Читать книгу Doing Good By Doing Good - Baines Peter, Peter Baines - Страница 4

So how does a former police officer come to write a book on corporate social responsibility? I often ask myself the same question, as the path from where I began to where I am now has hardly been a predictable one.

After leaving school I soon found myself in uniform. I worked at Merrylands and Cabramatta police stations in the late eighties and early nineties. It was frustration over attending back-to-back domestic disputes rather than a passion for science that led me to join the Physical Evidence Section (later to become the Forensic Services Group) of the NSW Police. I found my place there and would spend the next 15 years ‘on the tools’, attending major crime scenes and incidents.

For 10 years I lived in rural New South Wales, where my three children, Lachlan, Kelsey and Jack were born. After years of driving up and down the New England and Newell highways investigating scenes of death and destruction, I was promoted to inspector and returned with my family to Sydney. When terrorism arrived on our doorstep with the Bali bombings in 2002, I was deployed as part of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team. The work of the Australians in Bali cemented our important regional role in disaster response in Asia–Pacific.

Just over two years later, while on a family holiday at the beach on the south coast of New South Wales, I watched the 6 pm news lead with the tsunami that had just struck South-East Asia. Within days I returned to my DVI work, this time on a much larger scale, in Thailand. In what remains to this day the world's largest identification attempt undertaken following a disaster, 5395 bodies were recovered. I spent several months in Thailand, leading both the international and national teams in the disaster response. We faced unprecedented challenges that required unique solutions and strong leadership. I worked alongside some amazing people and had the opportunity to meet many individuals, both Thais and foreign visitors, who had lost family members.

But it was meeting the children who had lost their parents that would really change things for me. It was August, some eight months on from the tsunami, and there were 32 of them living in a tent, which was the only home they had. I couldn't change what had happened, but I felt it was within my power to change what happened next in their lives. This was the birth of the charity Hands Across the Water.

During the final two years of my career with NSW Police I worked on a counter-terrorism project with Interpol in Lyon, France, and with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in South-East Asia.

I began raising money for Hands through paid speaking engagements, during which I talked about leadership. Pursuing the corporate speaking circuit and holding down a full-time job, while at the same time trying to build the charity, proved to be unsustainable over the longer term. I knew I could no longer do justice to all three and had to make a decision. At the end of 2008 I resigned from the police force after 22 years, putting my faith in my ability to draw an income from my speaking and my new consulting practice.

I have been fortunate enough to travel the globe speaking to audiences of all sizes, from all industries, and meeting some amazing people along the way. The more I spoke, the more Hands grew; as Hands grew, so did my corporate speaking, and I was able to turn what I learned into a successful consultancy.

Hands has grown to cover all points of the compass in Thailand. Several hundred children have found sanctuary in the seven centres we run across the country. At one centre we were able to halt the alarming mortality rate among children with HIV-related illnesses. Thirteen of our children from the tsunami home are now at university.

One of our major sources of income, our sponsored bike rides, now sell out in a matter of hours, and a high percentage of riders return year on year based on the strength of their experience. And I get to lead corporate bike rides in Thailand, which has prompted me to wonder whether I can now describe myself as a professional cyclist when filling out my customs form on the journey home.

These days travel, both domestic and international, is something I do every week. I absolutely love it and feel incredibly fortunate. When I'm not travelling, home for CT, my very patient, loving and supportive partner, and me is the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

In 2011 Pan Macmillan published my autobiography, Hands Across the Water: the children of the tsunami, and one man's crusade to make a difference, which is now in its fourth printing and continues to sell well. Then last year I was approached by the team at Wiley: would I be interested in writing on the concept of corporate social responsibility? It took some time for me to warm to the idea, but as I sat and planned what the book might cover I became increasingly enthusiastic about the opportunity to share my own experiences and especially those of others who are, in my opinion, doing corporate social responsibility well. What excites me most about this book is that I can see tangible benefits flowing both to business and, importantly, to the charity sector from the initiatives outlined here. As you'll see, it really is a case of doing good by doing good.

If you would like to get in touch, you can email me at peter@peterbaines.com.au or visit www.peterbaines.com.au.

Part of the proceeds of the sale of this book will go to Hands Across the Water. For more information on Hands, please visit www.handsacrossthewater.org.au .