Michael Brown

Michael is a founder and long-term managing-director of creative industries businesses with a specialisation in experiential marketing and sponsorship. His past successful ventures include MKTG, who he guided to become an international marketing organisation with 32 offices in 20 countries. He stepped down in December 2020 to found Asociat (www.asociat.co.uk) which he describes as a community partnerships agency, helping brands to identify and actively address the needs of the communities they serve, and Home Kitchen: a not for profit restaurant launching in 2023 that will recruit and train homeless people for a career in hospitality, and featuring a two time Michelin star winning Chef (Adam Simmons) as executive chef. Michael realised that business can and should be kinder and inclusive after he successfully completed a crowd-funding campaign to create and launch, what is thought to be, the world's first mental health drop-in centre inside a soup-kitchen. A social enterprise he now helps to lead.  He has a particular interest in the psychology of conflict and compromise. This arose after he spectacularly fell out with his fellow shareholders in a business he led for a decade. The lessons learned gave rise to I Don't Agree; (Publisher: Harriman House) Michael's first book, which won GOLD at the Business Book Awards 2021. After a successful UK and European launch, the book came out (Dec 2021) in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Tibet, Sri-Lanka and the Maldives. A Korean, Thai and an Estonian translation are due for release in 2023.