We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Henri Pearson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Henri, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My work ethic comes from both my parents, my dad is a Prof in Business, Insurance and Economics having even won awards from Harvard and my mum is also an award winner, Chief Exec of a Destination Management Organisation in local government. This means I have a lot to live up to, they both always pushed me to work hard whether that was sat in the back of university lectures my dad was giving to getting hands on at large scale international events organised by my mum and her teams.
From a young age I loved working, I started my own chicken farm aged 14 producing eggs for my local sports teams parents, school teachers and selling them in the local community, for that I was published in a book The Alchemist with an aim to inspire other younger people into work and career development.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a passionate entrepreneur, who specialises in the media, entertainment, advertising, marketing and live events industry with over ten years of experience working with some of the biggest brands (Inc Emirates, Ted Baker, The Republic of Cuba, Visit Germany, Hugo Boss), agencies (Inc IPG, WPP, Omnicom), organisations and events (Inc Bestival Festival, Clipper Ventures, Mint Festival) in the world across all channels OOH, TV, Radio, Digital, PR, Social, Print, OTT, Experiential, Sponsorships, Events and many more. I currently work for Bauer Media Group a number of media companies and brands (Inc Greatest Hits, Hits Radio, Kiss FM, Magic and Absolute Radio) with over 200 million listeners across Europe, I work across the media sphere including owning my own media company producing LED, events and managing OOH ad platforms at London Heathrow Airport reaching 86 million travellers. I am also a board member of the UK arts charity Beam.
I studied broadcast journalism at Coventry University, held senior roles at large notable media companies throughout his career delivering exceptional results for clients both locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. I am a 30 under 30 winner with the Institute of Promotional Marketing.
I have been a contributor to various magazines, broadcasters including the BBC, ITV and well-established news outlets and have also featured in some. I have worked with or supported influencers including Colin Salmon, JP Cooper, Human League, KSI, Yungblud, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston to name a few.
I am an English national Ice Hockey champion three times running and still enjoy playing semi-professional Ice Hockey for Leeds Lightning Ice Hockey Club, a life-long Manchester City fan, who is also very passionate about climate action and saving the planet from climate change, I also make music.
My favorite books are ‘A Passion to Win’ by Viacom’s, Sumner Redstone, ‘A Ride of A Lifetime’ By Disney’s Bob Iger and ‘Comcasted’ about Comcast’s, Brian L Roberts.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. I have read all of President Obama’s biographies, a famous quote Obama uses is ‘Just know how to get things done’ I use this in my day to day work putting this quote into practice and getting things done.
2. Be kind to yourself, it’s easy to be hard on yourself when you forget what you are achieving and get lost in the moment, if you step back there are often small things you have also achieved that you don’t acknowledge as much or take for granted.
3. Never give up no matter how hard it gets, you will get set backs in your career and in your personal life, you may have a bad boss, lose a relative, friend, health scare, fine but keep going and keep proving to others that you deserve it, you are fantastic never forget that.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
A Passion to Win by Viacom’s Prof Sumner Redstone
Prof Redstone built Viacom the company that founded, MTV, Nickelodeon, CBS, Paramount, the most important thing I took from my learning and reading is that ‘CONTENT IS KING’ it’s important to be relevant in media and continue engaging audiences and keeping them updated on changes and developments.
The story of Prof Redstone who built a £16 million company into a £16 billion is incredible from serious burns to multiple divorces and breaking codes in WW2 you cannot make it up but the fairy-tale is his legacy and what is Viacom now run by his daughter Shari Redstone who is a majority shareholder of the Viacom network and companies.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.henripearson.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henripearson/
