The other day, I was thinking about a client of mine form about five years ago, we’ll call him David, I was looking at him across the desk and he looked so sad – I asked him, why? He responded, “This has been the worst experience of my life – I have no idea what I’m going to do next.”
In 2016, the first of the Baby Boomers started to turn 70. This has triggered the largest social phenomena on the planet – retirement. This year and for the next 20 years EVERY day will be a world record for people retiring!
A significant percentage of those will be professional retirees who are 5-7 years out from retiring. Retire Inspire 1 brings together 23 world experts on retiring well. As you’d expect there are financial experts but we have experts in health, leisure, life satisfaction and contribution etc all important factors in feeling satisfaction in retirement.
This is an extraordinary read packed with smart cuts and great advice.
After completing his culinary training at the Antwerp culinary school, Dirk gained valuable experience working in Michelin-Star restaurants in Belgium before embarking on a journey in the private yachting industry, where he dedicated 14 years to perfecting his craft.
Following his yachting career, Dirk relocated to Miami, Florida, where he owned and operated Yen Catering, a successful catering and events business, for over 12 years. The Eten brand, associated with Dirk De Cuyper’s culinary expertise, was later acquired by Bill Hansen Catering, a renowned Miami-based catering company. Eten Catering, under Dirk’s guidance, continues to thrive, serving clients throughout the South Florida area.
Currently based in the UK, Dirk is on a new culinary adventure, developing a range of fresh finishing sauces destined for the UK food service and retail sector. His wealth of experience and passion for food promise to bring exciting flavors to the British culinary scene.
This typically enables the leadership of a business to make the appropriate process, platform or cultural improvements to benefit their profitability. These skills have been refined over 18+ years of creating and delivering funded and commercial projects that engaged over 320 regional businesses. He is an experienced innovator who is well-connected within the region.
He has recently completed the delivery of the £9M Cyber Quarter facility for the West Midlands and is actively engaged in the regional cyber & investment communities. He has also created and delivered projects like the £3.2M Innovation Engine programme for the West Midlands and implemented distributed working environments, online collaboration and innovation spaces and business resilience processes.
Whilst at Innovation Birmingham, he expanded the Serendip® community, developed the innovation community, and facilitated the technology & commercial discussions between many SMEs. This included commercial engagement with Universities and partner organisations [Tata Motors, Barclays Eagle Labs, WMAHSN, National Express, Gymshark, TfWM].
He enjoys messing about on the water sailing, exploring or training. Hugo and his wife have creative daughters, a pet and the memorable experiences of starting up and exiting health and tech businesses.
With an unwavering dedication to the nitty-gritty details of structuring, financials, and governance, he’s the go-to expert for those seeking a pragmatic approach to business. Adrian’s unapologetic focus on the bottom line ensures that every venture he touches is geared towards success.
Outside the boardroom, Adrian’s passion for motorsport perfectly mirrors his love for innovation. Just as he cheers for victories on the racetrack, he champions his clients to achieve triumphs in the business world. At Rockfine Group, Adrian is not just a consultant; he’s a dynamic catalyst for your entrepreneurial journey.
Mike believes isolation kills creativity and prevents decision making. You need to be surrounded by a team of people who support you in your personal and business life.
Mike asks the questions that most others shy away from. He challenges your options and helps you find more opportunities. He connects you with the right collaborative partners you didn’t know you needed.
Mike provides that vital external insight through a powerful combination of 1:1 coaching, non-executive thinking and masterminding, to achieve maximum results for you personally and professionally.
Since then, he has led the delivery of numerous projects across various fields, gaining a comprehensive understanding of multiple technology domains. He has a proven track record of advancing projects from conception to production.
From a design perspective, James is captivated by the challenge of simplifying complex processes. He actively strives to ensure that products are comprehensible to all stakeholders, both technical and commercial, to prevent misunderstandings akin to those in the “Pentagon Wars” from reoccurring.
Working across a range of disciplines from support of key applications to technical project management such as the roll-out of help-desk, John has always worked at the forefront of technologies from the commercialisation of the web in the late 90s to the areas around cloud technologies and cyber-security today.
Whether it’s reviewing a company’s technology stack to looking at how an organisation is protecting its digital assets, John will help translate the tech speak into language that key business stakeholders understand to make the right decisions about the what and how they use technology.
He works with governments, companies and start-ups to refine their communications messages and the platforms on which they deliver them. And then checks that’s it is working.
In previous lives, he worked in media, in senior roles at the Guardian, the Independent and, most recently, as editor in chief at HuffPost UK.
He has dabbled in agency work – in consumer PR at Freuds and in public affairs at Portland. And he has worked in government too – as head of digital comms for two Prime Ministers and as head of digital diplomacy for two Foreign Secretaries.
As a consultant, he has worked for governments in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, for international organisations such as the OECD and ICANN and for billion dollar companies and start-ups. He has written for the Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Independent, Newsweek, HuffPost, PR Week, the Sun and more.
Based in the UK but originally from Seattle, Dan understands the cultural differences businesses face when approaching international markets and has developed an impressive track record of helping companies from around the world establish their presence in Europe, and European companies expanding internationally.
Over the last 20 years, Dan has sourced commercial and technology partners with and for independent development firms such as Ericsson, HSBC, Microsoft, Sony and Nokia. He has also worked with inward investment clients in the UK, France, Canada, Ireland, Singapore and Malta.
Whether moving from minimum viable product to market leader, or expanding into new markets, Dan will hep source the pieces of the puzzle to make it happen. This includes securing and negotiating of terms with investors, content/IP holders, partners and talent throughout his network.