Rib of Beef with Mike Hesketh: Pressure, Leadership and What Comes Next
Introduction
In this episode of A Taste of Financial Planning, Dennis Hall and Sarah Steele are joined by Mike Hesketh.
Mike’s career has followed an unusual path. After training as a dentist, he served in the Royal Navy alongside the Royal Marines, including a deployment to Afghanistan. He later built and sold a successful dental practice and now works with practice owners through Hesketh Healthcare.
But this conversation goes well beyond the milestones on Mike’s CV.
Mike reflects on how early experiences shape our attitudes towards money and how different types of pressure influence the decisions we make. He discusses the effect of his military service on his approach to risk, responsibility and leadership, and how those lessons carried through into business ownership.
The conversation also explores what financial independence really means when it stops being a distant ambition and becomes a reality. Selling a successful business can provide freedom, but it can also raise difficult questions about identity, purpose and what comes next.
It is an honest discussion about standards, growth and the decisions that follow success.
On the menu
Dennis began with a raviolo filled with salmon mousse and a soft egg yolk, sitting in a light Japanese fish broth.
Our main course was rib of Aberdeen beef, served with new potatoes and asparagus.
In this episode
Dennis, Sarah and Mike discuss:
- Growing up in North Wales and Mike’s early experiences of money
- Training as a dentist and joining the Royal Navy
- Serving alongside the Royal Marines
- Mike’s deployment to Afghanistan
- How military experience changed his perspective on risk and responsibility
- The relationship between pressure and decision-making
- The importance of leadership and maintaining high standards
- Building and scaling a successful dental practice
- Why long-term growth is driven by standards rather than shortcuts
- The emotional and practical challenges of selling a business
- What financial independence feels like when it becomes real
- The role of identity and purpose after a business sale
- Deciding what to do after reaching a major financial milestone
- Mike’s work supporting practice owners through Hesketh Healthcare
Links
Find out more about Mike Hesketh and Hesketh Healthcare:
https://www.heskethhealthcare.co.uk
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The podcast is hosted by Dennis Hall and Sarah Steele.
To contact Yellowtail, email ask@yellowtail.co.uk.
Yellowtail is a financial planning firm founded by Dennis Hall. We work with individuals and families across the UK, helping them understand their finances, make considered decisions and plan for the future with greater clarity.