HOW THE HELL DID I GET HERE

How the hell did I get here? It's a question I have regularly asked myself. After all, I left school at 16, failed to make the grade as a professional footballer and I had no plan. Not ideal in summer 1981 with 3 million unemployed. My memoirs take you from my first job in a silk screen print shop in Walthamstow to my first step into financial services as a debt collector in the East End of London right through to where I'm appointed CEO and a director of GE Capital Bank 20 years later. Recognising that my destiny is at the top table in financial services and having "got the bug", I then tell my story of the next 20 years where I go on to start up four new business ventures, each one of them in a different sector of financial services and resulting in quite different outcomes. My 40-year career has had more than a few twists and turns, highs and lows but along the way I must have subconsciously made notes of those hard lessons learned, as I have managed to recall and write down 12 nuggets of wisdom which I believe my 21-year-old self and anyone starting out in business might benefit from reading. All proceeds from the sales of this book will be donated to Muscular Dystrophy UK in memory of my niece Niamh Duffy