Kieran Marsh has recalled the influence Parkinson had on his career
Following the death of journalist Michael Parkinson last month (16 August 2023), an insurance veteran has spoken about the time he was lucky enough to meet the TV presenter during the early stages of his career.
Kieran Marsh, founder and chairman of independent compliance firm Marsh Corporate Consulting, was in his early 20s when he met Parkinson in 1974.
Back then, Marsh worked for bio-pharmaceutical firm Sandoz and had the chance to meet with Parkinson at the firm’s product launch.
At that time, the journalist had been presenting his BBC series Parkinson, which was first broadcast in 1971.
Marsh recalled that Parkinson relayed a golden nugget of wisdom to him, telling him to “dream big, because you will never get a chance to grow bigger than your dreams”.
This saying was so profound to Marsh that it has stayed with him to this day.
Just 16 years later, he launched Marsh Corporate Consulting, which has now been running for 33 years.
Marsh’s career has also seen him work for Aviva and Biba in compliance roles.
60 seconds with Kieran Marsh
Casting his mind back to the 1974 product launch event, Marsh recalled Parkinson introduced the order of the day and noted that the TV journalist would be mingling with the audience during the break.
Marsh told Insurance Times: “I did get to meet him, which was wonderful because I was eager to get some advice from him. I told him I was from Leeds.”
Parkinson then asked a 24-year-old Marsh what he would like to achieve in his career. He responded that he was “very ambitious” and wanted to climb the ladder in his organisation.
At the event, all Sandoz staff were given photos of Parkinson and TV host Michael Aspel, who also made an appearance.
Fast forward 15 years and Parkinson was appearing at another event in a hotel with English cricket umpire Dickie Bird.
Marsh took the event programme to Parkinson to get it signed and showed him the photo he was given of the journalist back in 1974.
Parkinson said: “Hang on, I remember this, was this a medical company?” And Marsh replied that it was as the TV journalist signed the photo.
Marsh reminded Parkinson about the advice he gave him all those years ago and how influential he had been in his insurance career – the rest is history.
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Writer of the monthly TechTalk section of the magazine and backchat. When not writing can be found doing yoga, at some kind of dance workshop, singing, globetrotting, or baking – not in any specific order.View full Profile
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