Ian France · The JourneyI didn't get my old life back.
I had to build another one.
The experiences that changed my direction, challenged what I believed and eventually led me to conversations I wanted to share.
More than a career or a collection of accomplishments.
I'm Ian France. I've spent much of my adult life working with people, building businesses, leading teams and pursuing opportunities. I've also experienced circumstances that changed the direction of my life in ways I never anticipated. Looking back at 55, some of the things that shaped me most had very little to do with professional achievement.
We all have parts of our lives that other people see, and parts that are considerably harder to explain. What interests me now is how those experiences influence the person we become, the choices we make and the things we eventually learn to appreciate.
Leaving a career I expected to keep.
I spent ten years as a police officer. It was a career I'd committed myself to, and for a long time I expected it to be my future. In 2001, a back injury changed that. What followed were three years of chronic pain, uncertainty and the difficult realization that I couldn't return to the kind of work I'd known. I resigned from policing in 2003.
Walking away from a career is difficult enough, but when that career has become part of how you identify yourself, there's more to work through than finding another job. I had to come to terms with what had happened and figure out who I was going to be beyond the role I'd held for a decade.
Success taught me things. So did the setbacks.
The years that followed took me into sales, business, leadership and entrepreneurship. I worked with organizations, developed people, led teams and eventually built businesses of my own. There were opportunities I never expected, accomplishments I'm proud of and relationships that still matter enormously to me.
There were also mistakes, disappointments and decisions I would approach differently today. I've learned that someone's professional life rarely tells you everything worth knowing about them. A person can appear successful and capable while still trying to make sense of important parts of life outside of work. I've had enough experience on both sides of that distinction to take it seriously.
Changing how I wanted to live.
As the years passed, I became more willing to examine my own habits, priorities and assumptions. On March 6, 2024, I stopped drinking alcohol. That decision was part of a wider reassessment of how I wanted to spend my time, look after my health and show up in the relationships that mattered most.
In June 2025, my wife Edyta and I made another significant change. We sold our home and began travelling full-time. We still have work, responsibilities and plans for the future, but we chose to arrange our lives differently and make room for experiences we wanted to share together.
It hasn't meant abandoning ambition. It's meant thinking more carefully about what that ambition is supposed to serve.
I'm more interested in what people experienced along the way.
Over the years, I've met people who have accomplished extraordinary things, along with people who have endured circumstances most of us would find hard to imagine. The more conversations I've had, the more I've wanted to understand what happened behind the scenes. What challenged them? What did they get wrong? What helped them recover or change direction? What do they understand today that they couldn't see at the time?
I'm not presenting myself as someone who has life figured out. I still learn, change my mind, make decisions and occasionally get things wrong. That seems like a much more useful place to begin a conversation than pretending otherwise.
The Human Side grew out of that interest. I wanted a place where people could talk about their experiences without turning every subject into an argument, a performance or a pitch. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, and I wouldn't want them to. If these conversations help someone see an experience differently, reconnect with another person or simply feel understood, they've served a purpose.
Starting the conversation is one way I can give something back.
I'm glad you're here.
Ian France
Host, The Human Side
Join me on The Human Side.
New podcast episodes on Sundays. Watch or listen to conversations about the experiences, decisions and relationships that shape our lives.
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