In the desert sands of El Alamein, during the Second World War, Major Reginald Henry Farlow was buried up to his neck during a fierce sandstorm. His mixed unit of Sikhs and Hindus – unprecedented for a British officer to command – refused to abandon the search.

In the shadow of the mighty Himalayas, I spent my earliest years developing the very qualities that would later ignite my remarkable understanding of transformation.

I wrote to Bill Perry, their marketing director, on parchment paper in old English text: I could increase his sales and needed only 47 minutes to discuss it. His reply came almost instantly.