Graham Stewart

Writing to discover what I think and believe in increasingly fractured times

Like Minds

A New LikeMinds Event, A New Film, And An Exhibition

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It’s not quite Four Weddings and a Funeral but the end of the month is starting to look busy.

I’m looking forward to the next LikeMinds breakfast event on January 28th. The speaker at 12 Hay Hill this time will be media entrepreneur John Pearson. John is currently Chairman of Imagen but is possibly best known for his time as CEO at Virgin Radio. The fact that he has also been chairman at Shazam gives you an indication of the sort of circles in which he moves — and influences.

You can find out more about the event on the LikeMinds site and, of course, I’ll be writing up the event shortly after it happens. That report will appear — along with a video of me asking John some questions (or at least John answering my questions) — on the LikeMinds site and I’ll write a post here to let you know when it’s live.

In other news, I’ve been invited to a special screening of the new Paolo Sorrentino film — Youth — starring Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel (always a favourite except in the fucking Direct Line ads), and Rachel Weisz. The trailer looks good.

The film opens in the UK on the 29th of this month. I’ll be attending a screening on the 22nd. Get me.

The end of the month is already looking busy. I’m off to a special viewing of the new exhibition — Painting the Modern Garden — at The Royal Academy on the 27th. I’m just a cultural butterfly.

Reports on all to follow.

Roger Parry At Like Minds

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I am late in posting this, thanks to a combination of a flurry of work in the last few months of the year and the fact that I took my site down for maintenance (read: refresh) and have only just put it back live again.

So, in October, Roger Parry — a man with one of the longest media CVs around — came to speak at the Like Minds Breakfast event. Another month, another venue. And instead of a simple talk this time, however, Roger conversed with journalist Molly Flatt.

Prior to the talk, on the back of a story I told about Orkney, Molly shared with me that she had recently completed her first novel. Part of the novel — a thriller — is set in Orkney and it is now available to pre-order from her website.

You can read my report of the conversation between Molly and Roger on the Like Minds site, as ever. And, as ever, I asked Roger some questions after the event, so we could make a video of the key points covered.

The variety of speakers at the Like Minds events, combined with the variety of attendees, makes these breakfasts unique. There was another one in November, which I will mention in a later post this week. I’m looking forward to an exciting roster of speakers in 2016.

Andy Gibson At Like Minds

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Breakfast is back.

Yes, the Like Minds Breakfast events have returned.

The new venue is in Farringdon, at the HQ/Showroom of Swedish office furniture makers Kinnarps. I like them already because they provide full-size pastries as part of the welcoming breakfast. It is always hard to network at full throttle when offered bite-sized pastries and small cups of coffee. Maybe it’s the Swedish influence.

This month’s guest speaker was Andy Gibson of Mindapples. He spoke about looking after your mind, especially at work. This happens to be the subject of his new book, A Mind For Business.

As usual, I sat with Andy after his talk and forced him to answer questions on video. My report of his talk is now up on the Like Minds site. This also contains a link through to the video interview.

Philippa Snare at Like Minds

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I’ve been slow linking to this. Apologies.

Early last month, the guest at the Like Minds Women in Business Salon Talk was Microsoft CMO Philippa Snare. As someone who has long been a bit negative on all things Microsoft, I must confess that Philippa’s talk had me re-evaluating some opinions. For a while, at least.

Anyway, here’s the report of Philippa’s talk on the Like Minds site.

And, apropos my reference to Steve Ballmer at the end, I think it’s only fair to include this piece of video magic:

Minter Dial At Like Minds

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Like Minds has established a late afternoon series of talks now to complement their breakfast events. I was fortunate enough to be invited along to the first of these “Women in Business” events at the start of the month.

The speaker was the energetic and entertaining Minter Dial, who spoke about “Digital Innovation in Retail”. There were cupcakes, too. My report of the event is on the Like Minds site.

The next Breakfast – with author Josh Kaufman – and Women in Business – with Microsoft’s Philippa Snare – events are both next week and I shall be posting reports of the talks on the Like Minds site shortly afterwards. (Your notion of ‘shortly’ may not be the same as mine, of course.)

Robert Bean At Like Minds

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Given Robert Bean’s achievements working with brands such as BMW, BT, and Honda, it is a little surprising – and pleasing, of course – to find him so modest, approachable, and downright likeable.

The modesty may have something to do with the fact that he is QPR fan, of course.

Robert came to speak at Like Minds in April. Here is my report of the Robert Bean event.

After his talk, we went downstairs to the basement of the ME Hotel and taped an interview. You can see Robert’s replies to my questions here.