Corporate Social Review Magazine 3rd & 4th QUARTER 2012 | Page 109

Interview with Bernice Samuals The Halo effect … Bernice Samuels talks to us about Building Cathedrals, putting men on the moon and buying wheel chairs ... by Paul S Rowlston Bernice Samuels is the Chief Marketing Of?cer for FNB, she loves her job and the people she does that job with. But she doesn't think she's selling a service … She says she's selling values and a value system … And, she says, that's a much more exciting and interesting proposition for everyone involved … including her customers. At the start of our conversation with Bernice we swopped two stories. Neither one of them may be true, or they may both be true. It's impossible to be sure. But, if we had our druthers here at CSR we'd like to think that BOTH stories are true and are only two stories on continuum of similarly inspiring tales of 'engagement'. The ?rst (for the record, our preferred supplier) deals with Sir Christopher Wren and the building of Saint Paul's Cathedral in London after the great ?re of 1666. As the story has it, Wren was touring the site of his most spectacular achievement as it swarmed with workers of every description doing jobs of great complexity and skill with little more than muscle power and simple tools. During his tour Sir Christopher met workers of every description. Carpenters and Stone Masons and all the other artisans of the day. As he paused and spoke to them each would explain what he job was and what role he was playing, each focused on the skills and crafts they employed in service of the great man and his greatest construction. Photo: Pieter de Ras CORPORATE SOCIAL REVIEW 107