He's really gone and done it. Mike Stevenson that is.
As one journo put it: “If Mike’s life was a film script, it would be dismissed as far-fetched.“
Expelled at 15 with no qualifications, he embarked on a downward journey that led to homelessness, depression, drug addiction and the brink of suicide before turning his life around and founding a multi-million-pound business.
He experienced the seamier side of London in the Swinging Sixties – forced to flee after a Trainspotting-style drugs heist went wrong – and Dublin at the start of the Troubles where he drank with Thin Lizzie’s Phil Lynott and Brian Downie before his alternative lifestyle came under the watchful eye of Special Branch detectives.
From being spat on and abused in the lowest places, Mike then went on to be lauded in the highest places.
He is a must see and hear.
Rough Sleeper to Award Winning Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker
Mike is a must have keynote speaker – a tour de force who surprises and delights in equal measure. Few are better at moving people to greater things and from the art of reinvention to stepping boldly into the future he never fails to inspire. His own journey from homelessness to award-winning entrepreneur is filled with remarkable people and events. His stories amaze and shock, his humour captivates, and his insights will inspire. More than that, he lifts, he motivates, and he shifts mindsets.
He is founder of Thinktastic, an innovations agency, voted Scottish Small Company of Year 2008 and acclaimed for its unique approaches to stretching people and organisations beyond the ‘apparently’ possible. With more than 30 years in Marketing Mike has worked with a number of leading brand names including M&S, British Gas, Sky TV, SSE and Standard Life with each – the original brief was exceeded.
Mike’s motivational work with schools was given special recognition on three successive years with a Business in the Community award for Raising the Attainment of Young People while his community investments made him one of only 21 UK company directors to be awarded the inaugural Community Mark. In 2011, he picked up New Start Magazines Better Places Award 2011, He was a founder member of Glasgow’s Wise Group and then of multi-award-winning creative agency, Design Links.
Chucked out of school at 15, Mike spent many months sleeping on the streets of London, then racked up 29 jobs before his 26 th birthday – his CV includes steelworker, wine bottler, hod-carrier, hospital orderly, biscuit- packer and community worker. He also enjoyed a stint as a musician and actor.
He is a TEDx and Leadercast speaker, a regular media commentator on leadership, modern marketing and innovation, an occasional columnist for the Sunday Times and a two-times host of Disney Institute Master classes.