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Mike Adams
Chief Executive Officer at Purple
Mike Adams, the Chief Executive Officer at We Are Purple, is a prominent figure in the advocacy and support of disabled people in the UK. Here are some key points about his background and career:
Early Life and Education
Mike Adams was born in the 1970s and spent his first 16 years in a special school in Sussex due to his disability. He later attended Coventry University, where he earned a BA Honors degree in Economics, and Anglia Ruskin University, where he received an MBA with Distinction.23
Career
- Current Roles: Mike is the CEO of We Are Purple, a not-for-profit organization that aims to support disabled people and help businesses understand the commercial opportunities presented by disability. He is also an Executive Director of CareTech Holdings Limited and chairs CareTech’s Care Governance Committee. Additionally, he is a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees.13
- Previous Roles: He has held various significant positions, including CEO of the Essex Coalition of Disabled People (ECDP), Director of the National Disability Team for higher education, and Director of Delivery, Learning and Leadership at the Disability Rights Commission. He was also the Interim Chairman of Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust and a Non-Executive Director of Mid Essex Hospitals NHS Trust.13
Achievements and Recognition
- Awards and Honors: Mike was awarded an OBE in 2012 for his services to disabled people. He has been listed in The UK’s Power List of the 100 most influential disabled people for the last three years running.1
- Leadership and Impact: Under his leadership, Purple has transformed from a disability charity into a commercial venture, aiming to bridge the gap between disabled people and businesses. He emphasizes that disability is not just a social issue but also a commercial opportunity that can benefit businesses.2
Philosophy and Approach
- Resilience and Leadership: Mike believes in the importance of resilience in leadership, particularly when facing challenges and criticism. He has navigated significant opposition, such as from the disability community when transitioning Purple into a commercial organization, but has seen the justification for his decisions over time.2
- Mentorship and Guidance: He values the advice and guidance from a few trusted individuals who help him make informed decisions without providing the answers directly.2
Overall, Mike Adams is a dedicated and influential leader in the field of disability advocacy and support, with a strong track record of driving change and promoting the commercial value of disability inclusion.
Highlights
Yes. Yes. Yes.
This is Purple Tuesday. First photo from an electric #PiccadillyLights as the world focusses on disabled people as customers.
Joined by 22 Sector Partners all talking to camera about why disabled customers are so important to their organisation. And crucially. What they are doing about it.
With Disabled Customer Ambassadors. Individuals using their lived experience to support organisations and to ensure authenticity in all we do – the only way changes will stick when the pace is so fast. My personal thanks to Isaac Harvey and Shani Dhanda FRSA who are here in #London and to Kathryn Paylor-Bent who is hopefully doing media interviews in the north-east as I type.
Onlookers. Engaged. Going about their business on a Tuesday morning. Reading the screens. Eyes glued to the statistics. A photo taken. Perhaps shared on social media to friends about what they saw. What they have learned.
Purple Tuesday is about awareness. Understanding. Involvement. Engagement. As the day unfolds we hope the ripple effects will be enormous. Later today in #CanaryWharf. Celebration events and photos from #Pakistan, #Malaysia, #Dubai and finally #Minnesota.
Nervous. You bet. Some live interviews coming up. I hope. But excited. Another giant step forward in changing the disability conversation.
Proud Mike. Of the Purple Team. And for the #MovementMoving.
Time for a strong cup of coffee. Long day ahead.
#DisabilityConversation31 #DisabledCustomer #Disability #Inclusion #BreakingNews #Accessibility #DisabilityInclusion #WowMoments
Image: A short man standing in front of Piccadilly Lights in London which is showing a production of Purple Tuesday.
Understanding. Standing. Sitting. In the shoes of other people. Starting from different lenses. Perspectives. But landing in the same place. The strongest type of partnership. One that is sustainable. Enduring.
Currently in the #UAE as we launch our plans for Purple Tuesday. Yesterday we held our first Roundtable at the offices of our Global Partner Standard Chartered Bank. Attended by People of Determination with lived experience. Businesses. Government. All focused on the customer experience. For individuals. Who happen to have a disability.
Humbled. Wiped away a tear. When I started this journey over five years ago. I never thought. Imagined. It would ignite. Connect. The internal pressure to succeed. Imposed on myself. Is huge. This is about the next generation. I am Mike. A customer. Who happens to have a disability. So is Sahm Cooper. And Jessica Smith OAM PLY. And Saira Sayed. And so many others.
I have learned some new phrases. Social consensus effect. Investment. Not cost. Unconscious incompetence. You don’t know what you don’t know. But once you do. It is what you then do that really matters.
Also learned. Reinforced. I have a face for radio. Brilliant to be interviewed live by ARN. And for spending an afternoon with staff at Zurich Middle East.
As you read this I will be on my way home. The future of Purple Tuesday is in safe. Global. Hands.
Flight home Friday
#PurpleTuesday #DisabilityConversation31 #ReadyForLife #ZurichMiddleEast #Accessibility #PeopleOfDetermination
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.