JPMA announces 2019 Leadership Awards winner

Crew training centre JPMA announced the winner of this year’s John Percival Leadership Award at Monaco Yacht Show last month.

Bosun Sam Brown was named the winner following his nomination by deckhand Colleen Meehan.

Discussing the reasons for nominating Brown, Meehan said, “I have had the pleasure of working under Sam for about a year, during which he has demonstrated countless times his natural ability to be a leader, teacher, and friend. I think we can all agree that joining your first boat is not easy and starting out on deck as a green female is quite intimidating.

“As I sit here recollecting on all that I have learned and accomplished over the past year, I can’t help but think of all the meaningful moments that Sam motivated and pushed me to be stronger. Sam encouraged and motivated me to go and get my USCG 100 ton license. He did this by teaching me about the bridge on our watches underway, teaching me what everything means in the log book, explaining to me the meaning of lights displayed by other vessels, and much more on navigation.

“Naturally, like most of my classmates, I was overwhelmed with the difficulty of the course. I came back to the boat frustrated with homework that I did not understand. Sam volunteered his own time to help me with my charts and explain my rules of the road questions. Before I knew it, I passed all the exams and can honestly say that I could not have done it without Sam.

“I think that everyone comes across people that are their life coaches. Some could come and go faster than others, but each is meant to cross paths with you to bring you closer to finding your true self. I am extremely grateful for having the opportunity to work under Sam Brown and believe that he deserves to be recognised for his greatness.”

After discovering that he had won, Brown noted, “Since I was young I have been surrounded by great leaders, especially my father, who is a skipper on fishing vessels off the coast of Cornwall. Going on board with him since I can remember, I was able to watch the way he led his team, through firm guidance and by giving people responsibility that made them proud of their work.

“I tried to follow those same principles when I joined the yachting industry. I feel very lucky that I have had the chance to lead such great crew members like Colleen, who are keen to learn and take pride in their work.  What I have learned the most is if you can get them to care about what they do, they will do it to the best of their ability. It is finding their internal motivation and helping them bring it to the surface.”

In a release, JPMA revealed that it had received some very strong entries for its prestigious award and wanted to place on record all those people who invested time in making a nomination, and recognising the hard work of their fellow crew.

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