Alister Campbell was in his heyday arguably as polarising a figure as Trump or Farage are today. You either loved him or hated him. You only need to watch the opening episodes of The Thick of It and you sense what the man is about.
In his book ‘Winning’, he introduces a concept called The Crisis Arc, along with a beautiful piece that I thought to share. It centres around how to navigate crises, and resetting targets out of failure. Plotting your course from failure. Embrace the fucking suck.
The theme of ‘holding the tension’ carefully, not fighting or flighting, but remaining in that tension and seeing how it moulds you, for the better, is a powerful theme. I’ve seen this used by the greatest and the best. From Navy Seals to existential psychologists; experts in Imago theory used in assisting life partners to build emotional intimacy and overcome deal-breaking positions, to military leaders and innovators; elite sports people, adventurers and politicians.
Embracing the fucking suck. Standing up to the tension. I loved the words of Willie Walsh, the man behind British Airways at a time when issues were more serious than an IT engineer switching off the power accidentally wiping out £350m of value in a bank holiday weekend. The way in which he describes the events in his career were what struck me most.
‘’Looking back; it was hell. Was it that bad. Without a doubt. But I lived through those moments. I took the beating and kept standing up. I know when all hell breaks loose and there's shrapnel everywhere: how will I behave. Fight or flight. I know how at least in 99 of 100 of those situations how I will respond.
With humility, love, kindness, openness, courage and faith. And fire in my heart.
The question is whether you allow it to overwhelm you or whether you re-build from the setback and fight your way out of the pit.
We reset targets out of failure - Willie Walsh
A very important figure to me when I was 17, Willie Loots, owner of Varsity sports near Hatfield, nestled in the University Campus grounds and close to the home of the Blue Bulls. I had the privilege of working as a weekend/ holiday salesmen flogging anything sports related, specialist running shoes, clothing, etc.
It was a super amazing sports shop and employed Springbok players from Tuks, another name for Pretoria University, as salespeople offering some specialisation in their chosen fields. We met fascinating people all the time. Rugby players would come in on a daily basis. It became a hang-out for Springboks and people like Naas Botha.
Willie was an influential man in those parts and a wonderful but relentlessly competitive human being. Think Vince Lombardy with a saffer accent. Following a weekend when Theo van Rensburg, a colleague of ours who also played winger for the Boks dropped from the Springbok squad following a minor performance ‘fumble’, he was given a pep talk from the CBT (cognitive behavioural psychologist) by training sage Willie. I was standing in the little ‘circle’ of trust that formed around the main till and bagging area and his simple words stuck with me forever.
’Do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by the number of times I fell down and got back up again. ‘’
Loved that!
Rocking out to this theme today because London loves a bit of sunshine and happy, fighting spirits.
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