Redefining Philanthropy: Beyond Financial Contributions

Join us in today’s episode of Age of Reinvention, where we talk to the multi-talented Lord Ian Franklin, founder of the Lordian Group. Dive into his 40-year career, which has included global wealth strategies, philanthropy, talent scouting, and even skydiving! Discover how Ian has intertwined his passion and purpose, supported grassroots charities, and redefined success in midlife. From his work with defibrillator access to his exciting new podcast journey, this conversation is full of inspiring insights on leading a fulfilling life.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:58 Introduction to Ian Franklin
01:54 Ian Franklin’s Diverse Career and Philanthropy
04:55 The Joy of Skydiving and Personal Fulfillment
08:11 Traits for Success in Business and Life
12:55 Personal Relationships and Philanthropy
15:19 Adapting to Changing Times
18:34 Continuing Entrepreneurship in Later Life
25:55 Supporting Grassroots Charities
34:27 Advocating for Public Health and Safety

Emily Bron: Welcome to today’s captivating episode. of our Age of Reinvention podcast, Redefine Freedom Lifestyle and Purpose in Midlife. 

Prepare to be inspired and connected with a true Renaissance man, a beacon in the high net worth universe, a philanthropist at heart, and a specialist in the fabric of entrepreneurship, he is the 13th Earl Honest, Lord Franklin, a name synonymous with success and benevolence.

Please warmly welcome the founder and chairman of the Lordian Group, Mr. Ian Franklin. With a career spanning over 40 distinguished years, Ian has been the guiding force behind global wealth and investment strategies. Whether it’s headhunting elite talent for family offices. or counseling businesses worldwide.

Ian’s insight is unparalleled. Today, we are not just speaking to a former Sparrow 500 top end global headhunter. We are delving into the mind of a LinkedIn advisor, a steering speaker, And the engine behind multiple innovative companies. His passion project extends from the creative realm to the urgent cause of increasing defibrillator access.

Despite a career vast enough to any ordinary retirement, Ian Franklin chose expansion over repose. An entrepreneurial world is richer for it. From the comfort of his West Yorkshire home, between drives in the countryside and skydives from the age of serenity, Ian remains a steadfast supporter of charities, especially those focused on alleviating homelessness and poverty.

Please settle in as we learn not just about the art of building empires, but also about heart behind the empire, Ian M. Franklin. 

Learn how he spent his time now at 70 years young and what he’s passionate about. 

Ian, welcome to the Age of reinvention. I’m super happy to meet you in my online studio today.

Ian Franklin: What a wonderful introduction. Thank you very much, Emily. 

Emily Bron: I’m happy if you like it. I was trying, condense all your life experience and all what I understand about you in short intro, but I’m looking forward to our conversation to learn more. Lord Franklin, from you. 

Ian Franklin: As am I am looking forward to this. 

Emily Bron: You’ve had a fascinating life journey from global talent strategists to passionate philanthropist and skydiver.

What is the story is it bridges skydiving to strategizing global talents? 

Please share how it’s all happening in one man. 

Ian Franklin: That is a very good question. Skydiving is a hobby. It’s an interest. It’s a passion. It’s something I’ve done for so many years. I’ve actually had to reduce it a little now that I’m 70, but but it is good fun.

And a lot of people wonder why I do it. But it is a sense of freedom. When you leave that airplane. All the way up there and that period of time when you’re flying through the air with the only aid being a parachute. And that to me is bliss. It’s fun. But Freedom and bliss, if you like, is something that I rather like through my whole life, not just my professional life, my personal life as well.

The professional side and how it links into philanthropy and also having been a headhunter, talent strategist and so on. I’ve strategized my own life as working around everything I do being a passion, being a hobby. my work, especially enjoy the work, my work as, as if it is a hobby.

Because, then becomes so enjoyable. And I’m not just looking at it for the money. I’m looking at it for my own self fulfillment in so many ways. Philanthropy comes into, I’ve always been a philanthropist throughout my life. It was something that was in my DNA when I was born. My parents were philanthropists as they theirs before them were and so on.

And I was brought into the world of philanthropy. Philanthropy is not just giving money to causes, it’s working with causes, it’s being active with causes, it’s doing and giving a return to causes. But what I’ve had to do during the course of my life is to identify the sort of causes that really hit me in the heart and say that, I’ve got to work with these and give back in some way anybody can be a philanthropist.

You can be somebody who’s got no money and is living a very hard life, or you can be somebody who’s been there, done it and has been very successful. Anybody can be a philanthropist because it’s not all giving money. It’s giving back in the court and in the activity side as well.

And in philanthropy, I do that a lot. So I support professionally and personally 10 different charities in the UK.

Emily Bron: Thank you very much. And you mentioned very important keyword,  the freedom.

And there are so many definitions of freedom for different people. And I was just thinking listening to you, when you’re flying through the sky it was maybe the case when you get some new idea, about new project, about some entrepreneurship direction, or it was pure joy of flying.

Ian Franklin: Pure joy. It’s not enough time and you’re having to, once you are doing a skydive and whilst you’re doing a freefall before the parachute opens, you’re not really, admittedly, you’re not really thinking about a new idea, a new entrepreneurial idea or anything of that nature, but because you’re thinking about what the altitude is and, When to actually open the shoot and so on, but but it is you use two words that pure joy and it is pure joy for when I do things like that.

And then the thing I do in the context of flying. 

Emily Bron: Which is great. We need to have joy this life in many different forms. And what is, what I’m really curious about, what personal traits and characteristics are vital for you in people, in personal communication, and which soft skills are where’s the basis for the decision to hire professionals when you were a top end global headhunter and talent strategist in the past and now, because I believe that sometimes our kind of criterias are changing.

So how it is for you in life and professional decision.

Ian Franklin: Again, a very good question. And it’s. Yeah, personal traits, patience. I, if people ask me what has made me who I am, I’ve always said patience is critical. One problem that a lot of entrepreneurs faces that they’re impatient they are looking for results as quickly as conceivably possible.

Results can mean anything from achievement of success, including money. I’ve taken the total opposite attitude. It will happen there’s a famous saying the best is yet to come and that will occur you know if you do it you do the structure right do the strategizing of what you’re doing right and everything i do is based around.

Knowing that i’m gonna get it right at the end of the day because i’m a bit of time into it in order to get the return back to me. And the return of satisfaction is to me success, as well as of course, money being the byproduct of what I’ve achieved. So patience is certainly one of them. Personal traits, other personal traits would be that it’s pure knowledge.

You’re learning. It’s almost a cliche, but you learn something every day. And I listened even at 70 and having been in a career for so long. I listened to people and I can guarantee that quite literally every single day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays. I’m learning something totally new about business.

I’m learning something totally new about what’s going on out there. that I should absorb, take in and put in my little knowledge bank in the brain and keep there in case I need it. Other personal traits is the ability to network, the ability to connect. There are two different things, networking and connecting, and both of them are an art.

But being able to know through your introversion extroversion traits and everybody has both in some way how to be able to create a new connection and it’s not just a case of creating person who you can put in your little address book, but somebody you create connections and and create networks of people who you can be useful to as much as they can be useful to you.

It’s a reciprocation process and people think, oh, great, okay, I’ve just met somebody I need to know them, but, probably never speak to them again after that everybody I connect to will be people who I occasionally communicate with as much as they do with me and that applies whether I’m doing it through my own networks or whether I’m doing it through the likes of LinkedIn and other social networks as well social media rather You know it’s critical knowing how to do that right so getting to know people and building up your little database of people as it were of people who are good for you as much as you are good for them.

Also as I say I’ve spoken about knowledge I’ve spoken about people and I’ve spoken about patients put it all together. And get an idea of really what you want to do with those traits that you’ve developed in yourself and what sort of business that is that you’re going to be looking to set up and create.

For me, with those sorts of traits, perhaps manufacturing is not for me, perhaps Transport is not for me, but what I do in the context of making connections and professional business for mine as well as my business and family office, my work in talent is absolutely ideal for the traits that I’ve created in my own life for me personally, on top of which, how to encompass and incorporate for me philanthropy into all of that as well.

I don’t know if that kind of answers your question, Emily, but that’s an immediate response to the main, most important rights, and most important aspects of how I create. What futures I can create with. 

Emily Bron: From professional perspective, like I understand excellent, but a little bit more elaborate on the personal relationship if you have a need or what traits of characteristic of the new person attract you.

For the personal friendship or getting, personal communication. 

Ian Franklin: There are the obvious answers of trust and honesty and all of that sort of thing. Yeah, they’re obvious, for everybody. Hopefully everybody. But yeah, it’s one of those things that’s so difficult to put a finger on.

If you’re building trades, if you’re connected, if you’re meeting somebody new in a personal relationship it’s going to be somebody who something in there says, yeah, I can get on with that person. It’s an invisible thing. It’s a hunch. Yeah. It’s hard to define. It’s a hunch. It’s a, it’s just something that says, yeah, he or she is somebody who I can get on with.

And that’s been the case with my friendship. I have a very small circle in a circle of personal friends and very small. So in a circle of personal friends, it’s because that very small circle of personal friends are people who understand me as much as I can understand them. And especially if, they I obviously won’t name names or anything, but one of my close friends is going through some very difficult times at the moment.

And they have had difficulties explaining their difficult times to other people. Now, I’m not saying this in the context of personal arrogance or anything, but I do see where that person is coming from, what the problem is, and so hopefully I’m metaphorically holding their hand in order to get them through this troubled time and hopefully, again, at the end of the day it will all be fine.

But it is a case of understanding who you connect with and who you associate with and who you want to be in your life as much as vice versa. 

Emily Bron: Do you believe that care and desire to help people in need are hereditary, or is it the result of tradition, family tradition, and specific family education?

or cultural environment.

Ian Franklin: Hereditary to an extent. Cultural environment, hereditary, yeah. I think they go, in some ways, they often go together. It did in my family, for example. I come from a historic family. And things have just been I’m not talking about tangible things, intangibilities have been passed down.

I talked about philanthropy being in the DNA. That’s a typical example of that. And, because I come from a long line of philanthropists, and the same will happen come the day I die or go, my daughter will continue the, as much of my philanthropy as well as her own. And so on. So it’s a difficult question to answer there.

There is a lot of history. There’s a lot of tradition, but at the same time, life changes. You said at the start, that the world changes all the time and we’re in a different world now. In mid 2020s than we were 40 years ago in the mid 1980s it’s totally different world. And in the mid 1980s, it was a very hungry world.

We were all after money. We were all after success through our commercial games and things like that. That was the world as it was then. That’s not like that these days. These days, it’s apart from technology. These days it’s about. element of intelligence, whether it’s artificial or not, as the case may be.

And there doesn’t seem to be that total hunger for wealth and money that we’ve had in the past. So people Let myself have had to change and adapt to what the world is, and that will continue being so I have my thoughts and opinions about how the future will continue after the mid 2020s and here in the U. K. today, has been quite an interesting day because in the U. K. Is anybody any British people will be aware we’ve had the Budget the, in other words, the UK Chancellor has been putting her thoughts forward about what to spend on and what the ideal will be for the future.

I’ve just been watching that before this interview, and there’s a lot that I didn’t agree with and there’s a lot I did agree with, but but at the same time, I know there’s gonna be a lot of change, some of it for good and some of it for bad. And that will happen to all of us, not just in the UK, but also in other countries as well and in, if you ask me the same question in 15, 20 years time, I would say back in the mid 2020s, it was nothing like what it is today, that’s what happens in life.

Emily Bron: I didn’t want to puzzle you with this question. The last one and because I know about a little bit about your family tradition and I was thinking, yeah, thank you for your opinion. Like how you look at today’s development and a lot of people coming now from the different walk of life, these ideas of social change and not all of them I’m supporting or cautious, I would say.

But yes, times are changing, but I believe the kindness and care for people, it will still stay with humankind. I want to believe. 

Ian Franklin: Yes, I agree. Totally. It’s got to be there. Otherwise become a totally robotic state. 

Emily Bron: Yes. And yeah, you changed your business direction several times after turning 50.

It’s exactly like what we are speaking in my podcast about. And now. At 70, retiring from your previous careers, multiple careers, you’re still launching new companies and charities. What are your philosophy and insights into leading a purpose driven life in midlife? 

Ian Franklin: I’m an entrepreneur. There’s the old saying that age is just a number of tears.

There’s, you quite often see in social media, sort of people talking about how people in later life are either just totally retired or setting up businesses. Business is like I do, and I’m one of those who just continues to do work. I will continue doing so until I can’t. That’s my attitude.

My brain or my body says will prevent me from doing what I do, but then the way I structure my businesses, I’ve just interacted on that. But the way I structure my business is such that, there’s, Succession planning, but at the same time my businesses can carry on with other people running it and in a very clear and concise way.

And I don’t look for growth in my businesses. It sounds odd saying that, but I structure my businesses on the basis of being able to do what I and my team can do without worrying about Getting out of control so having stability in the context of how I run the businesses is my, and as I said earlier, my hobby, my interest, my passions and other people, perhaps at my age will play golf, do gardening or whatever they do for me, doing what I do with philanthropy in particular and my work is my equivalent to playing golf or gardening.

And, this is. As I say, it’s just a hobby. But yes, I’m getting financial rewards from the business side and philanthropy I’m giving back. And that’s just something in the heart that says, keep doing that. I don’t know if that’s answered your question, it’s the best way I can actually structure that one.

Emily Bron: Yeah it’s great. We are just conversing and I’m thinking transitioning through the roles from chairship of different companies to the Lourdian group advisor to the wealth and family offices to supporting multiple charities, including charity in eating disorder. And services like and companies like “free to fly”  transforming lives by breaking cycles of abuse.

How has your definition of success transformed over the years? What is the definition of success for you now? 

Ian Franklin: I spoke about golf. I don’t play golf, by the way. So I’m assuming that I’m using the right terms, a lot of golfers are trying to get that hole in one, and that’s their element of success.

Now, I hope any golfers listening will correct me or not correct me on that. So it’s the case maybe, it’s with me, it is just personal and absolute satisfaction. Yes, money is nice. One can’t argue with that, but I’m not doing it for the money. I’m doing it for personal satisfaction. So part of the core of your question there was talking about the change of careers, change of directions that I’ve gone through over the years as well.

And I, in being a headhunter for 40 years and also For since 1997 I’ve been an entrepreneur. So the, it’s worked in parallel with each other and it gave me the flexibility of being an entrepreneur to continue doing what I’m doing for the rest of my days. But with the mid head hunting, I knew at some stage I was going to retire back in the mid nineties.

And that retirement happened in 2022 from being a headhunter and and so on. But being an entrepreneur that. You know you can either retire live off your proceeds or just carry on doing what you love doing and that’s what i do and the directions in which i’ve gone all the directions i’m the elements of business that i’m dealing in family office or building connections even linkedin profiles and other businesses i’ve done have been based on just something thinking you know somebody said to me.

Perhaps one word or a small sentence and i take that on board and think. I can do something with that and one person said to me, but when I set up my last family office business, which is still going part of the Lordin group, the reason that started was because, yes, okay, I’ve got a lot of experience on family office but somebody said to me.

One day family offices are so complicated and I took that on board. I took that into my mind and thought yes, I can do something with that. I can make family offices. Simple. And of course, a lot of people just do not know what they are, what the understanding of a family office is.

So what I’m working on, along with some other people at the moment, actually is a way of de complicating. Family offices, creating a family office made simple basically. So that people who have elements of wealth will understand what they, what it is and also what they can do with a family office up to now.

Because I have the experience and because somebody says to me one little thing. If I can listen to that and say, I can do something with that, then I will do it and I’ll do whatever I can to make it successful at the end of the day that people can feedback and say, thank you for doing that, which is important. And the same could be said and the same could be said for building my connections and I built my connections on a professional basis.

It is monetized. But at the end of the day, it’s for a purpose. And again, at the end of the day, whoever I’m doing these connections for, if they can come back and say, I’m so glad I met you. Then again, the job is done.

Emily Bron: Thank you. During the last few years I have become an avid listener to multiple podcasts. And for some reason, I really leaned to, many of them from UK. It’s helped me to understand, the differences in the culture. I’m from Canada. I was listening to a lot of Americans, Australians and UK podcasters.

And as I learned recently from my favorite British podcast uh, Triggernometry, we live in a time when some NGOs appear not to be working towards actually helping people in causes they were initially designed, and some government funds are spent not to promote the real art, in my understanding, or charity projects or children education, but to influence some political gains or actually children indoctrination.

Your private charities and multiple philanthropic activities became even more critical and required in such environment, in my opinion. How do you select which charity you would support? What are the criteria?

Ian Franklin: There are two or three answers to that, and I’ll try and do a synopsis as as answers to that.

First one, I would take three of the charities that I publicly support. You mentioned them in the very kind introduction that you made. One is called seed. One is called value trust. And the other one’s called free to fly. And those three charities are grassroots charities, small charities that are desperate for money and desperate for what they do to get an understanding for what they do.

And the reason I supported, I started supporting all three of them. In fact two of them I’ve been supporting for a little while, but one of them I started supporting this year. But I put them all three together. And because. Being my 70th year on this planet, I wanted to do a little campaign.

to raise a lot of awareness and from awareness, hopefully comes some funds for those charities. So for a period of 18 months during my 70th year in the early part of what would be, will be my 71st year next year. Excuse me. I looked at those charities, all three are tiny little grassroots charities run by women.

And I spoke to all three women in. late February, beginning of March of this year, just before International Women’s Day, because I thought that they could do with a lot of promotion, a lot of awareness, and if I’ve got a platform I do have a fair platform that I could talk about them with in the public domain.

Then it would be good for them. One of the charities I have to be quite delicate about that’s free to fly because of what its aim is. But the other two charities relatively easy to do articles and posts about and so on and so forth. And that’s Seed and Vanna Trust. Vanna Trust I’m a patron of.

And Seed is the eating disorder charity that you referred to earlier. And on Monday of this week, the week we’re recording this interview, I did a sleepout for Seed. Where all the proceeds I’ve raised during sleeping out in the open under the weather elements and everything else on this week will be going to seed and so on.

So grassroots charities are critical. They are crucial. And they’re the charities that just need that little push, that little help to get them going. out there even more than they really are. And if people like myself have got a platform to help them with that, then great, fabulous. And that’s what those three charities, in addition I support a charity called Africa’s gift, which is based Essentially in Lesotho in South Africa and also in neighboring countries where I’m an ambassador, I’m an ambassador for this charity and the charity is there to help the communities in The Soto and one or two other neighboring countries as well in their health and their survival as well.

Then there is a charity called Fatima’s UK campaign. Now, if you are a fan of Olympics and athletes, Fatima Whitbread was an athlete and Olympian back in the 1980s. She was a record javelin thrower but she was born and brought up in care and foster system in the UK and it wasn’t a good system.

It was quite broken. She has carried on campaigning for. The British care and fostering system to this day, and and she is regularly on TV and on media talking about how broken the system is, and there’s going to be a conference summit in April of 2025, two day summit, where it will all be discussed what anybody who’s anybody involved in the British care and fostering system will be at the summit and so on.

And I, when I was approached by Fatima to help her with this, I thought, yeah, I don’t know much about the care and fostering system, but I’ve learned a lot about it since. And I’m along with quite a lot of other people supporting and helping her with, The preparation for this summit. Then there’s a CEO sleepout, i mentioned i did a sleep out the other night and CEO sleep out is actually an organization it’s a charity itself they do 20 or 30 sleep outs during the course of a year in different locations around the UK and for every single one they’re raising.

A lot of money for local and regional, small grassroots charities particularly for those involved in homelessness and vulnerable people in various ways who have difficulty perhaps with homelessness and so on. The one, the sleep out I did recently at the time of the us talking here has raised a for that particular region alone, and that was Manchester in the UK just under 64, 63, 64, 000 pounds, just for that one night.

And there were 80 people, 80 of us sleeping out under the stars. It was a very cloudy sky that night, so it wasn’t stars to raise money for charities. It was great fun. 

Emily Bron: Can I ask sorry, where’s this money are going? Are they building homes, shelters? Because, yes, I understand and I hear a lot about collective money.

Ian Franklin: So many different reasons for homelessness and vulnerability. So the one, as I said earlier, the money that I raised for The Sleep Out is going to see the eating disorder charity. A lot of people who have eating disorders do find themselves in a homeless and vulnerable situation. 

Emily Bron: Homelessness, homelessness in particular, because what I see.

And it’s not secret. And my, my heart was painful. I see more and more homeless people in Toronto. There are more and more homeless people in United States. In UK. All over. And I believe the amount will be growing. And with all, in this campaign that you are managing and heading, what this money will help people to build shelters to oh, are you following what would be next ?

Ian Franklin: in some situations, yeah. In some situations there will be an element of creating some sort of shelter, hostel, new home type situations. But also there are lots of homeless people who are looking for different types of assistance and help. For example, I met somebody the other day who helps people, homeless people, who’ve got pets.

Pet dogs and so on. And it’s a charity that is solely helping people, vulnerable people, homeless people, who’ve got pet dogs in particular, more so than other pets giving them funding. Of course, it’s expensive to keep a pet. And when you’ve got somebody, it’s your only company. It’s your own, it’s somebody who’s with you.

You trust, you love that dog. You don’t want to, for any reason, get rid of it. So this little charity helps and helps with a little bit of a financial thing, but also with food and pet bill, vet bills, because if the dog becomes ill in some way those bills, the vets have got to be paid and they’re not cheap.

All that sort of thing, plus all other purposes, and giving people motivation, giving people an opportunity to do something. Addiction, and is a typical one. People have gone through various types of addictions, whether it’s drugs, drink, whatever. And getting them together to create something, a project, where they can perhaps do upcycling of furniture.

Run a voluntary cafe or something of that nature, these little charities make those things happen. And they’re great. Some of them, they are absolutely great. Those little charities. And they’re the ones who desperately need the money to actually help them get on with it. And that’s why CEO sleep outs.

what I want to do is just create them something where, they’re not having to worry about what I’m wanting back because I’m not looking for anything back. I’m just looking for them to survive, to exist and to create, complete the missions and continue to complete the missions that they were set out to achieve reduce homelessness, maybe reduce addictions, reduce whatever.

It’s, and if I can be just a little microcosm of that, then I’m very happy and so on. Now, if I will also, Emily mentioned one thing that you did mention right in the introduction as well, you spoke about the defibrillators and the cardiacs and so on, and this isn’t a charity it’s a group which, a lobby group, which we will be going to UK government with in the spring of next year now.

Of course, a very, a good friend of mine, an associate had a cardiac arrest earlier this year at an event, literally at an event, an awards event that we were both at. And fortunately in that particular room at the time, there were also sitting there five highly qualified medical clinicians.

And so they were able to continue CPR compression. Procedures and also wait for the paramedics to arrive so that the fibrillation could carry on and so on to, to Try and get him back into the world as it were, because effectively with cardiac arrest you are deceased but he was then taken off to hospital and after, all the treatment there, he did come around and is fortunately and thankfully with us now, but the reason we set up this little organization called Sten’s Law.

Sten being the name of the patient was because at a venue and it was a major venue and there was another event going on in a suite of rooms next to ours, it’s a waiting event, so there’s a lot of people at the time, there were no, there was no available or accessible medical equipment. And the staff were running around everywhere looking for a medical group and they couldn’t see it, couldn’t find it.

And so I and one of my other colleagues looked at each other and said, we got to do something about this because we are a bunch of entrepreneurs and business people at this event at this awards event we were at, we’re staying collapsed and with a slightly different attitude that we had. Yeah. In being business people and entrepreneurs, we can be a little bit potentially a little bit more forceful towards government than possibly quite a lot of the charities can be, even the big corporate charities.

So what we’ve done is created a 10 point plan of creating more awareness of that. CPR training, defibrillation training, first aid training, particularly in schools and also in communities, but also, of course, in public buildings like the one we were in, where there’s a lot of people, public transport and so on where kit must be provided and, at all times, there are people on in that building or wherever it may be, there is somebody who’s going to be fully trained on how to do everything how to do CPR and other first aid and so on.

And also here in the UK, it’s different for other countries, but public defibrillators are available. They’re often hanging in a big box outside a shop somewhere in the middle of your local shopping mall or high street. If somebody in the middle of your town or shopping mall suddenly collapses, there’s hopefully somebody who’s going to be able to take control of the situation.

But there are as it stands, there’s a lot of people who turn the other way and ignore, and they look at somebody lying on the floor and think, what can I do? So they carry on doing with their day. So what we are intending to do is to create more public awareness of these things can happen.

And what the difference is, and how I identified what the difference is between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest, and they are two totally different things. It’s, whilst I’m not a doctor, it’s but as long as I know the basics. And if I go out there now, and somebody in front of me does, in my local town, does collapse.

Hopefully I can take control of that situation and be able to identify that he or she is having a cardiac arrest or heart attack and get other people to help me with this patient, with the defibrillator, public defibrillators that are out there and calling the emergency services. So that’s why I thought I’d better answer the point you made about CPR and defibrillation in the introduction and that’s what we’re doing on that.

So it’s a lobby group to go to Parliament, the UK Parliament, and to say this is really what has to be done to see if it can be done. 

Emily Bron: For our listeners, navigating midlife and looking to redefine their purpose or career path, could you offer any guidance or strategies based on your experience? And our listeners, I believe, are middle, upper middle class.

People from these categories and some of them already on the brink of changes some of them after 50 and you still have years to live and prosper and work, May be you were fired or should reconsider the life ahead,  what to do,  how to redefine yourself. 

What would be your guidance? Advice, and I understand that it’s a big topic, but in general… 

Ian Franklin: a very big topic.

I love the part of the meaning of your question there, because I regard myself as only being 17. I’m not an old man. And as far as long as the brain and the body continues I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing as much as I can. Now, different people of course have different demographics and they’re, they have different living styles and a lot of them have husbands, wives, partners, children and so on.

I’m slightly old there because I’m a divorced gentleman and I live on my own at the current time, I should add. But the. It’s an interesting one to answer that one. I think. In my own immediate response would be is to always try and get something that you can gain total satisfaction with.

It can be philanthropy. It’s not always philanthropy because philanthropy itself is and can be in itself a profession. But to me it’s something I love doing, I don’t deliberately earn money from it, but but yeah, find something within your own soul that you can work with. 

A friend of mine has a similar hobby to me also, and that includes cars. I love cars. I’m a total car fanatic, and he is as well. And even working with cars and doing things like that, it creates a passion and a hobby, and you can then turn it into a business if you, or it’s a sideline as a hobby business, if you like, if you want to.

Just to, not repairing cars necessarily, but perhaps even at the age of mid seventies, even to 80, go on the track and do some racing or something of that nature. You spoke about my skydiving, anything up in the air, if I’m flying an airplane, if I’m flying a glider not so much skydiving now because I’m reducing that a little bit.

But anything love that like that is just something that’s good for the soul and good for the heart and so on. Other people just love doing things like exercise. So carry on doing what you’re doing that makes you feel good and that’s the main thing. I saw my own physician a few weeks ago and he said more or less exactly that.

Yes, I may be a little bit overweight, but at the same time he looked at me as I was about to walk out the door. Yeah, just carry on doing what you’re doing. And that was somebody saying it is what I do because I’m happy with what I am and who I am and my health. And fortunately I’ve got full health and if I can carry on being like this for as long as I can, then job done.

Now I do appreciate, of course, not everybody has full health but find things that are not it’s too stressful. There’s so many answers to that as to what your not full health is. But find something that you can do within your own parameters and your own boundaries. You can do that just puts that smile on your face. And that always does what I do, always does for me.

Emily Bron: Purpose and passion are big drivers actually for health and well being. As far as I understand and think, but now a little bit from other side as a LinkedIn mentor, entrepreneur, and somebody deeply involved in the personal growth of others. What is one piece of unconventional advice? And you already provided some.

You find yourself giving time and again. Piece of unconventional advice. 

Ian Franklin: In the context of perhaps talking about LinkedIn.

Emily Bron: Yeah, professional, because some people need to work, continue to work, to find, to start maybe new businesses, and it’s hard, and being after 50, 60.

Ian Franklin: These days, of course, we are living in a technological world.

We’re living where, in a world where our life is in one of these things. And it doesn’t matter what you do, there’s going to be some element of technology involved with the way you exist and what way you live and so on. I tend to be a little bit resistant to technology because I lived a lot of my professional life and personal life when there wasn’t technology before these things were created and so on.

And I was more was more successful then, but then I am now, but it’s a different definition of success. But but. I’m not going to go into an argument or debate about AI, I try and resist AI coming into my life so big because I still want to know that I can continue to create through my own abilities and through my own intelligence. 

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a big screen like a computer or laptop or a tablet or a mobile phone cell phone there’s different ways of viewing it. And if you come from a slightly older generation like myself, I’m not talking about Gen Zs, possibly millennials to an extent, and so on. Everything has got to be obvious to everybody on that little tiny small screen that a mobile phone is.

You’ve got to do and design what you do, and this applies to everything in life, I think you’ve got to design what you do so everybody can see it in a simple term visually and also in a way that people can immediately understand. not in a full page and that applies also to other things that you do, whether it’s a recreation, a hobby and interest or something you’re doing in business or work can explain it in one or two sentences and it’s so easy to understand in a monosyllabic way, then you’ve achieved something great there and so on.

And when being in talent, being a headhunter, one of the questions I always asked people. One of the first questions I always ask people was, one of the things that usually you’re asked is, who are you, what have you done, and so on, but the question I ask is, what are you, in three words. And so if you can identify who you are in just three words.

People will immediately know whether they’re interested in you. And for me, my three words as far as I’m concerned, our connector, philanthropist and speaker and and if people can relate to working with or befriending or whatever, somebody who is a connector and a philanthropist and speaker Then for me, it’s worth look using this opportunity.

Emily Bron: 

I need to ask what kind of advice can you give me? But for my life journey, you know a little bit about me, but from your perspective based on your knowledge What advice I can get?

Ian Franklin: well, I have to be so careful. I answer that:

Just carry on doing what you’re doing, it’s it’s this has been a very fun conversation, this has been an interesting conversation. 

Emily Bron: Not to change anything, not to, I don’t know, put, because I have a lot of interest which sometimes get me, out of the track. I can tell you, that’s why I’m laughing.

I’m asking because I feel that I need to be focused, with all the ideas which taking apart my concentration and attention. 

Ian Franklin: But you travel a lot and you’ve been, you’ve traveled a lot to a lot of different places and you’ve absorbed and taken in. From a conversation we’ve had previously you’ve absorbed and taken it and you’ve been educated about.

everything about the countries you visited and lived in. And, that, that is a treasure trove of information not just for yourself, but also for others. And I’m not suggesting you be a travel agent or travel consultant in any way, but, 

Emily Bron: I was already, it’s one of my certificates, but it’s a hobby.

Ian Franklin: Yeah, maybe but as you say, as a hobby, it’s just something that It’s great knowledge to have. I’ve not traveled as much as you. I’m not a great traveler. I do travel, but, but, I’m not somebody who says, Oh, I’ve got to go here. They go there and have a long weekend in wherever and so on.

If I travel somewhere, I’m going to spend a lot of time doing it. And at the moment, I just don’t have the time because I’m enjoying doing other things. So it’s low down on my, as I say, the bucket list. But As far as I’m concerned, just carry on doing what you’re doing, and some conversations I’ve had, I’ve come off the cause and thinking, yeah, she’s got it right.

There you go. 

But the other things that we’ve spoken about on this conversation, the family office, the philanthropy, the connections, linkedin, so on have all been the things that are important to me. And Like yourself, I’m about to become a podcaster. 

Emily Bron: Oh, okay. I didn’t know. My next question was about your future plan, but like in this format.

What is the next big goal for you and the Lordian group with your new directions will be in 2025. 

Ian Franklin: The thing that, I won’t call it a goal, but I’ll call it a thing that I will define as being what will happen. Take a lot of my time on is building the connection building the connections business more so than it is now i’ve had a lot of conversations recently with other people about how we’re doing it and so on and building up to being what could be potentially one of the key i’ll try net worth connections businesses certainly here in the uk and possibly across europe as time goes by.

The family office business will continue to be stable. I’m not looking for growth in that. I’m looking for people to come to us. People say, no, we are family office experts. Plus, of course, continuing to work on this white paper that How to simplify family office and that’s a great thing to do.

I love doing that and so on, but the key, one of the new things that we just touched upon it a minute ago, that’s going to be new to me is to, apart from being on the receiving end of being on podcasts,  is to be a podcaster. 

And a good close friend of mine who is an experienced podcaster and I have now holding hands on this and we’ve created the synopsis of our podcast and what it is and the theme and everything else.

We, but during 2025, early in 2025, we’ll start with the podcast, with our guests and so on. And the podcast itself has a very unusual name. It’s not just called the Ian Franklin podcasts. It’s called, wait for this – “Zombie and the Immortal Jellyfish”. And you mentioned this in the introduction.

Emily Bron: And what is your role in this one? Zombie or jellyfish? 

Ian Franklin: Zombie. Zombie. 

Emily Bron: Why you selected this role for you? 

Ian Franklin: I’ve always wanted to do a podcast, but my, my colleague is a lady called Lenka, I can’t pronounce her surname. I still can’t pronounce her surname. I’ve known her for years, but she comes from Slovakia originally.

But she’s an experienced podcaster. And she invited me to be the guest on her podcast in the summer of 2023. And she, one of the things that she found out about me and my extracurricular course, you picked up on my jumping out of airplanes and other things like that. One of the other things you haven’t mentioned that you’re probably not aware is my acting because for many years, I’ve been a background support artist in film and TV and now I can do speaking parts as well because of the rules that are allowed in that.

And she asked me the question, she knew about this, and she asked me the question, Ian, what would, for the rest of your life and before you die, what role in acting would you most love to play? And I said, I’ve always wanted to be a zombie. A lot of people watch Walking Dead and the other famous films and TV series, but I’ve always wanted to be a zombie.

But it’s a strange way you worded the question, because you said before I die, but a zombie is after I die. She’s, since then, she’s always called me her favorite zombie. Not knowing how many other zombies she knows. 

Emily Bron: It’s usually the role you’ve had in, in, in your childhood, probably from the childhood you were dreaming about the role in school theater, no?

Ian Franklin: Yeah, I wouldn’t have thought so, no, but I don’t know, I just like the idea of being a zombie one day, and something that every actor does have. The sort of ideal role that he or she would love to play at some stage if they haven’t already done. Of course that creates character acting and so on.

But I’m not saying that, if I do get a part chart, a part as a zombie in film or TV at some stage, doesn’t mean to say I’m going to be a zombie for all the other parts in the future. But but. She’s the jellyfish because it’s quite a long story behind that, but it’s all based around a particular breed of jellyfish, which is actually immortal.

It regenerates itself and it’s about the size of your small fingernail and it lives out in the seas. Of course, it’s so small you won’t see it, but the only time it’s likely to die is if it’s eaten by predator or is diseased and dies from disease, but most of them are still out there in the oceans and they continue it to regenerate themselves.

Emily Bron: Now I understand. Actually, you’re speaking about longevity project. Your podcast would be about longevity, because it’s a zombie, which doesn’t die, and jellyfish. It’s one of the definitions and directions. It’s probably you need to explore 

Ian Franklin: and the theme of our, I was going to say theme of our jellyfish, but the theme of our podcast is that is that, a lot of podcasts yeah, I’ve enjoyed this podcast has been a lot of smiles and some laughs on this podcast, but a lot of podcasts can be very deep in finance and business and don’t create a lot of light heartedness. 

And so what we’ll be doing with our podcast is creating a lot of amusement, a lot of smiles in business and finance and satire to an extent, so long as our guests are understanding of satire and so on. So creating a lighthearted, humorous element with our guests.

Who we will get to know first, of course, in some quite significantly, so that they can enjoy the brighter side of business. 

Emily Bron: Great idea. I like it and like it support. So I will be looking forward for your podcast. The name I already remember. 

And, with your extensive involvement in diverse sectors, how do you envision the future of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship evolving?

Especially in AI driven times when more and more people and even organization already relying on AI tools, algorithm.

 I believe it somehow will change and nature of  social entrepreneurship. What do you think about it? 

Ian Franklin: That’s a real thought leader and I question that one. And this is one that creates an element of, a kind of a fear factor.

It’s a kind of a fear factor within me in so many ways. I hinted at this earlier when we were talking and I mentioned AI and so on that AI has got to have its place. Unfortunately it’s quite often going over those sorts of boundaries. But AI has to have its place and particularly in aspects of health and dealing with people who are very old in operating theaters and so on in the health services.

Plus also other professions like law and so on. But the problem that we are in this day and age is that we are in that high technology age. We’re in the technology revolution. We’re in the AI revolution. Even something like a year, 18 months ago, those two letters, A and I weren’t everyday language.

These days it is everyday language. So I’ve got to have a, I’ve got to give a very open mind on this one. Because I’m not a fan of how it is often used. It’s, In my view, and I will be totally frank and totally honest transparent on my view on this one, that AI is overused in aspects of our everyday lives, in particular social media that a lot of people, most people use on a daily basis.

AI is there to tell us what to do. The ability to think I think is going away, there are other arguments about what AI is going to take over our jobs and it’s going to be so many people, out there, not being able to work and so on. Yeah, okay, that is another argument and I agree with that. But but the biggest thing for me is AI takes away a lot of the ability to think.

And I’ve had that thing in there called a brain for the last 70 years, and I want to keep it going. And I want to know that everything I’m doing is stuff that I’ve done not some technology. And there’s a kind of resistance on that. So it’s a difficult one to answer your question as far as my point of view is concerned, but, and a very big but is here that I not irrespective of what I’ve just said, my thought leader answer to that is that at some stage in the future.

Whether it’s in my lifetime or not, I don’t know but some stage in the future, I think there will be some sort of new revolution where there’s a kind of a U turn of the way business, commerce, industry, philanthropy, any sector where there’s element of work involved and possibly passion as well, but that’s a different thing.

But but work is involved. There will be some sort of view term where people would suddenly say, hang on a minute. We’re not all robotic. We’re not all iRobot. As per the film which a lot of people refer to when they’re talking about AI. We’re not all governed by machines. We’ve still got that thing in there called a brain.

And. It will quite often go back, I think, possibly, if I was to put a timescale on it, I would say probably about 25 30 years in the future, where a lot of businesses will go back to being purely human led. 

Emily Bron: We wish, and I agree with you 120%, I am the same, even though I’m using AI tools, but I understand Look, the value of actual intelligence will be even more precise over the artificial intelligence.

And it’s not about competition. It’s about, all the experience and soul, which we And nobody knows exactly, by the way, how brain is worked. They speak about certain models. Yes, there is certain A language models, but the brain, as far as I’m still learning, it’s such complex structure. I’m not even speaking about other aspects, I would say, of our life as a soul, as a spiritual part, as a, all this feelings, emotions and, connections that we create during the life and memories.

And what I was asking you at the beginning, some hereditary, features that we get, from your family, I’m from my family, and everyone’s family, and our life, all the richness of experience. It’s how we understand intelligence. These creatures, for them intelligence, it’s a collection of facts, knowledge of, it’s actually whatever you feed this entity, whatever you get in some transformative matter, what kind of information, what kind of, and it’s evolving, and I’m frightened as well, because this smart boys and girls who work on this creatures, as I say they frightenet sometimes themselves and we have a lot of names of more mature people, who get out of the project because they became frightened of possible results.

I hope that humankind will get, it’s actually not humankind, it’s government it’s people who still have common sense and some caution about regulating and people speak about regulating already for some time. I don’t know…. the world is moving forward.

I believe that experience of people like you and knowledge and it’s not only knowledge, It’s all, I even know, condensation of experiences you cannot put in AI model. As far as I understand but it still will be, and now leading force in our day-to-day life. And I already see, and I am using AI tools for my work just because I am, solopreneur and I need help and I need to save time.

If you speak about efficiency, yes, I agree, but not about decision making. There is my point. Yes. In a small sense. 

How do you envision the impact of AI tools, and we spoke a little bit, but just a little bit more, in technology and information media development on people’s lives and sense of purpose in midlife?

And what would be your advice? This purpose, which is leaving people’s hearts and minds, and it’s already affecting young generation, in my view. But since we are speaking about people in midlife, who already accumulated experience, knowledge, understanding of world, even with all our differences, how to keep the sense of purpose, what to do.

Ian Franklin: There’s negatives and positives to that. One of the problems with the human race is the fact that a lot of the human race are followers rather than leaders. Followers tend to be quite, with the greatest respect to anybody listening followers in the human race tend to be led by influences around them.

And those influences these days are social media, and social media governs us in so many ways. One can also argue, the obvious historic influences will, could be politicians and journalists and the media generally, but but social media does tend to tell us how to be who we should be in their eyes.

Social media’s eyes. And as you just said, a lot of that influence comes out of the Silicon valleys of this world, the very clever people who know how to work computers and design programs and everything. And they are in so many ways, the new governors of how we live and so on, unless you know how to resist influence.

And I keep using this term, continue to be who you are because. If you can understand the fact that there are other influences out there and get a basic understanding what they are, I understand that AI is going to be around for a little while, even though it’s telling us that we’ve got to use AI and I try and resist that as much as possible.

Then, it’s going to happen, but at some state just keep being able to be creative in your own mind that relates to whatever you do, whether it’s in business, personal life, philanthropy, whatever, just be continuing to be creative, understand, continue to try and understand what you’re up against in my life, much of my, as we’ve spoken about on this conversation, much of my life has been around, making connection, making network, making a people think around me and understanding as many people as conceivably possible 

I’m associated with, who are my friends, who are my family, even, and also other relationships that I hope had and have, and there’s the metaphor is to read between the lines in so many ways of everything. But in a physical sense, if these days, if I’m dealing in talent and I’m looking at a CV and resume, a lot of those TVs and resumes will be written by some sort of artificial form force.

It could be in, it’s a job, it could be an applicant tracking system. It could be AI from having resumes designed on linkedin for you, which linkedin does do if you’ve got a profile and that can be done, but that doesn’t show who the person is behind those lines. All that is just print on them. Piece of paper or on a screen that doesn’t show the personality of the individual that doesn’t show the character of the individual.

This is the fault of AI. And it takes away the ability of the, because the people are just reading the print it takes away their ability to understand who they’re dealing with,  the personalities and characters that I mentioned, this is a typical example of one of the faults. So try and continue.

If I’m giving advice, I would say. Don’t just leave it of what your screen in front of you or that piece of paper is telling you, do a little bit of homework, do a bit of digging do a bit of find out who that person is all those people are that you’re mixing with. I’m in all your working with or whatever the case may be. Because then you’ll know that whether they’re the sort of people you want to continue working or being associated to.

That can extend into your personal life, depends on how you want to define your personal life and partners, marriages, whatever. But certainly in a working on philanthropy, like a philanthropic, I can’t say it, philanthropy life don’t take everything that you’re seeing on your screen for total granted.

Understand who or what is behind what you’re reading about. 

That to me is quite fun actually, I quite enjoy doing that, but that’s something I’ve done for so many years but, otherwise you’ve got something that is technology that is robotic who has no soul, telling you basically what you thought you needed to know.

or they thought you needed. Do you see what I’m getting at here? It’s superficial rather than big. 

Emily Bron: And I believe we will continue this conversation as time will bring more, I don’t know, evidence or facts or multiple changes that our life is so rich with lately. And thank you very much for your time, wisdom, advice.

And today I was speaking with Lord Ian Franklin. Thank you. 

Ian Franklin: Thank you very much. I’ve enjoyed this very much.

Ian Franklin

(13th Earl Hawnes) is an Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and expert in the HNW/UHNW/Billionaire space

He spent 40 years as a headhunter for global wealth, investment banking, and family office sectors, working in London, New York, Geneva, and the North of England before retiring in 2022. Ian is the founder and chairman of The Lordian Group, which includes Lordian Philanthropy, Lordian Creative, and other platforms. He is a specialist consultant on business and corporate talent strategies. Ian is also passionate about philanthropy, especially focusing on homelessness and poverty, and is a co-patron of The Vana Trust Charity. He recently founded ‘Sten’s Law,’ a campaign for greater AED accessibility and training. Ian lives in West Yorkshire, UK, and enjoys activities like cars, cooking, flying, skydiving, and horse-riding.

Unlocking the Secrets of Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy

In a world where change is the only constant, embracing reinvention in midlife is not just a possibility but a profound declaration of self-determination. Our latest episode of the Age of Reinvention podcast brings you into the intimate world of Ian Franklin, a true Renaissance man who has seamlessly woven together threads of entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and passion into a vibrant tapestry of life and work beyond traditional retirement age.

Introduction to Ian Franklin

Known as the 13th Earl Honest, Lord Franklin is a name synonymous with success and benevolence. Celebrated for his wisdom and strategic insight, Ian Franklin has an illustrious career spanning over four decades. As the founder and chairman of the Lordian Group, Ian has been a guiding force behind global wealth and investment strategies and a mentor for family offices worldwide. But his career extends far beyond conventional boardrooms. Ian is a philanthropist, a skydiving enthusiast, and a steadfast supporter of numerous charitable causes.

The Intersection of Passion and Profession

Ian Franklin’s story epitomizes how one’s hobbies and passions can define one’s life and work. His love for skydiving symbolizes freedom—a theme that unmistakably threads through his personal and professional life. This passion for freedom is mirrored in his philanthropic ventures, particularly his commitment to causes that alleviate homelessness and support vulnerable communities.

During our conversation, Ian candidly shared his definition of success. Far from being solely about financial gain, success for Ian is a matter of personal satisfaction and fulfillment. This ethos is embedded in his work, where he ensures that his endeavors are profitable and aligned with his personal values and hobbies.

Navigating Personal and Professional Relationships

A key element of Ian’s success is building genuine connections. He prioritizes personal traits such as patience, trust, and honesty, which he believes are crucial in establishing personal relationships and professional networks. These fundamentals are a sturdy foundation for his diverse roles, from steering family office strategies to guiding social entrepreneurship initiatives.

Philanthropy and Social Change

One of Ian’s most profound contributions is through his philanthropic work. His involvement in grassroots charities like Seed, Vanna Trust, and Free to Fly exemplifies his commitment to nurturing causes at their roots. Ian believes in empowering small charities and the importance of introducing a hands-on approach to giving.

Ian’s deep sense of care and philanthropy is not just a hereditary trait but also a reflection of his family’s traditions and values. This cultural inheritance serves as a beacon of hope and motivation for future generations of his lineage.

The Future of Purpose-Driven Living

Despite the evolving challenges of technology and artificial intelligence today, Ian remains optimistic about the future of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. He champions retaining human essence and creativity amidst technological advancements, urging us to use technology wisely while never losing sight of genuine human connection and authenticity.

Advice for Midlife Reinvention

Ian Franklin offers invaluable advice for those navigating midlife transformation: embrace lifelong learning, cultivate genuine connections, and pursue what brings you joy. By staying true to one’s passions and interests, we not only enhance our personal satisfaction but can also substantially impact the world around us.

In essence, Ian Franklin’s life is a testament to the power of reinvention—a reminder that life beyond traditional retirement can be a vibrant expression of personal freedom and purposeful action. As we look to the future, may we all find the courage to redefine our paths with the same zest and dedication.