reverse the "negative'' mood enveloping the Island.

"This country just doesn't feel positive to me. We need to change that,'' Bank of Bermuda executive vice president and chief operating officer Henry Smith said yesterday.

"I have to say I am struck by the amount of negative comment I have heard and read since my return.

"There seems to be so much open bickering and one-upmanship going on, and I'm not just talking about politics. I see it in my own organisation. I see it over and over in the general public,'' he said.

"So many people seem to have complaints or criticisms, but don't offer solutions.'' Mr. Smith, who, in 1998, will succeed retiring Bank of Bermuda president and CEO Charles Vaughan-Johnson, spoke at the Bermuda Employers' Council's 36th Annual General Meeting at the Hamilton Princess.

He recently returned to Bermuda from London where he ran the bank's Europe operations. He was appointed chief operating officer on July 1.

Who has responsibility for making business success happen? The first place to look is in the mirror -- there is the "proverbial holder of the buck,'' he told a filled Tiara Room.

"We are the ones that are going to have to find ways to get things done, not Government, not the unions, not our staff, although it would be helpful to have them all on our side.'' Mr. Smith added that Bermuda's most valuable resource is people.

"They need to know how Bermuda fits together, what makes it tick. Maybe some people are happy to clock in nine to five, do their own jobs and then go, but I think they want more involvement.'' A key to developing a solid workforce is exposure to senior, experienced management and that means giving staff more time and support, he said.

Mr. Smith, who started with the Bank of Bermuda 23 years ago as a management trainee, said he remembered having ideas early in his career.

But he also remembered walking away frustrated or found his idea had become someone else's.

Bermuda companies may have to let staff make decisions earlier and take the risks associated with such a move, he said.

Bermuda has shown it can be successful and Mr. Smith cited the Island's three banks, with over $670 million in combined capital, as an example.

He also called Bermuda's insurance industry arguably the "most successful'' in the world.

On tourism, he said that, despite recent troubles, the industry has created a lifestyle for many Bermudian families that prior generations could never have dreamed of.

"We can and have competed.'' And as competition gets tougher, "we have to know exactly what businesses we are going to be in.''