Mark Edwards has an animated, all-encompassing chat with award-winning, published author, strategist and brand expert Minter Dial
Background
Minter is a welcome and lively guest on BOSS-it. He introduces himself as 56 years old, living in London, an American citizen with a French passport, married to a Spanish lady
He's changed profession & moved country 15 times, worked at L’Oréal cosmetics company for 16 years and also at an investment bank. He started a travel agency for musicians, taught tennis, worked in a zoo and an aquarium.
Minter has also written a novel, a biography and 3 business books and produced a World War II documentary.
On Ageing and Staying Curious
Change things up - When you put on your trousers or underwear, change legs - 97% of what we do every day is the same every day. We are creatures of habit - Can we “unwire” ourselves?
Locked away in the ivory tower that is HQ, leaders become isolated from reality, because nobody has the courage to tell the boss what’s going on.
Leaders need to do more learning to experience things first hand - Not just read about stuff in the Financial Times.
Keep on “checking out the new stuff” and that’s how you’ll stay young at heart and be able to contribute longer-term to the business. Older people have experience and there’s value in that.
What personal achievement are you most proud of?
The journey I was on for 25 years to discover who my grandfather and grandmother were. My grandfather was killed in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp - To understand what they went through and to give thanks for the freedoms they fought for. Minter interviewed 130 WW2 veterans for the film, and it made him realise how truly privileged we are to be living the lives we do. Minter bellieves we can learn from the values they espoused, that they had a higher sense of honour and levels of courage and love that ran very deep.
Minter's film, “The Last Ring Home” outlines some of the challenges of having a father who didn’t return home and coming to terms with it. Through this journey, Minter and his father were able to understand themselves better and allow themselves to cry.
Final Thoughts...
Life is short - We need to cherish it; cherish the people we love and accept our emotions and imperfections.
Thanks so much, Minter for a really interesting and enlightening conversation.
Links & Contact:
The Last Ring Home
Film: http://www.thelastringhome.com/
Book: http://www.thelastringhome.com/book
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
Minter Dial:
https://www.minterdial.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/minterdial/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.facebook.com/minterdial/
Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/