Transformation Begins in the Mind

[Music]

enid blyton

has a lot to answer for it was through

reading her books

as a child the famous five and the

secret seven

series that i developed a love of

adventure

it seemed like an ordinary dare with

friends and a dog

could be transformed into an amazing

adventure

i was hooked and yet in real life

all the adventures i read about seemed

to be men

and i wasn’t a man nor did i have an

awful lot of pocket money

and i imagined that the expeditions and

adventures that they other took

would be too expensive for me so i began

to believe

it wasn’t possible for me to be an

adventurer

yet in 1996 i became the first british

woman

to ski to the magnetic north pole

prior to that i’d never been further

north

than aberdeen in scotland i’d never done

any cross-country skiing

before and i’d never experienced wearing

the same clothes

for an entire month having

achieved such a success i realized

that i was capable of far more than i

had imagined possible

before that and i realized that that’s

about transformation transformation is

about changing how we think

not what we know it’s about

seeing and believing that bigger things

are possible

and having the willingness to take a

step into the unknown

despite uncertainty

when bill gates was reading the new york

times article

that talked about poor sanitation being

one of the biggest reasons

for early childhood mortality in

developing countries

he was intrigued to discover more about

that problem

and as he learned and began to pay

attention more to it

he tried to get some universities

involved to see if they would be

interested

to help think about ways to solve the

problem

but there seemed to be little interest

however he wasn’t deterred

because he believed he could find a way

and so the reinvent the toilet

challenge was created grants were

awarded to 16 researchers

around the world and it became a

competition

what bill gates had realized is he had

to transform how

other people viewed that problem he had

the belief

to move forwards and find a way to

address it

even though there was a high degree of

uncertainty

back in my life when i left school and

got a job

in an organization i hankered after

having some adventures

and one day on the notice board at work

there was an advert

talking about an expedition that was

going to be organized by an

international charity

and five employees could go and spend

three months in a remote part of the

world

carrying out scientific community and

adventure projects

and you got your salary paid i thought

everybody would apply for this

and it seemed to me the great chance to

have an adventure

well there was a selection process

involved

which involved over two days we had to

go through a whole series of mental and

physical challenges

often not knowing when they would be

happening

and what they would be so there was a

high degree of uncertainty

i thought the best way to to cope with

this situation

was to draw upon my strengths remind

myself of the things i knew i was good

at

in other situations such as enthusiasm

and decisiveness and sure enough

those things helped me get through and i

found myself winning a place

on the expedition i then had to raise

fifteen hundred pounds to subsidise my

place

and i arrived in kenya and spent three

months there

with 120 other young people from all

around the world

to carry out a series of scientific

community and adventure projects

what that expedition did is it changed

my life

it transformed me and enabled me

to believe that i had bigger

capabilities than i had ever imagined

and envisaged possible

and then after that back in the uk

i took part in what is another

important aspect of transformation

taking time to reflect

i looked at what had helped me to be

successful

on that expedition and reflection

enables us to look at the things that

have worked

understand what we can learn from them

and think about how we can apply them

in different aspects of our work and

life going forwards

it was an amazing experience and also

gave me the confidence to look for

bigger

and more exciting challenges in the

future

what came up next was another advert in

the newspaper

six years later still with this idea of

adventure in my mind

i’d now transform my thinking about what

adventure actually meant

this advert said challenging

opportunities for people not afraid

of hard work in a rapidly changing

environment this was an opportunity

for a one-year contract in a war zone

and whilst most people thought i was

completely crazy to even consider it

i saw it as a chance to have another

adventure

in fact adventures are all around us

all the time we don’t need to go to the

north pole to have an adventure

you can have one every single day try

something different

to eat for your breakfast walk down a

street in your town or city

that you’ve never been down before and

see what you can learn there

just take a conversation with your loved

one and ask them a different question

than you’ve ever asked before

all of these things are examples of

stepping into the unknown

of doing something that has an uncertain

outcome but with the innate belief that

we’ll learn

something from it and that’s what

transformation

is all about

when i got the job in the war zone i

survived

and i realized that these challenges

enable us to learn and grow

what also happens is we learn about risk

taking

which is a core part of stepping into

the environment where things are

uncertain

that then meant when the next

opportunity came along

i was ready for it the real big

challenge and part of that

evolution of growth and development is

what carol dweck

calls the growth mindset our willingness

to embark

into uncertain situations to keep seeing

perseverance as an opportunity

to learn well the next time

the advert said it said wanted

10 novice arctic explorers ski 350 miles

to the magnetic north pole i had

absolutely no

idea if that that was going to be

possible but there were two criteria

that the team

were looking for the first was the

ability to work in a team

i knew i could do that and the second

was the ability to raise 15

000 pounds to pay from a place on the

expedition

i had absolutely no idea how to do that

but the belief i had in my mind was

if it’s meant to be i’ll find a way to

make it happen

so i sent off for the application form

would you believe

it came back and it was all pictures of

men

and the title was are you man enough

for the ultimate challenge well that

certainly motivated me to apply

as did hundreds and hundreds of others

in that process of selection again

i thought it was important to draw on

strengths and be reminded of my

strengths

because those were the things that any

of us when we’re thinking about

transforming

and developing our capabilities gives us

a degree of confidence

the strengths are the things that we

enjoy doing and that

give us energy and enthusiasm so again i

reminded myself of the strengths that i

had used and other expeditions in the

past

and surely those things would help me to

get in the expedition team

and yes they did i was selected as one

of the team of ten novices

for this expedition but the challenges

didn’t stop there because i still had to

raise a substantial amount of money that

i had no idea how to do it

that where that is where the sense of

belief comes in

belief that no matter what you do even

if successful or not

you’ll learn something from it well i

wrote to all my friends

family members sponsors companies that

had anything to do with the cold or

women or adventure

most people didn’t bothering replying

and if they did they said no

however one sponsor eventually agreed to

support the expedition

and there were two good reasons for that

our expedition was going to be filmed by

the bbc

and if successful of course i found out

i’d be the first british woman

to get there so there was a compelling

reason

for them to support me they were going

to trust me

and put their trust in me so now i had

to put my trust in my fellow team

members

who are going together with me into an

environment

that virtually wants you dead where

survival

is an option

so what we had to do was to build trust

to transform ourselves from this bunch

of individuals into

a team a challenge that many leaders

these days can face

it was back to strengths sharing

together

what we were good at and what we felt we

brought to the team

accompanying with that recognizing

what were our vulnerabilities and where

we prepared

to share what they were because in an

environment like the arctic as with many

organizations

as well you can’t control things

when you’re in a team or as a leader

there are so many factors that are

outside of our control

so we have to be able to accept and let

go of those things

and focus on what we can control

that was about being open and sharing

and when any of us

are willing to accept and share our

vulnerabilities it we unconsciously give

permission for others to do the same

how we did this was we all created a

if list writing down what our greatest

fears were

about participating in the expedition

well what if we meet a polar bear

what if somebody falls through the ice

what if i just can’t stand the people

i’m sharing a tent with

and lo and behold when we shared all

those fears together

many other people shared them too and

now we just didn’t feel so alone we were

much more

connected emotionally as a team we were

transforming ourselves

by our willingness to act to step

into a situation that had a high degree

of uncertainty

but with an innate belief that it would

work out and we would learn something

that expedition took over 30 days

in temperatures that were often cold

enough

to freeze your flesh in seconds and yet

in the end we were successful as a team

back in the uk in the comfort of my own

home i began to reflect

on what this had all been about i never

realized that i could achieve something

like that

and yet i had i had transformed my view

not only of what adventure meant but

about what any of us

can do to really step out and challenge

ourselves in the world

i realized there was a bigger reason for

it

and if i could use that experience of my

journey

and getting to the north pole maybe it

could inspire other people

to think about what their north pole is

and to transform their selves

and go on that journey so you don’t need

to be a man or have a lot of money to go

on an adventure

all you need is the desire to transform

the belief that you can achieve it the

willingness

to take action and to act despite

uncertainty

and who knows just like enid blyton

you two can have a great adventure

thank you