Never leave the game early!

As I sit here on this Easter Friday in 2018 I wanted to take a few moments of your time to share some recent reflections. If you are interested, then do read on. If your time is tight and you have far better things to do, then please feel free to close this narrative and crack on. Life is, after all, a choice.

The last eighteen months have been the toughest of my professional career. Military experiences aside, this journey from Corporate life, into Private Equity, through a Management Buy Out (MBO), well two actually, and now sat with a new Board, a clear vision, and a reinvigorated team has taught me many, many lessons.

There have definitely been times when I have thought; 'what the hell am I doing!'. There have been times when I have been so out of my depth that I couldn't really see ways through the days ahead at a professional level. As a CEO, to have days like this, is a tad terrifying. Everyone is counting on you and yet at times, you can yourself, feel lost.

The MBO process has taught me a whole new language, a whole new way of looking at business and people and it has given me coping mechanisms, when under business related stress, that will stand me in great stead for the future, I am sure.

So what is the point of this note? I wanted to let you know that the most vital lesson I have learned over the last eighteen months is this:

Never leave the game early!

What does that mean? It means that when you wake up and dread going into work. When you wake up and think: 'how the hell am I going to get through today'. When you wake up and as a leader, do not have all the answers, or any answers. When you wake up and dread that Board meeting because you once again have bad news to deliver. When you as a leader have to make really tough decisions, that affect and impact great people. When you feel so far out of your depth and at times feel in a very lonely place. Never leave the game early! Never leave the game early because you are doing the right thing. Never leave the game early because your honesty, integrity and your sheer will to win will keep you going. And if you do that, you will succeed. You will come through whatever it is that you are experiencing. You will realise your ambitions and goals and dreams, but only if: 'you never leave the game early!'.

So the next time you put your head in your hands. The next time you wake up feeling flat or exhausted, or lost, just trust yourself. Know that if you keep doing the right things, that if you continue to remember as a leader that you are 'always on stage' and that people count on you and whilst it is tough, do not leave the game early! Good things will happen, you will get through it and the great times will come back.

Just never leave the game early!

Have a Great Easter.