SHONE GIBBS always seems to be on the go. If it isn’t a meeting with a client, then there’s a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting at his children’s schools or another school, teaching part-time at the University of the West Indies’ Open campus, at Scouts or at church.
For the president of the Barbados National Council of Parent Teacher Associations (BNCPTA), the umbrella body for PTAs in Barbados, he has learnt to juggle all of the demands of being a businessman, a community leader and a parent.
He likes it in fact, and even though he is exhausted at the end of the day, he wouldn’t change anything.
One of 10 children (seven boys and three girls), he is big on family and giving back, leading by example for his two children.
It was at the end of another typical day that he sat down for a chat with EASY. He openly shared his thoughts on youth, PTAs and parents, particularly fathers, getting involved in their children’s lives and growing up with his siblings.
There is no magical or secret formula to how he gets by. It is a case of not wasting a single minute and managing his personal time which comes “just before” he goes to bed or just after he wakes. Then, it is “Shone’s time”.
“That’s the time to look at my checklist of successes and on mornings I get up, pray, plan my day, and set my list of Top 10 priorities. I do this every day, even on weekends, which are usually for Scouts and work. Sundays are for housework, being in the kitchen, church and getting ready for the week ahead.
“Getting involved in so many things happened naturally. From The Alleyne School I was involved in a lot of activities – ISCF, Scouts, Cadets at one time, the school magazine, the school band, you name it. If it was, there Shone wanted to be involved.
“After being in the Lions Club of Barbados East in the early 1990s, I got more involved in social activities, things that were related to youth development. I always felt that the youth needed a voice and there was room for positive focus by youth and that’s where my involvement really got going.”
Growing up in a large family, he had to find his identity, his sense of purpose. He knows what it is to be the smallest and to have “the love and protection from daddy”.
“Being in such a large family was really important. I also had the experience of the extended family because very often you would get to spend time with your grandmum and your uncles. I had the best of both worlds growing up, and it definitely informed how I see and view family. I recognised that at the end of the day it is family first. Family is important whether it is a single parent, whether it be extended family, even if it is a broken family because you can still have a family even if it is broken,” he stated.
Shone believes in servant leadership and practises this regardless what he is doing. He is about empowering people, especially young people, to do and be their best and to grow.
“I believe that if we adults take the time to help a child and bring him/her into their purpose, when you get purpose you get passion. When you put the two together you can get extraordinary things from ordinary people,” he said.
He added: “I’m a Christian person who believes that you give, you get back in return and where I’m giving to a calling that is so important, I believe that my business, my family and things that have to do with Shone will be blessed otherwise.”
When it comes to his family, it is “quality more so than quantity”.
“They understand and they respect the sacrifice that I have to make from time to time. When there’s a need for it, my world stops for my family. There are times when I have to say, ‘I need to do this though and I can’t make it’ and they understand. They also know when it matters most, my world stops for them.”
Being a hands-on dad, he found ways to get more involved in his children’s lives, starting when his now 15-year-old son entered nursery.
“From the time he entered primary school I was involved in the PTA and never looked back. I believe it is one of those things where you have to invest to get a return and if you look at the educational system we speak often about home-school-relationship, parent-teacher relationship. How can you not be involved if you recognise that you can guarantee success for your children if you’re involved in the process and if you help to work that home-school-parent-teacher-relationship?
“I thought I would go to the PTA and support the school but I landed as first vice-president and my then president said to me ‘you really should be president, you know. So, you go ahead’ and started releasing a lot of things to me and at the end of the year, it was, ‘That’s the president’,” he said chuckling, at the memory.
He wants more men to step up.
“There is definitely a dire need for men to come into leadership at every level – family, community and otherwise. One of the things we always say, and we cannot deny, is that women are in the forefront of a lot of activities – even in the scout movement they took the charge.
“When I came on board with the [BNCPTA] in 2010, I felt there was a need for male leadership and it would have been a dereliction of duty not to make myself available for such a calling. That I did willingly, knowing it would have taken sacrifices but it is something that I remain committed to up to this day.”
Shone is forever grateful for the love and “network of support” he gets from his immediate and extended family and close friends. He said he simply cannot get by without them on any given day. (GBM)
