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  • Let's Make Sick Kids Happy – a conversation with Peter Samuelson
    Jan 22 2026

    Film producer Peter Samuelson recounts the story behind the founding and growth of The Starlight Children’s Foundation, and the First Star charity.

    When Hollywood film producer Peter Samuelson received a telephone call from his cousin, the actress Emma Samms he did not expect to be setting up The Starlight Children’s Foundation.

    Even if you have never heard the name, you will know what Starlight does. It is the charity that makes the dreams of seriously sick children come true.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Peter recounts that phone call, and describes to host Michael Millward the meetings with Steven Spielberg and then General Norman Schwarzkopf that resulted in a Foundation that has raised and spent over a billion dollars on making sick kids happy.

    Peter describes his negotiation with Steven Spielberg and the management lessons he learnt from General Schwarzkopf.

    By any measure this is an inspirational story told in an entertaining way.

    Read more about the founding of Starlight, and the other charities that Peter has founded in his book Finding Happy.

    Peter also talks about First Star and the support it provides to children who are growing up in care to create better life chances.

    Watch Michael in The Magician.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for Rest and Recreation

    Buy Finding Happy from Amazon or Bookshop.org

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent.

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fmis where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

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    29 Min.
  • Selling Embarrassing Services – a conversation with Dr Matee Rajput
    Jan 20 2026

    Hair transplant specialist Dr Matee Rajput explains how he built a successful hair transplant business by normalising a medical treatment that many people did not want to admit they had had.

    Dr Matee Rajput is a specialist in hair transplant and the creator of the MinSim FUE™ technique, and founder of a chain of hair transplant clinics.

    He was training to be a neuro surgeon when a random request to help another doctor perform a hair transplant led to a fascination with the impact hair restoration had on patients.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Dr Matee explains to host Michael Millward how that fascination led to a change of specialism and then frustration with how the hair transplant industry operated. He resolved to change the way hair transplants were performed in the UK and how patients experienced the process.

    Dr Matee describes how he

    • Converted his passion into a consistent process that could be replicated by others.
    • Designed a patient experience that focused on why the person wanted the treatment
    • Used lessons from retail to ensure customer satisfaction
    • Changed perceptions of hair loss with younger people to normalise treatments options
    • Devised payment options to give more people access to treatments

    More information about Dr Matee and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds – Please help us to keep The Independent Minds free to listen to.

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing.

    Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and many more travel related purchases.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fm is where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

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    28 Min.
  • Protecting Your Brand – a conversation with Anita Mar from Trademark Angel
    Jan 15 2026

    How to protect the commercial value of your brand.

    Anita Mar is a trademark agent and the founder of Trademark Angel, a company that helps entrepreneurs and businesses around the world to protect their intellectual property including their brand names.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Anita explains to host Michael Millward what a brand is, the commercial advantages of having a recognisable brand and the process of registering a brand name or trade mark. She also explains some of the limits on trademark protection.

    Anita describes the Abeceder brand name as brilliant and invites Michael to share how he created it.

    More information about Anita Mar and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds – Please help us to keep The Independent Minds free to listen to.

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing.

    Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and many more travel related purchases.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fm is where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

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    28 Min.
  • Energetic Leadership – a conversation with author Gitte Madelaire
    Jan 13 2026

    Leading in a way that makes people feel led.

    Gitte Madelaire had a successful corporate career, who is now a board member, futurist and author of Energetic Leadership a book in which she proposes that as the world changes at an increasingly rapid pace the world also needs a different form of leadership.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Gitte explains to host Michael Millward what she thinks that approach to leadership should be.

    Their discussion covers

    • ·The psychological aspects of work and life that limit how we all think
    • The importance of psychological safety in creating the confidence to think outside the box.
    • Leading so that people feel led
    • Authentic curiosity about the future
    • The nine trends in leadership

    More information about Gitte Madelaire and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds – Please help us to keep The Independent Minds free to listen to.

    Buy Energetic Leadership from Amazon

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing.

    Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and many more travel related purchases.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fmis where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    28 Min.
  • Understanding Conversion Rate Optimisation – a conversation with Matt Stafford
    Jan 8 2026

    How to build, grow, and scale a web shop by converting more visitors into customers.

    Matt Stafford is the founder of Build Grow Scale, a company that helps entrepreneurs to create web shops like Anso Belts that people want to buy from.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Matt and host Michael Millward explore how anyone can establish a web shop that converts more visitors in to customers.

    During their conversation Matt and Michael discuss how to:

    • Convert the 97percent of visitors who do not buy into customers
    • Build trust and credibility with potential customers
    • Nurture value adding relationships with visitors that result in bigger sales
    • Provide exceptional customer service

    More information about Matt Stafford and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds – Please help us to keep The Independent Minds free to listen to.

    Buy the Tony Robbins and Dan Kennedy books that Matt Stafford read at Amazon

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing.

    Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and many more travel related purchases.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fm is where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    28 Min.
  • Using Data to Build a Business – a conversation with Anwin Mbah
    Jan 6 2026

    What can how successful businesses deal with data and money teach us about building a business?

    Anwin Mbah is a strategic profit advisor for time-strapped CEOs, and the founder of Wealth Fluency which helps small business owners to boost profits by eliminating the hassle of endless spreadsheets and analytics.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Anwin and host Michael Millward explore what makes successful business people different from those who just get by.

    They discuss how different attitudes to money and how successful people focus on wealth accumulation whereas the people who just get by are interested in income generation.

    Anwin then explains how unlocking the business data is the key to accumulating wealth.

    More information about Anwin Mbah and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds – Please help us to keep The Independent Minds free to listen to.

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing.

    Travel

    With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and many more travel related purchases.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fm is where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    28 Min.
  • Competing or Collaborating – a conversation with Jon Goehring
    Jan 1 2026

    Which approach delivers the most sustainable business success?

    Jon Goehring is a radio personality, university professor and founder of Trust Media an audio media production company, based in Rochester New York.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Jon and host Michael Millward explore the development of Jon’s business and how moving from a competitive strategy to a more collaborative approach resulted in the business succeeding.

    Their discussion covers

    • The importance of knowing and understanding your strengths
    • How to apply the ‘ice-cream’ model to identify your unique selling point and what other unique selling points will compliment yours.
    • What a successful collaboration successful
    • Why collaborations fail
    • The difference between collaborations and commercial relationships.
    • The future of collaboration

    More information about Jon Goehring and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds – Please help us to keep The Independent Minds free to listen to.

    Buy books mentioned by Jon Goehring in this episode from Amazon

    • Mindset by Carol S Dweck
    • The Go Giver and other books by Bob Burg
    • Audio Books narrated by Jon Goehring

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing.

    Travel

    With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and many more travel related purchases.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fmis where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    29 Min.
  • Comparing Performance Management in Business and Elite Sport – a conversation with elite sports coach Kevin Pickard
    Dec 30 2025

    What can business people learn about performance management from the techniques used by the managers and coaches of elite sports teams and athletes?

    Kevin Pickard is an elite sports coach, a director at AP Race and host of the Rogue Monkey podcast.

    In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Kevin and host Michael Millward compare the different approaches to performance management used in elite sport and business environments.

    Their discussion covers

    • sports working towards a very clear objective
    • the role every team member plays in achieving that objective
    • dealing with adversity and still performing at your best
    • the need for agile systems
    • analysis of performance

    More information about Kevin Pickard and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.

    Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds – Please help us to keep The Independent Minds free to listen to.

    The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, because as the all-in-one podcasting platform, Zencastr really does make creating content so easy.

    If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing.

    Travel

    With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and many more travel related purchases.

    Fit For Work We recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test; a 39-health marker Annual Health Test conducted by an experienced phlebotomist with hospital standard tests carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

    A secure Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and lifestyle guidance

    Visit York Test and use this discount code MIND25.

    Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

    Being a Guest

    We recommend the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

    We use Matchmaker.fm to connect with potential guests If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if you have something interesting to say Matchmaker.fm is where great guests and great hosts are matched and great podcasts are hatched. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

    We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

    Thank you for listening.

    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    26 Min.