On Monday 9th November, Michael Mitten joins The League at Eslington Manor to talk about leading a business through years of change, and the lessons he brought home from expeditions to the North and South Poles.

Michael spent 19 years as owner and CEO of Houghton International, a North East engineering service and manufacturing business that operated in more than 40 countries. During his time at the helm, the company grew, changed its culture, transformed its operations, and became a European market leader before a successful exit in 2024.

Lessons learned on the ice

Alongside his work in business, Michael took part in polar expeditions. The conditions forced a different kind of attention: how people make decisions when tired, how a group responds when the plan changes, and what leadership looks like when there is nowhere to hide from the consequences.

Those expeditions changed how he led Houghton International. They now sit at the centre of The Polar Business School, which Michael founded to bring lessons from explorers, guides, and extreme-environment athletes into the decisions faced by founders and business leaders.

There is always a way.

Nineteen years at the helm

Leadership advice often arrives after the difficult parts have been tidied away. Michael's story gives us the decisions behind the result: sustaining growth, changing an established culture, operating internationally, and knowing when the business was ready for its next owner.

We will ask what polar exploration taught him that a boardroom could not, how those lessons held up when applied to a real company, and what changed for him after the 2024 exit.

What we will talk about

The evening will cover leadership under pressure, cultural reinvention, difficult decisions, and the responsibility of taking other people with you when the route is uncertain. It will also look at the personal shift from running a company to building The Polar Business School around an idea Michael had tested in his own working life.

This is a conversation for people building, leading, or changing something that matters to them. You do not need an interest in polar travel. You only need to know what it feels like to make a decision before every answer is available.

Event details

Date: Monday 9th November 2026

Time: 18:30 arrival for 19:00 dinner

Venue: Eslington Manor, Gateshead

Thirty seats around one table. Reserve your place to hear the story in Michael's own words.