With my hindu background, it’s a title we label only to those that give you real guidance and inspiration to lead great work. ‘GURU’ in sanskrit terms means ‘teacher’ or ‘master’. A teacher that not only inspires you, but one, that enlightens you.
My first encounter with my guru, Terry Maguire, was at a global pain conference. Amongst big fish, I was honoured to be present. I met and spent the conference with great souls of pharmacy; Leyla Hannbeck (Head of Pharmacy Services, NPA), Graham Jones (Director, IPF) and Ash Soni OBE (President, RPS). This conference really changed my thought processes on pharmacy, and how to move forward. I learnt, and am learning, great skills from these fantastic pharmacy heroes!
Then out of the blue, during a break in the conference, a smiling gentleman approached the four of us. I was out of my depth, all three, Leyla, Graham and Ash turned and greeted their old friend Terry. And as a true gent, he introduced himself to me … I already knew who he was, but he was down to earth treating me as an old friend. This was the beginning …
I’ve been very fortunate to be asked to attend several pharmacy advisory boards, where I have met inspiring personalities such as, Deborah Evans, Fin Mc Caul, Hemant Patel, John Bell and Ewan Black. What has been constant, is my encounters with, Terry Maguire. He has been my seating partner in almost every advisory board to date!
What I have learnt in a short time is that Terry has many roles; pharmacist, commissioner and leader. He has made great changes in pharmacy and has certainly been way ahead of his time when changes were needed.
For me he has been inspiring … grown to be a friend … and now I have tagged him with a label … My GURU!
With his permission I have asked Terry to be a guest blogger of my blog page and spread his wisdom and inspiration to us all. I will post a series of his work, past and present.
I am hoping that as pharmacists, we can unite and learn from each other … with this I would like to have more guest bloggers on this site to allow us to carry on and share the great work we do, and need to do.
Please email me if interested to be one of the guest bloggers for dearPHARMACIST.info _ email:sunil@dearpharmacist.info
