Is this my Munich moment?

For those of you sitting there and can’t help but feel there is a sense of arrogance to this story then I apologise, because I clearly haven’t got the message across correctly.

Is this my Munich moment?

There I was, standing on a British Airways plane in May of 2006 physically shaking. A 6 foot 5 inch 100kg International Athlete who looked like it was his first day at school at the age of 5 years old. ?I even had to put my hands in my pockets as I desperately tried to hide the fact that my hands and arms were shaking - through fear that one of my teammates would notice and I would be humiliated.

The entire British Rowing team had just boarded the plane to fly out to Munich to compete at the first international race of 2006, and this was to be the first time myself and my other (rowing) partner at the time, Matt Wells, competed with each other on the international stage.

Why was I shaking so much?

Was it nerves, anxiety, or even fear of failure?

I had suffered my fair share of failure to get to this point and every time I had shown some promise, it had always ended in disappointment.

However, standing on that plane, there was one question that had been rattling around in my head for a number of days, and one which I couldn’t seem to get rid of:

Am I really that good?

For context, let’s rewind 2 months previously, and myself and Matt had been selected by the Head Coach of British Rowing at the time, Jürgen Grobler, to compete in the Double Scull. To those not well versed in rowing terminology, this is a two-person boat with 2 oars per person.

When we walked out of that selection meeting with Jürgen, both of us looked at each other and we could immediately tell what the other one was thinking: ‘I don’t want to row with you’.

Worse still, we had been given a coach at the time whom neither of us really knew nor wanted.

So, there we were. An unlikely trio who didn’t want to be with each other and faced with a situation we couldn’t get out of.

Session after session we fought our way up and down the river trying to get this boat to go quickly. And the more we fought, the slower it went. I couldn’t help but think at the time that this could be the end of my career, as how much more failure could one person endure?

Until one session.

A bright and sunny day at Dorney Lake (the future venue of the London 2012 Olympics) when something clicked.

And the boat took off.

Am I really that good?

Going into the Munich Regatta we were suddenly elevated to the 2nd quickest boat in the entire British Team of 40+ athletes at the time, and we were about to find out how good we were against the rest of the world.

Now, the fairy tale story line would say that we went to Munich and won the race. However, the reality was that we ended up coming 4th. But perhaps more significantly, I vividly remember coming off the lake after the final and feeling something inside me turn to steel. It was like I was forming an impenetrable armour of conviction.

Yes, you really are that good.

And that was all the evidence I needed at the time - we never looked back. Over the next 3-year period we ended up winning 23 international medals out of 25 races, breaking the world record time, and winning an Olympic Bronze medal.

So why am I finally confessing to that moment of potential shame on that plane in May of 2006?

Well, I find myself in a very familiar situation today in business.

Over the last 12 months I have been building a start-up tech business within our current business.

This hasn’t come without its challenges and failures as we continue to be placed at the epicentre of the pandemic in the travel sector (health impact aside).

But, with the unwavering support of the wider business, we are on an incredible journey and adventure with the vision of achieving a billion $ valuation at the end of 2023, having already achieved some incredible milestones already.

From $0 to $1 billion in 3 years – in the middle of a pandemic – in travel! Crazy right?!?!?

Maybe not.

There are clear parallels to be drawn to the period of 2006 to 2008. Not least that it is a 3-year period, and that we were at $0 when myself and Matt got into the boat together and went on an incredible journey together.

However, the parallel I would like to highlight is the fact that maybe I/we are that good. Maybe this is my Munich moment and whilst I sit here writing this with the same feeling of unknown for the future and the outcome we are going to achieve, I have no doubt in my mind that we can get there.

Living my conviction.

And this time it’s not just all about me. I get to take my team on this new Olympic journey and impact the lives of hundreds of people along the way to our gold medal or billion $ valuation.

The reason I am writing this is because I truly believe, to my very core, that if we all owned our individual brilliance, we would not only achieve so much more but life would also have so much more meaning.

From that moment in Munich through to the Olympic Final in Beijing 3 years later, I knew I was good enough and I made sure I used this feeling in order to better myself every single day.

It is ok to be good at something. It is ok to admit to this and it is ok to make this public (if done so for the right reasons). ?

Very un-British I know. And most likely a feeling that initially doesn’t sit with you well

I wonder what would happen if we all got to play to our strengths more. If we were able to do more or what we were good at. If we owned our capabilities and what we believe we are able to achieve.

From a place of being humble.

On a journey to constant improvement.

I think the world would be a significantly different place and a lot of us would be in a better place than we are today.

With our new business start-up, Navigator, we have already had our first race - and we have the proof we need to give us the conviction we will become a billion $ business.

I am determined the whole team get to own how good they are and how good they can be. Play to their strengths. And be able to show the world their brilliance.

The world needs more of your brilliance.?