Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello, and welcome to the, give yourself the chat podcast. I'm your host, Peter Lewis. And this show is all about leadership coaching and living your life
Speaker 1 00:00:08 High performance. Hello, everyone. Welcome to give yourself the chat pod coasts.
Speaker 0 00:00:16 Um, the next episode, I'm very glad to say I've got somebody who I've only just met really by the power of social media and LinkedIn. We've got Kate strong Kate. Very good morning to you. How are you?
Speaker 2 00:00:26 Very well, thank you for having me here, Peter. It's a pleasure to get to know you a little better and be part of your podcast.
Speaker 0 00:00:32 Well, thank you so much. I've been crying. We've we've only, I think we've had a bit of chat roll and it had a zoom call. And then I launched this on you and said, please come on my podcast because I think you've got a fascinating story. And I think that's part of the reason why we connected in the first place is we have a sort of mutual bond and love of triathlon and extreme events around that. But also there's the coaching aspect as well. So what we'll dig into a lot of that, but we are still in lockdown. It is still Corona virus. I think we're in sort of week five or six. Now. It just seems forever. So first of all, um, how are you and how you coping with this whole situation?
Speaker 2 00:01:09 Well, I feel fine, but in honesty, I think my glass, if you want to use the analogy of the jar, it's full of unusual. So there are days when I feel my fused a little shorter, or I need a little bit more downtime. So I'm thriving within it. I've started a few new challenges within being in locked diving. And my life has completely one eighties. So before this, I was off grid, so I was nomadic traveling the country hugs, sitting for other people, and that is obviously coming to a massive hole, but yeah, I'm using it to the maximum of what it is, but maybe that's the positive mindset. I'm not sure.
Speaker 0 00:01:43 Well, I know that mindset and motivation is something that we were keen to explore and, and we'll, we'll come to that in a moment, but I do think it's interesting, isn't it? How I think we're both blessed. We both have our health and, and, and, you know, relatively, that's the most important thing, and this is affecting a lot of people, but I do think if you have your health, then I think this actually presents quite a tremendous opportunity, um, to the take stock. Or like you say, just kind of do a massive pivot and rethink how you approach either your business or your life. So I guess, what, what would you say are some of the bigger or more reflective decisions that you've made because of their situation?
Speaker 2 00:02:21 Uh, reflectively, I now live with my partner and we're buying a house together. So that was definitely not in the cards even just a month ago. So it's given me re so it's really given me time to see what's important and to make sure it's around me. Cause we don't know when, what tomorrow may bring and he's important to me. We want to commit together. So that's what we've decided to do. Why wait, you know, uh, on a, on a personal and professional level, my business is completely one 80 days as well. So again, reflecting, I realized that I was doing things again because I felt that I had a limiting belief or a belief that meant, you know, many and work perhaps work hard. And I felt slight guilt that I had the ability to do extreme sports and also be able to survive and thrive off that. And in many from it by, by actually delving into that, thanks to being in lockdown, by facing my mountains within myself, not outside. I now focusing on a few will challenges again, I'll share that in a second, but that will be my primary message. And I will put my life again in the, in the limelight and say, this is how you do it. And my coaching will be definitely present, but it's less, it's less the forefront of what I'll be doing from now on. So that again is the one 80. Wow,
Speaker 0 00:03:38 Wow. Gosh, what some significant decisions there in life, everything else, there's me thinking I'd made some significant decisions by putting some, my offline content online, but just blows out the water, but that's, that's brilliant, but it is, it does give us an opportunity to take stock and, and to really rethink and, and I think, you know, what will life? And this is the new normal as far as I'm concerned. And I think it's really exciting, especially as, as coaches ourselves is the reach now through technology and also the comfort that our clients and customers might have of using this technology. I think there's a massive opportunity in dare. I say, as long as we have our health and absolutely there's, there's no limit to what we can do. So, um, we were just chatting before then there is a, there's a, a Welsh accent there, but you refer to your nomadic and you're sort of traveling. I know Australia has been part of your background and everything else like that. So can you just give me and our listeners a bit of a sense of who you are and kind of what brings you to this point in terms of some of those experiences, and then we'll perhaps unpack a few of those around mindset and motivation thing. Sure.
Speaker 2 00:04:46 So, you know, we can never join the dots looking forwards. So looking today at, you know, I'm a real time contractually, I'm an ex aerospace engineer I've submitted Montblanc and a few of the things I never would have thought I'd be here today as a coach and consultant for releasing that potential for people, as well as the sustainability for businesses by covering, as you said, from a small town in Wales, nothing massive to report there. And I think that was part of the problem for me to, to, to, to grow is there was nothing to fight against. I was comfortable. And as you know, when we're comfortable, we don't, we don't need to change anything. There's nothing really to resist. And you know, we don't wait until we usually wait until the doctor reports a significant disease. Do we take stock of our health or this global crisis to go?
Speaker 2 00:05:36 Actually my living environment is non conducive. I have to change. Yeah. So, so I just plodded along living, I call it society, tick box lifestyle. I got a degree in engineering. I went traveling for a year, which kind of led me up a little bit, but then I knew it had to come to an end to play, to, to settle down. And so I worked in aerospace. I moved to Australia and with my then partner and my boyfriend's from Wales and we got into hospitality. I wanted to be my own boss. I was tired of working for other people and their inefficiencies or not, not wholly satisfying my needs. So we owned a few businesses in Australia and fast forward nine years, I'm still with him still, still using the excuse of when I have more money than I can put myself first or when I have more time than I can, you know, address this situation.
Speaker 2 00:06:30 And in those nine years, I relationship had got quite toxic. It was quite suppressing for myself. I had even, he was monitoring my phone. So if I left the house, I would get a call within five minutes to say, where you going? What are you, what are you doing? Why aren't you at home? And looking back, it was a fortuitously. He left me six days before our wedding. And at that moment, that's my cliff edge moment. That was when the doctor sat me down and said, you have the health disease. But I, I had a life talk with myself, which was, you know, things are not going to plan. You've been putting everything off. I've been putting all my life off for a brighter day today should have been it. And yet it was one of the worst moments of my life. He left me geographically isolated in Australia.
Speaker 2 00:07:18 He'd left me with all the business stats as well, uh, and stopped paying. So I also had to cover his portion to a mortgage, which left me to about a million dollars in debt and emotionally struggling, like challenging myself. But the biggest demon I hadn't needed to address was myself of self doubts. I'd wake up and go. You can't do this. You can't do a loan. You're going to fail. Um, and it was that moment when I said, I have to, I have to start believing in myself. Otherwise it will become a self fulfilling prophecy. I will find ways to sabotage or miss deadlines or take the eye off the ball, all fail just to prove myself. Right. And the one thing that drew me to, to taking responsibility of my life, it doesn't mean that it was my fault just to be clear was, you know, today as the youngest will ever be, there will, you know, I'll never be younger than this moment right here right now.
Speaker 2 00:08:14 I don't want to look at my life with regret because I'll never be 41. So I might as well enjoy it since nearly moments, but also paradoxically now is the most acknowledged I've ever had in my life as well. So this is the perfect time to take action. And I'm in that space. I asked what was the one thing I gave up on myself? What one thing could I do just for me, selfishly, almost I recall triathlon, but 10 years ago I wanted to do an iron man and I'd settled. I just did half, which is still admirable, but it wasn't my dream.
Speaker 2 00:08:53 So I set the goal to be an iron man triathlete yet. Do you know, this may come back to you as well, Peter, but you know, when we start girls who dictates how far we can go, it's, it's usually a have memories of the past or some limiting belief. So for me, the only way I can live to see my true potential is to aim, to be the best by me, aiming to be number one, isn't the ego of wanting the gold metal. It's allowing me the possibility of me stepping up and being authentic, Kate strong and seeing how far I could go. And so that's what I did.
Speaker 0 00:09:35 I'm sorry. I'm just cause I want to be very clear. So this decision to do the iron man and to step up to be that person was on the back of all that trauma that had gone on in your personal life and your financial situation and everything else like this, that was one decision amongst many, no doubt to do that, to sort of redefine yourself and redefine your future. Is that, is that correct? I mean, amongst all of that, you thought about doing an iron man.
Speaker 2 00:10:01 Yeah. I felt, well, I didn't think today would be as bad as it was what's to say tomorrow wouldn't be worse. So I can't, I can't afford to wait anymore.
Speaker 0 00:10:11 What is it about that? And that, I mean, you're preaching to the choir here in having done iron man myself. I get the power of it, but there's, there's a number of things that you could have done. What was it about going to that distance or just that as a, as something to define you or begin that journey that really resonated with you amongst many other things that you could have chosen to have done?
Speaker 2 00:10:34 Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, for me it was because I compromised before, like nine years ago, I did that half iron man and my, my, my then boyfriend said, okay, you've done enough. You know, you're good enough at half. Why, why put yourself through more, more training, more pressure, more time away from me. And I'd said, yes. So I'd let other people influence my personal journey. Um, it was, it was a huge compromise that I knew I'd sort of given up on my dream. Cause it was just to reclaim the, uh, the choice to me to be able to all the permission should I say to put me first and that's why I am on came to mind.
Speaker 0 00:11:11 So that that's interesting that the compromise that you made, cause it just happened to be a half iron man, which you say was, it was great achievement in itself, but it, the iron man is the proxy to it. It's the, that compromising self and, and fitting in with others or allowing others to limit what you can do is that, that that's, that's interesting. Cause not everyone listens to this podcast of course is, is into triathlon iron man. But, and that's why I just wanted to unpack a little bit it's it's that was just the vehicle for resetting and trying to address that, that going on nine years previous, you also talked about, uh, taking responsibility. It doesn't necessarily mean it's your fault. That's, that's an interesting one, right? To probably this idea of, you know, advocating, if you take a hundred percent responsibility for your life and what you do, it doesn't mean to say that it's all because of your creation, but what is it about taking full responsibility that, that is so empowering, um, for you personally,
Speaker 2 00:12:06 Um, for me, if I, if I'm responsible, I'd take the lessons. If I, if it's your fault. If, if the Florida city business, if, if we're failing we're in business together and our business, isn't making money. And I say, it's nothing to do with me. It's Peter's fault. How can I grow you? You then get the lessons you are able to booze and more pressure, but also step up and elevate your own game and business acumen as well. I am in I'm on the sidelines of that part of my business life. So by me stepping up and saying, okay, you're the one piece and you spent the money, but I'm joking. How can we meet together, dig ourselves out to this? Or how did we allow you to spend that much money without there being protocol to stop it? So that's the responsibility I'm allowed the lessons to learn from it.
Speaker 0 00:12:56 Yeah. And, and I've always liked how it just is a slight sort of linguistic play on words, but that, um, responsible or response able is that actually it puts you in that sort of your circle of control and I can respond to this. And you know, I often talk to people about, we always have a choice. We might not like the choices that are laid down in front of us, but we have choices nevertheless, and isn't it far better to be able to take those tough choices, then have that choice put in somebody else's hands. And I think as the only way to live, really. And, and, and I think, you know, I'm a big fan of things like stoicism and philosophy around that. And it just talks about actually just determine what's in your control or seize back control. And it sounds like, you know, that that iron man was just one step in that process of you sort of seizing back that, that control, um, how you dig yourself out of a million pound hole and everything else like that. I mean, that's a w so what else has been on that sort of road to, and I choose my words carefully here, but in inverted commas recovery for you, like, what else have you managed to do to get you into a far more positive space that you seem to be in now?
Speaker 2 00:13:56 Yeah, it's a good way of saying actually. And I think it's really important that we do call it recovery one. It's about giving myself permission to put myself first. That was an easy one. And in business, it was about dealing with that high pressure, making sure that we focus on what actually can generate money or reduce costs rather than all the busy facts around it. As you know, training for Ironman time is also a very raw asset that we need to protect. So in business, I needed to step my game up as well to make sure that I could afford the time and also resources to train as well as making sure my business was operating and reducing costs. One simple example is I owned a guest, hosted restaurants, guest runs was highly profitable. That required limited time. There was the restaurant was almost one 80. It was highly resourced demanding, which went off regularly cause it's food and was fluctuating. I couldn't predict if we'd have five or 50 guests. I simply the restaurants, it was a simple move. I outsourced a lot of stress and pressure given myself consistent income, which was higher than my lowest, but also not as high as what I get in peaks. So I could then plan around that more effectively.
Speaker 0 00:15:15 Yeah, fascinating personally. And I know one of the areas that w w we'll come back to the, sort of the more physical pursuits and that this challenge, which when you, when he told me about it and your plans for it, kind of blew my socks off and, you know, I've done a lot of endurance events, but when you describe, so I'm looking forward to talking about that, but I do want, so you've talked about business and some of your previous ventures, I know at the heart of what you do and what you're really passionate about is about sustainability is as well. So tell me, tell me about how, how you kind of, how that resonates with you and how you want to sort of build that into what Kate does from here on in.
Speaker 2 00:15:53 Yeah. I mean, if we, if we look into ourselves, if we actually listened to our intuition or gets, if I feel great, yet the people around me feel crap or I look around and the world is covered in plastic and you know, there's no trees nearby, even if I've got a great life, it's not gonna, I'm not going to feel amazing nor will I feel great knowing I'm impacting that need to be at the people. So in a very crude example, sustainability is making sure that I can thrive whilst other people and the environment around me also blossoms. So, so intuitively I think we all want to be sustainable, but we want our friends and family and coworkers to also elevate their lives to the level they want and enjoy it. And so on the micro level, that's what it means. Nowadays, businesses are getting more and more aware that they can be profitable as well as make sure that their environmental and social footprint for goods, they can be a resource for positivity in all aspects. And, you know, we're sitting here in lock down, partly because we weren't sustainable or mostly, potentially we traveled anywhere without cause or consideration. And this is, this is the action for every action. There's a consequence when I was sitting in consequence. And so we, you know, to be on my high horse a little bit, we need to step the F up and sort this out as soon as possible.
Speaker 0 00:17:18 It's. And, and my worry is, uh, and the sort of the environmentalist in me is so pleased that, you know, there's villages in the Punjab 200 kilometers away from the Himalayas that can now finally see the Himalayas. And we've got a fish back in the sort of a Venetian rivers, but my worry is, is that we'll just the bounce back. We'll probably take, could potentially come back too hard, too fast and, and do even more damage than we were doing previously. So I think that there is a massive opportunity here, but if we don't seize it, um, and our political leaders sees it, then, then I think, you know, we may miss that opportunity, but I think also sustainability around sustainable relationships. And I think this going back to the opportunity that we face here, w I mean, the fact that you and I are talking now is because we consciously connected through social media and everything else.
Speaker 0 00:18:05 And I do think there's, there's far more connection. I do think there's hope. I think there's hope, but equally to your equal and opposite reaction, it's almost like mother nature said, look, if you people, aren't going to sort this out, I'm gonna help you sort out and force your hand, you know? And, um, it's, it's an interesting to reflect on that. And I know that's, that's kind of what you're really passionate about. And I don't think all of us are perhaps a little bit more mindful around that. I just hope we take the opportunity that's presented in front of us right now.
Speaker 2 00:18:33 Yeah. I don't think that we will go back to normal. I think that the benchmark has changed and shifted regardless if we want it or not. And yeah, after this, there may be some people traveling more just to catch up, so to speak, but we're now becoming more aware. I don't think anyone on the global level realized where our toilet paper came from, that we were so, like, we wouldn't have asked that question. So people are becoming more aware regardless. So pass it. Doesn't come from Italy again. Another shock to them.
Speaker 0 00:19:03 Yeah. It's open, open eyes. It's open eyes. Let's um, I w when I honestly invited you onto this podcast, uh, you know, I sort of, here's some themes that you might like to talk about motivation and mindset really resonated with you, Kate, and, and we've got a sense of why that might be now, but what was it in particular amongst a whole list of other things that we could have talked about? Tell me about motivation and mindset, um, as you see it, and perhaps what we might learn from that?
Speaker 2 00:19:32 Well, I think any change has to come from within if we want it to be sustained and sustainable, that magic words again. So I think it's important for us to make sure that we nourish ourselves first and foremost. And again, it comes back to what I was saying about being selfish by centering ourselves is not a selfish act. It's actually the most selfless thing we can do. If I'm in optimal health, if I'm in mental health, I can support more people as well. So I think putting ourselves first with our mindsets, making sure we're focusing on what we want, how we want to live, how we want to be seen, and then making sure that we back it up with that positive action, which could be called motivation. We can either achieve things so low, uh, by ourselves, or enroll others through a display of passion to help us along the way. So it's like the rock, the rock phone's on the Hill. If we've got the right mindsets and the motivation is pure following our purpose, we can gain a lot more momentum and attract more of our tribe to support us.
Speaker 0 00:20:35 Wow, well, that, that's interesting. And I'm reminded of the metaphor is almost like, um, that the oxygen mask in, in an aircraft, in the event of emergency oxygen masks will fall. Please administer your mask first before helping others. And I think leaders and managers, or, or anyone, or team members there is that responsibility. Like you say, of looking after yourself in order to serve and amplify that service. And there's no point if you're not looking after yourself, if you are not actually clear on what it is that is driving you, how can you possibly create a tribe or create a following, or just on a very practical sense, be a good team leader, be a good manager. So it's not a, it's a selfless act. It's not a selfish act. Is it? I think this, this piece, you, you, you put your oxygen mask on to help others. Otherwise you're no use to us. And that that's, that's always an interesting metaphor I come around with. And a lot of people perhaps are quite surprised that I might tell them in a leadership sense. It's, it's really important that you do look after yourself because I need you at your best, you know, and now is a, is a time when we do need people at their best.
Speaker 2 00:21:37 Yeah. Very much so. So yeah, for me, nurturing that positive mindset is first and foremost in anything. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:21:44 Um, so I'm going to go to that subject now. So tell us, remind me of this, uh, this plan that you have for this, uh, big triathlon, I guess, is the only way of describing it, but it's a very different triathlon that our listeners may be used to.
Speaker 2 00:22:01 It's the first official one ever to be completed in the world. So it is swimming the channel. So from England to France cycling across America. So from East to West coast, which is 3,100 miles, and then attempting to summit Everest. So,
Speaker 0 00:22:24 Uh, the listener is no longer, it's not a sprint of Olympic or an iron man. It is, you know, swimming the English channel. And how far is that on the shortest possible, but yeah,
Speaker 2 00:22:33 I think 17 miles
Speaker 0 00:22:35 Teen miles, but yeah, end up, you can zigzag depending on tides and all that kind of stuff. And that has to be a certain time of year, isn't it with, is it neat tide and things like that. You have August time, August time now. And you know, my geography is still good. I know that it's not necessarily going straight into the right across America. So you're doing the right across America, which is an established event in itself. Isn't it? And
Speaker 2 00:22:59 Yeah. Is that two priors that will be done in June. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:23:04 Oh, so you're doing that. You're doing the cycle before the swim and then doing this sorting now, how, how do you pull something like that together? I mean, it's one thing to have the idea, which is fabulous and I'm just completely, you know, uh, be a biggest support of that, but pulling this off, how are you going to do it?
Speaker 2 00:23:21 I have no idea. That's just, I just made it up at the beginning of the year and it seems to stick. So there's the saying that the obstacles, the way this is, this is what I need to do to keep me out to my comfort zone. So, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:23:38 Okay. So, I mean, there's a whole practical logistical sense. So I guess there's, you know, there's some fundraising to be done here or some sponsorship on a corporate and all that kind of stuff, because this is not going to be cheap, but there's this, there's this idea that you've got, but then what next, it's one thing to have an idea. We can all have a great idea, and this is huge, but why, why this idea and what next to bring this idea into, into reality for you?
Speaker 2 00:24:05 Well, why this idea is I just, I, I just sent rude, honestly. I just said it one day on another podcast and we don't see things by accident. Everything we say comes from somewhere in our brain, it's been stored and generated from our own conscious. So, because I said it, it was brought into life. If you want through my words and you know, why, why? Because it scares the hell out of me. I have no idea if I can do this, I can't do this alone. So that's another something I've struggled with, um, from, you know, the past, so to speak is to actually involve a massive amount of team to not be the experts in it all. I can't know it all. So, uh, it's about really releasing and letting the journey unfolds, which is the only way to achieve Epic success on a business level or on a, on a sporting level like this.
Speaker 2 00:24:57 So how I'm going to do it is when I have no idea, but two it's, um, you touched on, yes, there's the logistical type to swim practice cycle, how to hike in altitude, then there's also, what other tools do I need to upskill on? What about sleep deprivation? I'll be cycling for up to 10 days on two hours a night asleep. How can I optimize my sleep? How does nutrition play a role in that is an expert in this field? So it's about deconstructing every elements of my life to bring in that 1% gain in everything I do.
Speaker 0 00:25:31 So that's, that's great. So let's unpack a little bit of that, cause you mentioned, uh, uh, the obstacle is the way in which one of my favorite books by Ryan holiday and, uh, and ran sort of stoicism. And it is, I think you set yourself the intention and then the, that, that intention, well, that, that event is the obstacle, but then within that are the questions that you need to be asking yourself to your point to deconstruct. And all of a sudden you find the way through. And so let's, that's on a really grand scale. I love that, but let's, let's bring this back. If I bring it to my situation about the first time I did an iron man, I'd done it a half iron man. If I know I hadn't, I'd done a marathon. And that was for me, that was just the biggest thing.
Speaker 0 00:26:10 I know. We've just had London marathon that should have been this weekend. I did London marathon back in 2004. And I was saying to a friend of mine, I had done an iron man. I said, look, I've just done this marathon. I can't imagine how you would have done a full iron man and done a mouth. And at the end of it, and he just turned round him, matter of fact. And he said, well, you know, you just, you just get on with it, but you treat it in a very different way. It's a completely different race. And for me, just that one comment allowed me to reframe and think, okay, well, what is different about it? And then it leads to the next door, but big events as let's bring this to our, is that how do you then deal with, okay, the obstacle is the way you got this big thing, but how do you deal with the self doubt? How do we give ourselves the chat to overcome it? And we will do it in very different ways, but what's, what's some of the things that you do when you're faced with doubt or you're faced with crippling debt or you're faced with a relationship that has, you know, it hasn't gone well. How, how do you mentally pick yourself up and, and just take that next step in, in, in a positive direction?
Speaker 2 00:27:13 Well, one thing I do is I'm also a Reiki master. So I, I practice a lot of healing or myself as much as 21 else. And one of the beliefs around the spirituality of this energy work is just for today. So when I'm feeling I don't want to, or I get absorbed with those feelings, I don't feel like it. So I don't feel it's good, or I get trapped in that little side clone of negativity that seems to want to pull me downwards into inertia. I S I S I just say the words just for today or just for now, what one thing could I do it may just be, get out of bed. It may be put on my cycling shorts. It doesn't mean you have to be on the bike, but just for today, what one step could you be to get in closer to achieving that?
Speaker 2 00:28:01 Because I'm also faced with one of my time is, is my goal is to over two years away, how do we keep the motivation going today for me to do that to our cycle, but just for today, put on my shorts and see what happens. And weirdly as diff by magic, when we put on our shirts, we feel a bit more motivated to sit on that bike. And when we're on the bike, we feel a little bit more motivated just to spin the legs, to see a little bit. And before we know it, we finished our training. So by breaking it down in those micro micro steps has really helped me keep the focus in that micro goal
Speaker 0 00:28:37 Now. So that's interesting. Just, I love that phrase. And, uh, so, so that, that goal is two years away, hence or whatever. And that's, and I speak to a lot of people, particularly in our circles who have had events canceled, or so it doesn't have to be a training of it. It doesn't have to be a race. There's lots of things that this situation has, has affected us. And yet we still have to go through the preparation. You still have to prepare for a channel swim, even though you can't get to it to a pool. So, so much it was about sort of reframing, but, but when a goal is two years away, is that enough of a pool for you to, to, to do what you need to do now? Or is there something in between mentally that you grab hold off?
Speaker 2 00:29:20 Well, within that two years, I've got a lot to do. As you've touched on, I do need sponsors. Why I want to work with sponsors. I want to champion other businesses that are doing great in their fields, us to be partners. So that's going to be a good year of focus. So it may not be the physical I need to focus on, but more the mental as you know, how I prepare myself mentally for the chump, for the supporters. But there's also going to be a lot of people who call me out with a bit of negative chitchat. I'm sure. How do I prepare against that? Or do I make sure that I give everyone the space to talk about it in whatever way they see it? Yeah. So there's a lot of preparation. It's just, it may not just be, it's the treading water, it's the duck feet under the water, not the actual gliding on the top. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:30:06 Yeah. And, and I guess there's a sense of, you know, you, you, you've gone public on, so this is, I don't know how many podcasts you've declared this now, but you know, you're now you declared it on the, give yourself chance podcast. There's definitely no going back, there is something about putting an intention out there and sharing it with people that will then help in those sort of darker moments or those moments where you just want to turn over and just, you know, go under the covers or hide that kind of helps you sort of step forward into that. And I think it's connecting with that. It's, um, it's, there's so much of, there's so much of that accountability to, to other people or to a cause or whatever that is part of the, the ability in the moment just to think about, well, what should I, what could I do right now?
Speaker 0 00:30:46 And I think a lot of people just kind of lose that connection, what don't have that connection to start with. So, um, yeah, I, I, I applaud you for that. Let's just say you've gone public too many times now to, um, to not be tracked by, uh, tell me a little bit about as we come to the end of our chat and this has been absolutely fascinating. So you've got a podcast haven't either tell me about that. And, and, um, and, and, and how that came about and what you intend to use that podcast for it. So tell us the name and so people can chime in and listen, and sure.
Speaker 2 00:31:19 Thanks, Peter. Well, it's called strong boasts. And originally it was, it was a way for me to be able to speak with like minded leaders. So I won, I was invited at the Silicon Valley, uh, for part of a charity that was being held in Google HQ. And I thought, while I'm here, I'd love to meet some larger businesses and organizations, but me knocking on their door, asking them for time. I need something to be able to reciprocate. So I created a podcast purely to get into a few companies over there, which, which worked. And then I thought it was a great platform to champion other companies. And again, this is a great example of life that we don't need to be perfect get day one, because it is a molded into something different. So I use strong voice as a platform to help other companies promote that, that you can be sustainable whilst also being profitable yet.
Speaker 2 00:32:10 Now what I'm going to be using it as, as a plat, as a way to follow my progress over these two years. So it's about, it's about the Kate strong journey, my strong voice in being a world's first global triathlon, but bringing in the experts saying I'm struggling here. I, you know, how can I, how can I upscale my mindset? How can I, up-skill my team? How could I, you know, swim faster, also getting those experts to come in, to support me on my journey publicly and also share the failures. You know, I think something that we've seen in business, as well as companies are making these massive declarations, like Tesco's and Ikea have announced their sustainable targets, but they're also declaring what they're feeling and what they're really struggling over. And instead of us criticizing them consumers, and also the suppliers are coming forward with ideas and solutions that task goes and my career and other companies would never have thought of. So I'm hoping that the same will happen with me that when I share one, you know, what I'm struggling with with motivation or something else, maybe not that then, then people will come up and support as well. So it's opening up that. I have no idea what people can help me with, but this is what I'm doing. Come join me.
Speaker 0 00:33:27 Yeah. I mean that, that's, that's great because so much of what I advocate, um, around leadership and service to others is that it's okay to be vulnerable. It's okay to not have the answers. In fact, it's a very courageous and strong position for, um, team members, leaders, managers, to not have the answers, but just to get better at asking the questions and then eliciting help and gathering the tribe around you in that course, I mean, what can be more empowering than doing that? Whereas the old sort of model was one. I'm going to do this alone and you fail alone, but you succeed together. And I think it's wonderful that you are creating something where you can bring people on this journey. And I just love the fact that you've got the intention, but you don't have the answers to how it's going to work out yet.
Speaker 0 00:34:10 And that's part of that. The fascination and the draw for you is it's, what's going to energize you. It's also going to energize other people as well. Um, which, which is great. And I think there's, there's, there's something that we can all learn from that. And going back to this, this period, that's bringing us together. I think there's a greater acceptance of, do you know what we're all facing this for the first time and we're going to do our best, but you know, we're going to do even better if we get our minds together. So I'm hoping that's a very positive outcome that kind of sticks, you know, amongst all the other, other things. Um, Kate, it's been absolutely fascinating talking to you. Um, we'll definitely chat again because, um, this two year plan and this journey that you're on is going to be, it's going to be great to track your progress and, uh, and I'll certainly support you in any way I can in that, because I think it's great what you're doing.
Speaker 0 00:34:57 Um, and I have to say that for a chance to kind of encounter on a LinkedIn thread, um, it's been great to connect with you. So I, I thank you for your time and thank you for sort of sharing some of the insights around what you do. And I wish you the best of luck with this project, what that amazing story from the trials and tribulations and traumas of her past through to that vision for the first event and triathlon of its kind, just think about that. Swimming the channel, riding across America, and then finishing with a summit of Everest. Talk about setting yourself big, lofty, ambitious goals. So really enjoyed that one. I hope you did too. The chat is going on over at LinkedIn. Feel free to contact me, connect with me and suggest any subjects that you don't have to be explored on the, give us off the chat podcast, as well as any guests that you think I should have on the show. But for the meantime, keep healthy, stay strong, and I'll see you on the next one.
