with Speakers Max Hopkinson and Philip Worthington

After a brief introduction to the Tillotson Lecture series by Head of Foundation Philip Britton and to each speaker by the School Captain, Ali Ahmed, Max Hopkinson (19882002), Chief Instructor and Co-Founder of marketing agency Bind, was first to speak – presenting to the audience a history of his father’s charitable lifestyle and legacy. Titled ‘Hoppy’s Four Principles to Philanthropy’, Max spoke of his dad’s work with Bolton Lads and Girls Club and his fundraising initiatives and achievements, and about how his father has inspired his own life and career. Philip Worthington (1989-2003), MD and founder of European Lawyers in Lesvos, then gave an overview of his journey from School to working as a commercial lawyer, before finding himself as a humanitarian in Lesvos.

Max studied Economics, Business Studies, Maths AS and Product Design at A Level – although, interestingly, his favourite teachers were the ones who taught the subjects he wasn’t good at: Dr Holland, Mr McNeil and Mr Joseph.

After leaving School, Max studied Finance and Accounting at the University of Nottingham. By his own admission, he almost ‘fluffed’ his degree and afterwards felt he had underachieved; however, this disappointment ultimately motivated him to undertake an MBA at the University of Bradford where he was awarded Student of the Year. His passion for marketing was ignited and he went on to complete an executive scholarship at the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago.

Max has recently become involved in the Marketing Academy, a non-profit organisation which provides prestigious training for ‘up-and-coming’ talent in marketing, media and communications.

Max initially worked for the family business. Growing up in an entrepreneurial environment was of huge value; although he did feel that he was ‘hanging on to his father’s coattails’ to some extent, he embraced the experience and it has enabled him to develop his subsequent career.

After a stint with Google, Max started up Bind with his brother, Oliver (Class of 2004), as co-founder. Max is indebted to Oliver’s support, which enables him to be more rational in times of stress – “When the ship is going down, he is the one to say ‘We can build life rafts’!”

Max believes that it’s a myth that talent or hard work alone can make one the most successful they can be. He cites basketball legend Michael Jordan as an example: he had the talent, but he also had the drive to work harder than every single one of his competitors to complement this natural ability. Without the hard work he wouldn’t have made the team, and without the talent he wouldn’t have become the best. Max is a proponent of the First Principles way of thinking. This approach, defined by Greek philosopher Aristotle some 2000 years ago, is about breaking down complicated situations into their ‘building blocks’, which then enables him to explain them to others, and therefore manage and resolve them more easily.

One of the biggest challenges in Max’s career has been public speaking. He recalls struggling with this at School and it later held him back in his work life. A pivotal point was having to address an audience of 150+ people; he was incapacitated with anxiety and his presentation was a failure. He knew from his father that being able to communicate with power, concisely and clearly, is essential to running a successful business and being a leader and he set out to address the issue. He joined Toastmasters, an organisation which teaches public speaking and leadership skills, and is now able to speak confidently and effectively.

Bind has won many awards for its client work and innovative organisational ethos, but Max is particularly proud of winning ‘Best Team Culture’ at the Company Cultural Awards in 2021.

Asked how School helped him to succeed, Max believes the ability to communicate with people from different backgrounds which is instilled in all the boys has been key in his family business where he was required to talk to people at both ends of the organisational spectrum.

Max has two pieces of advice for current Bolton School pupils. The first is to read: reading allows you to build and accumulate knowledge and experience. The second is to learn habits: learning to break and make habits is a ‘super power’ which helps with preparation which ultimately puts one at an advantage.

Max’s mind set of resilience, forged in his childhood, along with the systems and habits he has developed through his life, have enabled him to be successful. He has come to realise that some methods work better for others: it’s about finding your own most appropriate, enjoyable and effective methods, and many of these begin in School.

Philip’s understanding of the challenges that refugees face led him to set up his own NGO charity to provide free legal aid to those in need. The full lecture is available to watch on School’s YouTube channel – @BoltonSch. Prior to the event, Max and Philip were interviewed by Monitors Matthew Mair and Owais Khalid respectively about how Bolton School helped to shaped their futures.

L-R: Ali Ahmed (School Captain), Max Hopkinson, Philip Britton, Philip Worthington, Finley Littlefair (Vice Captain)

Philip’s favourite subjects at School were History and Geography; he studied these both at AS and A Level, along with English Literature and Law. The attraction of History and Geography, especially Human Geography, was that they focus on people and society: not just what is going on or what happened, but more why things are happening and why things are the way they are. Philip went on to study History at university: he has a BA from York and an MPhil from Cambridge. He recalls Mr Wardle (Geography), Mr Whitten (History) and Dr Holland (English Literature) inspiring him and stimulating his curiosity about the world; lessons when the focus deviated from the curriculum on to wider topic discussions were particularly valuable. He remembers a Geography lesson discussing foreign direct investment into the South-East Asian economy and how this was a good thing for economic growth; Mr Wardle put forward a different perspective, mentioning the abuse of human rights such as child labour, sweat shop labour etc. Philip was astonished – in an instant he realised things like investment are not so straightforward or clear-cut and there is a different side to them.

Although Philip did not have a straightforward journey to get to his current job, his belief – first realised in School – that everyone is fundamentally the same and deserves to have the same rights has been the motivating factor. As a lawyer, the most basic thing in law is rights and powers. People have rights, entities have rights, corporations have rights – and the authorities have power. He explains: “As a lawyer, you advise your clients of what their rights are and help them learn about that process. This is the same concept, whether you are living in a refugee camp or you are part of a team advising on a multi-billion pound merger acquisition: your client is going through a legal process and that client has rights.” The concept of equality and fairness was brought home to Philip in Moria, the main refugee camp in Lesbos, when he struck up a conversation with a man from Afghanistan. The pair were the same age and both were lawyers, yet one was now living in a refugee camp in Greece with his young family trying desperately to have his voice heard whilst going through a process. Philip was essentially the same, but more fortunate in that he had been born into a different situation in a different part of the world. Philip’s legal career began in commercial law, with big companies and big money, but he knew he would like to become involved in human rights. Incidents around the world, for example in Afghanistan and Bangladesh, felt like they were planets away, but then he heard about the refugee situation in Greece, which is just a three-hour flight away, and this gave him the inspiration to take a risk and change his speciality. Events were changing, the legal process changed and everyone there had to apply for asylum – but there were no lawyers, and he realised he could help. This was not something he had planned; it was a case of adapting to the situation as it arose. Philip’s team has won several International Human Rights prizes and he has been invited to speak at various conferences and events, including at the United Nations in Geneva. However, he considers their greatest achievement is having assisted over 30,000 people and enabling them to speak to a lawyer before their asylum interviews. Out of the cases they have assisted, 75% of cases were granted asylum, compared to the Greek average of 47%; their work clearly has a material impact. Asked what advice he would give to someone interested in following his career path, Philip first wishes to reassure young people that it is okay not to know at the age of 17 or 18 what they want to do with their lives. He himself didn’t really know – after university he worked for a year and then did a law conversion and worked for a few years in a commercial law firm before finding his niche in his current role. Secondly, he notes that his line of work is not just about skills; it is also about character – for example, the ability to empathise, the ability to see things from someone else’s perspective, the ability to communicate, to be kind and interested and passionate. Even with the best law skills in the world, those character attributes are required. Thirdly, he advocated volunteering as a way to ignite passions about worthy causes. Finally, sometimes it is necessary to be brave and to take risks.