Meet Mark Fisher, Co-founder of MyBigSky

About Mark – up to now…

Mark grew up in North Norfolk in the UK, he has worked in 30 countries across over 30 industries in small, medium and large companies, spending over 15 years at Diageo Plc.

Originally a marketer, Mark has had many senior leadership roles including running 3 of his own companies, and has lived and worked 12 years outside the UK in Madrid, New York and recently Florianopolis.

After coaching over 100 small business leaders in Norfolk, Mark is now the Co-Founder of MyBigSky, a company dedicated to resolving the fundamental problems that small business leaders face, aka, “The Problems Behind the Problems”, and helping these leaders to build their own Big Sky, the world they want to live and work in.

Mark is married to his Brazilian wife Marselle and they have 2 daughters, Charlotte and Emma.

About Mark – from now to 80 years old….

This is the birthday speech that Mark would love to make on his 80th birthday.

“As I look around this room, my heart is warmed by all the loving faces I see, everyone I love is here at my 80th Birthday party, what an amazing thing to be able to say.

There are of course 2 people missing, my mum and dad, but what a wonderful life they had, a couple from Fakenham in Norfolk who enjoyed and loved the world.  I was so happy that during their last years, we were able to spend so much lovely time together in Norfolk.

When I look back on my life and consider the things that I have meant the most to me, unsurprisingly it’s people, all of you.

The single biggest moment of my life that was to change my life forever was to meet the love of my life, Marselle, 35 years ago in La Brocca, an Italian restaurant in West Hampstead.  I couldn’t imagine a life without Marselle, she is my soul-mate, my best friend, she is everything to me and I give thanks for our love and friendship each and every day.  She puts up with me no matter what, and when I get too much she gives me a Brazilian blast that brings me down to earth.  Thank you for looking after me.

Over the years, Marselle, has helped me manage my drive to be perfect and strong, and it’s been such a relief for me to not try and sort everything out, and indeed let others try and sort me out, probably not the easiest task for my family and friends, but thank you for trying, it has meant the world to me.

Marselle and I have a life rich in love and fulfilment, we spend so many of our days together just doing the things we love, walking, biking, tennis, yoga, paddle boarding, eating out, driving in our convertible, reading, Capoeira, spending time with our daughters Charlotte and Emma.

I’m delighted for the past 22 years, we’ve split our time between Brazil and England.  We have our wonderful beach home in Florianopolis, Brazil and our lovely family home in Langham, Norfolk.  In both our homes, we have our wonderful morning and evening beach walks, and as often as we can have our family over for barbecues to eat and drink to our hearts’ content.

We have continued to have the holidays of a lifetime, I will always remember our amazing long weekends in New York where we walk the streets of Manhattan drinking in the positive energy, the exploration of the best beaches of the world and the beautiful wildlife safaris where we have taken the stunning photographs that now fill our walls in both our houses.

I’m delighted that I finally learned to spend money on non-essentials for myself, it’s not something that I have found easy. With Marselle’s help, we bought and have endlessly enjoyed our Honda S2000 and our 2 little boats in Florianopolis and Morston.

I’m delighted to have our daughters Charlotte & Emma here today, I’m so proud of their happiness, their freedom, their pursuit of positive experiences.  I can say categorically it isn’t at all easy being a parent, I had to work at it every day.  In the end, you can only do your best, and I know at times I wasn’t my best, early boyfriends were not an easy subject for me and I didn’t always come across as the mature and understanding dad that I wanted to be, how easy it is to regress to childhood tantrums!

Having said all that, here today we have 2 wonderful women Charlotte 32 and Emma 30 and I have the most amazing relationships that a dad could have with his daughters.  We can talk about everything and that’s all that is needed most of the time, now and again, we decide to do something about something and we are an awesome team.

I love our annual family adventures – whether it’s climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, white-water rafting on the Tully River, skiing down crazy Blacks in the Alps or sky-diving towards Manhattan, our adventures inspire me.

Charlotte and Emma, you have made me the happiest and proudest dad in the world, I am in awe at the people you have become.

It’s lovely to have my brother Shaun here with his wife Flo.  Shaun and I have built a friendship over the last 22 years that is a true transformation on the relationship we had before.  Whereas in the past we were the sons of mum and dad where we had the clearly defined roles of big brother and little brother, particularly around mum and dad’s care, now we are friends who love spending time together, whether it’s sea fishing with a bottle of Metaxa or paddle boarding along the North Norfolk coast.  I’m proud to say that Shaun is one of my best friends.

As for friends, I’m delighted that so many of you are here.  You’ve been there for me over the years and some of you have known me for over 70 years!

In the last 22 years, probably staring mortality in the face, I’m so happy we’ve got ourselves together and have done some amazing things.

Robert & Jeremy, I don’t think anyone who came in contact with us will ever forget our road trip across USA in a convertible Mustang, I don’t think I have ever laughed that hard for that long.

Charlotte, Grant, Jim, Sam – walking the Camino de Santiago was life changing, the conversations we had made me realise so many wonderful things about our friendship, thank you.

Eddie, Johnnie & Simon, thank you for agreeing to row around the island of Florianopolis despite never having rowed before!  It took us a year to train and we eventually did it, celebrating afterwards with Caipirinhas was amazing if slightly messy!

Spencer, Gav, Louis, Tom & Johnny – how we did the 500 miles I don’t know, but cycling from Florianopolis to Santa Maria was epic, gruelling and highly emotional.

I’m so happy to see all the friends who are here from my MyBigSky groups.  MyBigSky has been an amazing journey of discovery for me, I have learned so much about myself, about people and about life.  Thank you for sharing your lives with me, it has been a privilege to get to know you so well and help you where I could.  I’m so proud of all the things you have achieved over the years, you are an inspiration to me.

MyBigSky has been a wonderful gift to me and at 80, I’ve delighted to be able to retire and pass my group on to a new and exciting Chair, Norfolk born and bred.

As I’m sure you can imagine, Danny and I can’t quite believe the success of MyBigSky.  Our putting happiness & fulfilment first has targeted an existential emotional crisis that is hitting the 1st world hard.  Through MyBigSky’s global franchise we have been able to help over 20,000 leaders & their businesses in over 50 countries.  I’m so pleased to see all of MyBigSky’s leaders here, thank you for coming and thank you for all you’re doing, you’re making a huge difference.

I’m also proud of the work we have done with One Planet Living to help save our planet.  When I started this work 22 years ago, it looked like our life on this planet was doomed to fail.  The 20,000 small businesses within the MyBigSky community have led the way in changing our habits and starting the regeneration process of our wonderful planet, big companies are now all starting to follow our lead.

It’s a pleasure to have Alice the owner and Justin the manager of Norwich City FC with us this evening and congrats on your 20th consecutive year in the top half of the Premier League.  Since I became a Director of Norwich City, Marselle and I have helped over 50 Brazilians join the youth squad and all have gone on to play for Norwich.  Marselle and I are proud to have set up a family-oriented environment for the Brazilian players and their families, one which is now emulated by Real Madrid and Manchester Utd.

Finally, I’d like to thank my editor for flying in from New York to be with us here this evening.  She helped me finish and launch my first novel 15 years ago about 3 boys from 3 different schools growing up in Fakenham.  A story about innocence, freedom and friendship, special things I cherish.

Thank you all for being here with me tonight, you’ve made an 80 year-old a very happy man.”

Mark Fisher

Co-Founder – MyBigSky