Pay attention.

This is one of the most inspirational conversations I've had.

Here I sit with Melvyn Downes, retired SAS (Special Air Service) operator to talk about his life and experiences in the military and special forces, where Melvyn developed the unique and highly specialised skill set required to lead himself and teams of people in extremely challenging, high pressured environments where good leadership and organisation measure the difference between mission success and tragedy.

This podcast initially started as a focus on lessons appropriate for motorsport, but I quickly realised that while we did touch on a lot of essential lessons and wisdom relevant to our sport, they more importantly apply to any person with a commitment to be the best version of themselves.

I have much admiration for these individuals in the special forces who relentlessly dedicate themselves to be the best at what they do in an environment where the motivator is a potential loss of life, sharp tools indeed.

Through a career of constant improvement and progress across such a wide range of skillsets which transfer to so many areas of life and business, the special forces community are an untapped source of wisdom and learning.

In this 2 hour conversation we barely scratched the surface.. Definitely more coming, but for now.. Be inspired.

Melvyn: https://www.instagram.com/melvyndownes/

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00:00 - Start

02:55 - Childhood experiences

16:40 - Journey into the military

20:53 - Northern Ireland tour

23:58 - First encounter with the SAS (Special Air Service)

39:16 - Encouraged to join the SAS

41:56 - Gulf War; leading men in combat

59:21 - SAS Selection

01:05:08 - High performance environments

01:22:30 - Qualities of high performing teams

01:35:19 - Qualities of strong leadership

01:45:36 - Bad leadership / thinking outside of the box

01:56:08 - Mindset & resilience

02:09:32 - Fun/Light questions

02:13:11 - What's next for Melvyn