Independent
Partnerships

Independent Partnerships – Good to Great

In the mid-1990s, our founder Chris was one of the fastest 200m Breaststroke swimmers in England.

Back then there was no real focus on mental or physical health or wellbeing to speak of with athletes let alone within the amateur sport of swimming.

Between 2000-2002 Chris was a founder member of the Manchester Aquatics Centre in the busy student district of the City and despite the university pressures founded the Manchester Metropolitan University Swimming Club.

Many years later after setting up two recruitment businesses (and at 40 years old), Chris competed in Red Bull’s Neptune Steps and in raising money for the charities Mind, Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie with sponsored swims (and some twenty plus years later) Chris realised that at this age there would have to be a few more considerations if he was going to swim competitively again after a twenty+ year absence from the sport.

Independent Partnerships – Living Your Best Life

At this time Chris started researching the science around mental and physical health and wellbeing with specific reference to longevity and how to be the very best version of himself that he could be.  The pandemic of 2020 saw Chris put pen to paper and in January 2024 Chris was compelled to start formally writing up his findings, including all his trials and errors and everything he had gathered and ‘The Five Pillars of Longevity’ specifically, ‘Living Your Best Life’ was born.

• Escape
• Exercise
• Expand
• Everything (NOT) in moderation
• Eat (and drink)

Not too dissimilar to the ‘5 Pillars of Islam’ or indeed the NHS Top 5 areas to promote mental wellbeing.

This trial and error astounded Chris’s GP when at the start of 2025 after a full health check he was told he had the body of a 21 year old man.  And he was just getting started.

Chris is not a medical doctor but has completed the MHFA England course in 2021, completed the Stephen R Covey’s ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ course, the Gallup Strengths 34 themes and top 5 strengths course, along with many other Management and Leadership courses in between.

The Harvard School of Psychology promotes sleep and diet as the two things to look at first before considering a plan for someone’s path to positive mental health.  Dr Gabor Mate then suggests looking at past or childhood trauma and unpicking and working through this before you have the foundations to build sound body and mind.

Independent Partnerships – Lean Six Sigma and Beyond

Along with the family recruitment consultancy business, Chris is now using this hard-fought practical life experience (and knowledge), his life-worth of professional training (including 10+ years in competitive swimming), 15 years of Management and Lean Six Sigma management philosophy for the betterment of the people and companies he connects with. 

This is through a focus on the five pillars above and consistently being ‘Better Than Yesterday,’ focusing on eliminating waste and maximising value, streamlining and reducing variations in processes (both personal and professional) with an emphasis on continuous improvement using a data-driven approach to problem solving.

So go and check out his book here and if you are interested to know more reach out to us here.