BUILDING STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY Ed Halliday, manager of the King’s20 Accelerator, describes how his experience of helping to build a start-up was very different to what he imagined, and how he used the experience to build his personal resilience.
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very day, I work with inspiring young entrepreneurs at King’s who want to change the world. In doing so, they are also exposing themselves to risk, to failure, and to having to deal with the consequences. As an entrepreneur, you might run out of money, and have to let people go – or even close your venture. Your product might not work, or no one might pay for it. Your investors might screw you over. The list of potential setbacks is long. I probably wasn’t aware of this reality when, in 2014, I took the big leap of quitting my job, my then relationship and my home and joining the co-founding team of a young education start-up called CoSchool, based in Bogota, Colombia. In my head I was all set for success: I felt it was the right time in my life, that I had the right skills and experience, and the determination to make it happen. And things began to look good for the company – we won several big clients and a national competition, and our team was growing. But for me personally, the story was different; I was struggling – a lot. It turned out that I wasn’t quite as ready for this big leap as I had thought. I didn’t know anyone in Colombia, my Spanish was not good, and I began to feel very alone. It was a critical time for
the company, yet I found myself overwhelmed, vulnerable and out of my depth; I was supposed to be a leader, and I felt like I was failing those around me. I was terrified of heading home saying I’d failed. So, I worked harder and harder – up to 90 hours a week between CoSchool, subsidising my small salary by teaching English, and studying Spanish at a university. Within a few weeks, I was suffering so much from stress and exhaustion that one night I came home alone from work and collapsed – completely blacked out – and woke up six hours later with severe concussion. I knew that something had to change. Thankfully, I was in the right place to learn about resilience. CoSchool’s mission is to develop leadership mindsets to help people transform the world around them. Thanks to their expert teachers, I learned to practise ‘growth mindset’ – the belief that challenges are opportunities to learn and that goals are achieved through hard work, taking risks and perseverance. I learned to jump over the hills of fear I came across, knowing it’d be easier the next time. We also regularly opened up space for the team to reflect on personal challenges and ask for help. I began to share with them the challenges I was facing and created an invaluable network of support as a result. Increasingly, I recognised that building resilience is a process that comes with every step up in life – starting university, taking a more senior job, launching your first company. I learned two key things:
‘I LEARNED TO JUMP OVER THE HILLS OF FEAR I CAME ACROSS, KNOWING IT’D BE EASIER THE NEXT TIME’
Firstly – that resilience is a muscle that can be strengthened. Our abilities can be developed and improved.
With the right support, each setback can better prepare you for the next one, helping you to build up a set of tools to strengthen your resilience. Secondly – that the help of others increases your resilience. Resilience doesn’t mean struggling on in
silence! Asking for help in times of need lets others step in to support and share their advice when you need it most. The challenges I faced as an entrepreneur didn’t get easier. But dealing with these setbacks did get easier – because my experience had taught me tricks that worked for me and showed me the vital importance of drawing strength from those around you. @edhalliday
@InnovateKings
TAKE ACTION!
Practise resilience! Try something you’re not comfortable with and be proud of yourself for trying – even if it doesn’t go how you’d like. For example, get involved in one of King’s student societies – see page 50.
RECOMMENDED READING
Mindset by Carol Dweck Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
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