OK, that’s not strictly true – he did have a few individuals in his sights, but you’ll have to turn to page 20 for the real dirt.
However, the interview was mostly interesting simply because after a decade of running the industry’s leading association, visiting hundreds of print firms, where he was probably told how he could run the federation better nearly as often as he told printers how to run their businesses better, it’s clear that Johnson’s passion for print is stronger than ever.
In fact, his biggest frustration with the industry was that collectively it didn’t share his passion and in some respects it is blinded to its many opportunities by focusing instead on a handful of threats. And, to be fair, he probably has a point.
Equally, he might be right in his opinion that the Partnership at Work agreement with Unite has passed its sell-by date.
However, I can’t help think that there is a very strong argument that now is the perfect time to dust it off and polish it up simply because we don’t need it. Because when the time comes that we do, it will probably be too late.
Whether you agree with everything he says or not, though, if the legacy of his tenure at the BPIF is that he made a few more people proud of print, then it was time well spent.
Darryl Danielli is editor of PrintWeek
Johnson's passion for print leaves an important legacy
Meeting with Michael Johnson in his final days as chief executive of the BPIF was an interesting experience for a number of reasons; the prime being that even though he was on the verge of having the shackles of office removed, he still had nothing but good things to say about the industry.
