Featured Interview With Simon Higginbotham
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I guess you could say I’ve lived two very different lives. I spent the first part of my career in high-level business, working internationally, leading teams, and pursuing the kind of goals measured in market share and margin. But around the age of fifty, I hit a turning point. I wanted something more real, more human. So I leaped from boardrooms to ambulances.
I retrained as a paramedic in the U.S., qualifying top of my class, and it completely changed my perspective. That journey is what inspired my memoir, Bottom Line to Lifeline. It’s a reflection on what it means to start over, to serve others, and to find meaning in places you never expected—like the back of a 911 rig at 3 a.m.
I was born and raised in the UK and now live in Ohio. I’ve had the opportunity to experience life in many places—London, Paris, Mumbai, and now Cincinnati—and each has shaped my perspective on the world. I’ve walked through the luxury of corporate life and the chaos of emergency care, and I’ve learned that sometimes the most critical moments are the quiet, human ones we almost miss.
These days, I write to connect those dots between business and service, between ambition and empathy. My work explores that space in between, where reinvention becomes not just possible, but necessary.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Writing came much later in my career. For most of my professional life, my writing was confined to board reports, strategy decks, and business plans. It was all very structured and purposeful—but not very personal. It wasn’t until I made the leap into emergency medical work that I realized I had something to say. The experiences were too powerful to keep to myself.
I started writing during paramedic school, scribbling notes after long shifts, trying to make sense of everything I was seeing and feeling. At first, it was just for me—a kind of therapy, I suppose. But gradually it grew into something more. That’s when Bottom Line to Lifeline began to take shape. It was the first time I wrote from the heart, not the head—and it changed everything.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I am drawn to books that carry hidden power—stories or ideas that leave you thinking long after the last page. I loved “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” for its depth and challenge, and Arthur C. Clarke for how he effortlessly blends science and imagination. On the philosophical side, Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being stayed with me. I tend to read across genres, but insight—wherever it may be found—is what I seek most.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Bottom Line to Lifeline, is a memoir that captures the journey I took from being a senior business executive to becoming a newly qualified paramedic in the United States. It’s about more than just a career change—it’s about rediscovering purpose, navigating fear, and finding meaning in unexpected places.
The book is written in the present tense to give readers the feeling that they’re right there with me, through the adrenaline of 911 calls, the humbling moments of human connection, and the personal reckoning that comes when you leave everything familiar behind. I wanted to show not just the drama of emergency care, but the transformation that can happen when you step into a completely different life.
It’s also a book for anyone who’s ever felt stuck or wondered what else might be possible. I’ve heard from readers in healthcare, business, and individuals in transition who have said it helped them reframe their path, which has been incredibly rewarding.
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