#2 Without Risk there is no Genius – when Nike decided to get into football, everyone thought they were crazy. Here was an upstart American company who new nothing about the world’s favourite game. But it was for the very fact that it IS the world’s favourite game, that Nike decided to go after it.

They rallied, created an incredible football organization, signed the Brazil national team, threw everything that was brilliant at product innovation and before long, became the credible force they are in the game today. They just believed they were going to succeed. And so they did.

I loved this constant sense of risk. It was addictive to be around. Yet so often as individuals, the fear of failure gets to us before we even try.

Sheryl Sandberg asked the question in her book Lean In: ‘What would you do if you weren’t afraid?’ and I think it’s a brilliant question because it not only encourages us to go places we don’t usually allow ourselves to go, but it also starts to show us that maybe the answers really just aren’t that scary once we say them out loud.

I’ve seen so many people get to grips with their fears through coaching and every time it thrills me to see the leaps that people make when they break through the invisible barriers that fear creates.

Bring it on…