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Meet COOK’s Dream Manager

Alastair Hill is a professional performance coach and, since 2013, COOK’s own Dream Manager, helping people identify and work towards fulfilling their personal dreams.

The COOK Dream Academy is based on simple idea: if a company can help its people achieve their personal dreams – whether they’re work-related or not – then they will begin to lead more fulfilled lives and, as a result, be more engaged and productive at work. It’s not complicated, but because the business does not benefit directly, it takes courage for a company to invest in this type of initiative.

When I was approached to become COOK’s first Dream Manager in 2013, I immediately loved the idea but didn’t know if or how it would work.The concept came from an American book called The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly.We’d allowed space for 10 people on the very first programme and, much to my surprise and relief, there were 72 applications.The stories that came out of that first group showed we were onto something. Lives were genuinely transformed as a result. Careers were changed; families re-united; confidence restored; books written.

Two words sum up why the Dream Academy works: commitment and focus.The process helps people to put aside the distractions of everyday life and concentrate on what their heart desires. Simple yet so effective.

The COOK Dream Academy is quite simply the best thing I do in my work as a coach. I’m in awe every time a person has the courage to walk into the first meeting. I am reminded how brilliant, unique and talented every individual is. I have the privilege of being in the front row watching as they achieve remarkable things, witnessing their personal growth as they write a significant new chapter in their lives.

Nearly 100 people will have been through the Dream Academy by the end of 2017, it’s fifth year. And the wonderful stories keep coming.