACR Industry Ambassador has to be a retired head of a company or a professor is so out-dated that only the white-elephant organisations still reward these types.
In the mean-time, the modern world has moved on and the people really influencing the day to day roots of the industry will be found on the web, not in the board room or lecture theatre.

Great observational blog and right up to date.

This is best blog from Mr Gill yet in my opinion

Very sad new about Eddie. The industry has lost one of its leaders and best ambassadors
Thoughts are with his family and friends at this time
BF

Well said Steve.Spoken like a true statesman
Very sad news about Eddie. An impossible act to follow.
Commiserations to Eddie's family and friends.

My New Year's Resolution is to be an Ambassador for the ACR industry like Steve Gill, Graeme Fox, Barry Lyons, John Emm, Mike Nankivell, and all the others mentioned above by others. These people are giants of the UK ACR industry and also internationally known.
These people show us what is possible if we put our minds and spirits to it.
I know I have missed many names off the list and I don't wish to offend anyone, so please do not take any offense. But I wish and hope that one day my name may join the ranks of those named about and elsewhere in this thread
Merry Christmas Steve and a Happy New Year to all.

I read this blog after reading the other blogs by Steve Gill and Graeme Fox.
Interesting who is mentioned here and who isn't.
I there there is a great divide appearing between the judges of the industry award and the actual industry. Although some winners of the appear to have been popular choices judging by the comments here, it is also clear that old men coming to the end of their careers is not something that appeals to the modern industry in the same was as it did in the past. Miriam Rodway, the IOR secretary and last year's winner of the Alan Moor Award was a surprising choice but also a brave one. Steve Gill points the way to the future here by recognising those that are active in a more modern way.
The industry is going through a change and a period of looking at itself as mentioned in Graeme Fox's blog. The new Customer Service Award is a way to shake off the past and to re-evaluate what is important to this industry, to what values it should promote.
Although the Fred Award blog from Steve received more attention, I think this one asks just as many questions of the ACR industry in the modern world. Time to move with the times. Great blog

There is some stuff on the IOR website which can be used online or downloaded:
http://www.ior.org.uk/education
May not be up to the IET level but it is something.
The IOR as you are probably aware is run in the main by volunteers and funded by donations. If you feel passionate about this subject why not contact the IOR and offer to help them. I am sure they will appreciate it.
As for CIBSE, they are much better funded and supported but I am not sure what they do for schools in the way of promoting the industry. Perhaps someone else can advise on that.
Brighton.

Steve's blogs read like a statesman for the industry. I can't think of a person in the industry today who sees the bigger picture better than him while still retaining an eye for the details and most importantly the people working within it.
Luckily there are many great ambassadors for the ACR industry and Steve is one of the finest in every sense of the word.
I hope Steve's example and this blog will motivate others to raise their game and become proud members of the industry too.
I expect this post will greatly embarrass Steve but I felt that it was worth saying because I can say that he has been an inspiration for me personally.

I would like to add Dave Pearson of Star Refrigeration to the list of names of industry ambassadors given previously by others

He really is doing some fantastic work and following in the fine tradition of the Pearson family.

I find myself disagreeing with Ric Newman's comment, but don't really feel strongly enough to openly say that I disagree. Let's say that I beg to differ.
The term 'ambassador' is so subjective that we can all put our own interpretation to it and argue effectively for any individual or even group of people. Of course, this also applies the other way and we can equally argue effectively against any one, but lets not get into that.
The reason that I find myself disagreeing with Ric's comment is obviously based upon my own notion of what an 'ambassador' is. Each of the Awards that Ric mentions, has a set of criteria which I assume the judges use as a basis for their selection of an eventual Award recipient. I have nothing but admiration for the winners of all the Awards and certainly am in no position to disagree with any of them, but would I describe then (or at least some of them) as ambassadors for the industry? The answer, my answer, is no, but then the Award was not particularly aimed with being an industry ambassador in mind.
There has only been one recipient of the Phil Creaney Award as yet and I must say that the winner does fit the bill (to my mind at least) as being an ambassador for the industry as well. May be that is because there has only been one winner so far so less people to consider.
I do not know who all the winners of the Fred Jamieson Award have been, but of those that I know of, I don't think that all fit my idea of what an industry ambassador should be. I don't think (again this is all a personal view) that all the IOR Service Engineer Life time achievement Award winners have been great ambassadors, wonderful people though they all are. And finally, the Alan Moor Award, again a mixed bag when it comes to the 'ambassador for the industry' stakes go.
Does this make any of the Award winners less worthy? No, they are all wonderful deserving winners, carefully chosen by conscientious judges against robust selection criteria.
Having read this blog several times, I find that I agree that today, more than ever, there are more opportunities to become visible to a wider audience and that some individuals are using this to good effect by promoting the industry in a positive light and also by helping others.
We have so many great people in this industry. Many of these will not win any Awards at dinners but as Steve says very eloquently "All of us are ambassadors for the ACR industry. Please take this responsibility seriously."

A list of past winners of the ACR News Alan Moor Award reads like a who's who of true industry ambassadors. These unsung heroes really do represent the industry for all the right reasons and have th etraditional core values that many of us in the industry hold dearly.
The advent of social media hasn't changed these values but it has allowed embassadors to take different approaches to representing the industry. More have become visable. New communication routes have changed, but values haven't.
This is very interesting and modern thinking article by one of the industry's best ambassadors.

Steve, congratulations on winning the HVR Awards last night.

Neil has a number of projects on the go - I can't speak for him on those - however I can say that he will be involved with ACR News one way or another for a while yet, and I'm certain you'll all see him at the ACR Show.

Well said. Good article

One thing I have to mention is the difference between social media & substance. The challenge here is how to orchestrate the seriousness of traditional ACR Industry ambassador values and the instantaneous gratification of fast media.