Gordon Tredgold Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Gordon Tredgold
Gordon Tredgold is today’s guest entrepreneur joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast.
One thing for sure is this is a man who started his career as far away as is possible to where he is today.
Originally from Leeds, England, our guests early passions were rugby and mathematics, and although he was usually one of the smallest players, he loved to lead from the front, surprising his bigger opponents with his technique and tenacity.
Discovering his analytical skills helped other people identify a different and more effective way to do things, and his passion for being part of a winning team, he turned these into a professional purpose.
Now that is a fascinating insight into the psyche of a man who at his heart believed himself.
He believed that with effort, commitment and power of thought he could overcome those individuals perhaps holding themselves back from their true performance.
How The Dots Joined Up For Gordon
But what interests me even more is once he started his business career, he took those same athletic characteristics to go for rapid advancement.
And instead of going for the long game, where gradual performance and achievements get recognised by the powers that be, he decided to take on the most difficult challenges available; the tough jobs that no one else wanted to do or that people thought would fail.
He recognized these opportunities as a FAST way to rise through the ranks.
Knowing that nothing succeeds as quickly as success, he believed that triumphing in areas where other people thought it couldn’t be done was the best use of his analytical skills and his fierce determination to succeed.
And this approach allowed him to challenge traditional thinking and come up with innovative solutions.
And how with his own consultancy company he is taking these beliefs and sharing them with individuals and companies across the world, to also go for rapid improvements.
So why does he feel that he had this different approach to tackle the hard stuff, instead of going for the easy route like most people?
And does he pull his hair out, at the generation that now feel that you can click a few buttons online and gain the quick route to success?
Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Gordon Tredgold.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Gordon Tredgold such as:
How he recalls the words of his Father who said “There is no fixed path, you create the path” and have used those words everyday to find great success.
How he remembers not wanting to accept speaking opportunities, but making a conscious decision to change that. He received his first speaking offer in the next hour.
How Leicester City FC has redefined “the normal” by their astonishing rise towards the Championship On The English Premier in 2016.
And lastly…………
How he remembers his teacher telling him “Thank god you are great at Maths, as you wont make a penny at writing” and know writes for the Huffington Post.
How To Connect With Gordon Tredgold
Return To The Top Of Gordon Tredgold
If you enjoyed this episode with Gordon Tredgold, why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Ian Usher, Pamela Slim, Ross Jeffries or the amazing Tom Ziglar
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Full Transcription Of Gordon Tredgold Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, hello, everybody. Hello, world. Hello. I tell you I had an email the other day from a guy in New Zealand and I think it’s the first time I’ve ever had one from New Zealand. And this guy was saying to me, what do you need to do to create a podcast I said, Well, you’ve come to the right person. Now, I won’t sort of bombard you with it. But if you are interested on jumping into the podcasting, well just go over to Join Up Dots and you’ll see a little sort of advertisement sitting on the side of it, and we can connect up with you and give you some free training. So that is just to you mister New Zealand man and I do apologise Don’t remember what your name is. Now let’s bring on today’s guest because he is somebody who I suppose he started his career as far away as possible to where he is today. Originally from Leeds in England, our guests early passions from rugby and mathematics. And although he was usually one of the smallest players, he loved to lead from the front surprising these bigger opponents with these technique and tenacity. discoveries, analytical skills helped other people identify a different and more effective way to do things and he’s passion for being part of a winning team. He took these and he turned these into a professional purpose. Now, that is a fascinating insight into the psyche of a man who at his heart believed in himself. He believed that with effort, commitment and powerful, he could overcome those individuals perhaps holding themselves back from their true performance. But what interests me even more, is once he started his business career, he took those same athletic characteristics to go for rapid advancement and instead of going for the long game, where gradual performance and achievements Get recognised by the powers that be, he decided to take on the most difficult challenges available, the top jobs that no one else wanted to do, or that people thought would fail. He recognised these opportunities as a fast way to rise through the ranks. Knowing that nothing succeeds as quickly as success. He believed that triumphing in the areas where other people thought it couldn’t be done was the best use of his analytical skills and his fierce determination to succeed. And this approach allowed him to challenge traditional thinking and come up with innovative solutions. And now with his own consultancy company, he’s taking those beliefs and sharing them with individuals and companies across the world to also go for rapid improvements. So why does he feel that he’s had this different approach to tackle the hard stuff? Instead of going for the easy route like most people, and does he pull his hair out at a generation that now feel that you can click a few buttons online and gain the quick route to success? Well, let’s find out as we bring on the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Gordon Tredgold. How are you Gordon?
Gordon Tredgold [3:03]
I’m humbled after that introduction. Oh, this guy sounds good. I wonder who he is.
David Ralph [3:10]
Its you is Mr. Northerner who is and ended up in Florida by by believing himself and doing things in a slightly strange Well, yeah, you are. It’s you.
Gordon Tredgold [3:23]
Yeah, I’m feeling great. I’m feeling absolutely fantastic.
David Ralph [3:27]
Your life is one of, I suppose decisions, unusual decisions. And I would say breaking free from the peer group that probably I imagine you grew up in the sort of 60s would that be right?
Gordon Tredgold [3:41]
Yeah, I was born in 1960. So I experienced the majority of the 60s.
David Ralph [3:46]
Yeah. So in in the sort of the Northern 60s a lot of its kind of peer group would have been about getting a job or going to work in factories or whatever was going on in that time. Do you remember those days is one way Your path was laid out in front of you.
Gordon Tredgold [4:04]
And not not really I mean, I come from a working class family, probably middle class actually because my, but my dad was. He was the first member of his family. He comes from Castleford big coal mining area, it was probably the first member of his family for five generations not to work down the coal mines. He just said, I’m not doing that. I want better. And for me, that was a great role model. So my dad always told me, you know, there is no path, you create the path, which is massively liberating. The only challenge with that is, are there any road signs on this path that knows which direction and how far can you go? Because as I started to progress, you know, my dad was really supportive and even though he was the first member of his family to go to Grammar School, and not work down the coal mines and he, he pushed me to go to university, but you know, My dad pushed me, I actually got out of his sphere of possibility. And it you know, it’s difficult to know where you can go. I mean, you look at somebody like Zuckerberg billionaire at 30. I mean, who would have thought that was possible when he was 20?
David Ralph [5:20]
Yeah, but he did somehow, don’t you? I bet to do that. But the most people can become millionaires, very few people become billionaires and even few become trillionaires. So it is all tied up with mindsets. And the golden
Gordon Tredgold [5:35]
it is yeah, I mean, I got recognised by Inc Magazine as one of the top 100 leadership experts and I achieved that within 18 months. And people said to me, wow, you must be really proud. Did you set that as a goal? And I said, You know what, I didn’t even know there was a magazine called into that existed. And I didn’t know that they had a top 100 leader list. And I certainly wouldn’t have said that, you know, my name will be You’re on the list with Bill Gates, jack welch. Richard Branson. Stephen cup. No, I never, it never occurred to me I kind of, it’s almost as if once you break free of gravity, you just you just stop flying and, and how far you go is it’s down to look to some extent, and it’s down to how much you how much self propulsion you can give.
David Ralph [6:26]
So let’s sort of summarise that. So you ended up being recognised for your achievements. You’ve ended up being in a magazine that you hadn’t even heard of, can you think that if you had gone the route of, I’ve got to get into this magazine, you would have found yourself sort of congested by other people? Is it the fact that you kind of did your own thing but you naturally found a path to towards that success?
Gordon Tredgold [6:52]
Absolutely. And I don’t want to take any credit for that because I didn’t know where I was going. I just I just struck out and I said, I’m going this way. It’s a little bit like I’m only using this as an analogy. You know, it’s like Columbus, I’m gonna go find India. Yeah. All right, well, we’ll call this America then I will call it the West Indies, you know, obviously went the wrong way. But you know, now we’re in the West Indies. Now we’ve discovered America. And it’s sometimes it is a voyage of discovery. And you just have to, you know, pull up the anchor, set the sails, and, you know, stop at the first land, you see, find out where you are. And then if you like it, and you think you can go further, just keep going. I mean, if I’d have if I’d have known that list existed. I mean, you’re on the top 100 leadership. That’s like being in the American Football Hall of Fame or the top 100 footballers. I mean, only people think they’ll be on the same list. As George Best Bobby Mr. Billy Bremner can and are all that you just Now No way. And it would have if I’d have known that this was there, it would have actually stopped me from trying to get onto it. So actually not knowing it existed actually helped me get on to it. And
David Ralph [8:15]
he does it makes total sense. And you look, do you look at it now? And are you proud of it? Or are you still kind of Well, okay, it just happened. Do achievements mean more because of it or not anymore because of it.
Gordon Tredgold [8:29]
So, it’s, I think it’s a little bit arbitrary. It’s really, really nice. It you know, it’s a bit like getting an Oscar for a movie. But if that movie doesn’t back that break the box office records, I’ll bring you, you know, tonnes of cash and great opportunities. It’s, you know, it’s nice, but ultimately, it’s just a little bit of a little bit of praise, really, but when I was first on it, I looked at the list and I thought shit, they’ve mistaken me for something else, you know? Just keep quiet. Nobody, no, he says, I was waiting for that tap on the shoulder go excuse me, we’ve made a mistake. It was it was done bed mould that we actually meant and, you know, type type is there is put you on. But then when I was on a I was on a second time. And I think that was because Sunday probably looked at that first list and just changed it around a little bit and I was on the I was on the top one and ink magazine top 100 leadership speakers. And when I was like that second time, I kind of felt comfortable that, you know, these are now my peers, you know, not Richard Branson and jack Welsh, but a lot of those leadership speakers I thought, okay, yeah, I’m in this company. Now. I can do this. It’s like less to say, you know, are they are they really champions of England? Well, you know what, they’ve got a trophy there in the Champions League. So you know, they should not feel comfortable rubbing shoulders as long It’s a Liverpool united Arsenal Chelsea.
David Ralph [10:03]
Yeah, no, I agree. I agree with you totally. It’s very interesting in those moments in your life, but you don’t reflect on the importance until quite a while afterwards. Once you sort of get in months or years past that event, then you suddenly look back and you go, I can see how I got there, I can see what I need to do. So do you take that point golden at that moment, and obviously on Join Up Dots, we are going to take you back to your early days and come back and forth. But do you take that point as a real Rocket Power to you? Did you really start to believe in yourself or has that belief always been there?
Gordon Tredgold [10:41]
So I guess you want in the truth really, always the truth.
David Ralph [10:45]
I can handle the truth.
Gordon Tredgold [10:49]
So I, I’ve been down this journey and I’ve been working, I was working and I’d started writing and my first book was coming out and the company I was working with did a reorg and the said, Look, we don’t really have anything that’s going to be of interest to you. You know, do you want to take a package and go do what you want to do? And I thought, brilliant, I’ll do that. So and I went down that path and I, I found it difficult. I was writing a lot. I was getting a couple of speaking engagements. And I got up one morning in I think it was made early May and or late May and I got up and I thought, you know what, I’m done with this. I am. This is beyond me. I can’t do it. I’m going to go back to corporate worlds running, running projects. I would very well paid for that. And that’s it. I’ve decided and then a good friend of mine, Nigel Reznor, you should get on as a guest. He’s a great speaker, very fun guy. He called me and he was my coach. He said, You never believe what happened. I was like, What is it? He said, You’ve been included in the list. And this was the day that England announced the World Cup squad for Brazil. Oh yeah. I don’t think it really doesn’t. And, you know, on that day when I was gonna give it all up, he just said to me now even ink magazine, like what sync magazine, it was like, come on, it’s a big magazine. It’s a big deal. And you’ve been named in the ink magazine, top 100 list. So on the day, I’m going to give it up. I got that feedback. I thought, well, I can’t give you open now. Can I?
David Ralph [12:24]
Do you think that was not the universe doing some weird kind of crap in the background?
Gordon Tredgold [12:29]
When I when I got my when my book was gonna come out. This was this was about nine months before when my book was gonna come out. I’m a little bit shy. I’m an outgoing person, but I’m, I’m a I prefer to be behind the scenes a little bit. I don’t like to be up front and centre, although everybody that knows me will tell you. That’s BS. But it is true. I don’t like being there. And I got up on one and I thought okay, and my coach Julie star who I worked with when I was working for DHL. She always said you know if if, if you follow your passion the universe will bent up and I got up that morning I thought you are not allowed to turn down any speaking opportunities, because the people would say, Oh, we want you to come and speak in again. Now I’m not going to do that. And I got up that morning I thought, Okay, look myself in the mirror shaving from today. You cannot turn it down. Unless you don’t know anything about that topic. met that deal myself at a coffee logged on the email, and I got an email from Julio I haven’t heard for from 12 months telling me Staffordshire University wants to pay you 1500 quid to come and speak on leadership. That was my first offer of a speaking gig. And it was within an hour of me looking myself in the mirror and saying you cannot turn down any speaking gigs. Now is that the universe bending towards me? Is that coincidence?
David Ralph [13:56]
Do you know what I’m gonna do tomorrow morning I’m gonna look in the mirror and say You cannot sleep with Jennifer Aniston. I’m gonna do that I’m gonna see what happens.
Gordon Tredgold [14:06]
Now, but honestly, you know, the first time it was like that, that’s gotta be coincidence. Then the second time, I’m gonna give up and then I’m in ink magazine. You just have to feel like somebody that’s just tapping on your shoulder. I’m sorry, you’re not turning around and go on. This is, this is the path we’ve laid out for you. And yeah, it kind of spurred me to keep to keep going because it is a tough it is a tough path. But you know, I’m, I’m very much a team player. I like to be the captain of the team, cuz I think I’ve got great ideas. Because a lot of time we get, you know, the only way you’re going to be a team better than yourself is to either out strategize them or outperform them. And I’m good at either of those. I’m not good at being a better player. Because I’m just I do have limited talent, but I will outperform and I will out think people. So I think that’s, I think there’s a great qualities to to having a captain. But during this kind of work, it is very much insular. And you know, sometimes I feel your car, let’s just go. Let’s just go be a team leader somewhere. Let’s work with more people, bounce ideas off people. I’m a people person.
David Ralph [15:17]
So let’s sort of stop you there. So at the moment, you are a speaker, you are an expert on leadership. Now, how much of that stuff because I used to get up and I used to speak on subjects and people used to say to me, oh, you must have studied that for years. And to be honest, Gordon, most of it I just kind of knew I just kind of made it up as I went along, really? And if you do it with enough competence people buy into how much of that did you actually have to study for and how much did you pick up by piecemeal throughout your career?
Gordon Tredgold [15:52]
So I started playing rugby at the age of nine and I think team sports are great at giving you You know, leadership experience and it’s all about leadership and teamwork, leadership fosters good teamwork. Good. Teamwork generates results. So I played rugby from the age of eight or nine, and I played I was 43. And then I worked in it and I always look to, you know, and especially if it’s a bad project, this is a dodgy situation. People are always happy to delegate. Oh, if you want to please be my guest to take over this sinking ship. Yeah, so I had a lot of hands on experience from sport and career, but I am an avid reader as well, but I haven’t read everything that my favourite authors, Stephen Covey, who I like a lot, but my favourite is Ken Blanchard. And I love the way Ken Blanchard makes it very, very simple. I have a very similar philosophy to him. So I’ve read a lot of books but my I have a brother Phil, who did an MSc in leadership. And every time we talk, he goes, Oh, you know what that’s called? Like now, they said, it’s called this method like I didn’t, didn’t know that, you know, a lot of its practical, pragmatic hands on use rather than just theory.
David Ralph [17:14]
And is that a useful thing for the people out there to sort of buy into the fact that if I want to do something, the best way is to do it, not to stay in the library studying for the rest of their life, but actually getting out hustle and taking action?
Gordon Tredgold [17:33]
So, so I’m I, I love analogies, because I think they’re very illustrate if I just come back to you with an analogy, do you want to learn to swim by reading books or actually going to get in the water at any point? Yeah. Because you can, you can, you can learn whatever you want, but until you get in the war, you’re never really gonna know. And until you get out of your depth, you’re never really going to know until you swim in coppy dangerous wires, you’re never really gonna know, you know, just swimming in the shallow end doesn’t teach you anything.
David Ralph [18:08]
Well, does that keeps you dry though, doesn’t it? That’s,
Gordon Tredgold [18:11]
it does, excuse me, basically saying, you know, any, any Captain can sail a ship in good weather, you know, the great captains can say that through the storms and you have to, you know, get out of your comfort zones that, you know, there’s a lot of expressions like that, that we you know, we learn more from defeat than we do from victory. And, I believe believe in that it’s adversity, the toughens hours, if you just win every single game. What are you learning from that?
David Ralph [18:43]
So what what has been your sort of whammies when you’ve really been rocked on your heels life is as swung at you and got you firmly.
Unknown Speaker [18:58]
I guess it was
Gordon Tredgold [19:00]
I’ve had a lot of situations that have been difficult in a day, you’re working in it, you put a system live, and it crashes the data centre and the business can’t run for 24 hours. And everybody’s and you’re in charge and nobody’s looking at you as to. So what are you going to do now especially if you cause that problem? And so things like that I did a project in my last, you know, last big job, we did an outsourcing where we, we moved, we moved development work to India, we change the data centre hardware providers, which then which caused a lot of issues and we changed the Help Desk providers. So we had people who didn’t know who you were, didn’t understand our systems who when and and it you couldn’t always get through to them as the main point of contact for systems that we’re failing pretty much daily. Are we Through that for about three months while we fixed it and turned it around.
David Ralph [20:05]
And you You are a great believer, as you said earlier that you learn more from the dark times when you do the good times.
Gordon Tredgold [20:12]
Well, yeah, I think if you if you only ever know success, it’s like if you’ve if you’ve only ever, if you’ve always had enough money for food, you’ll never figure out how to get food when you know how to live on two quid a day. You’re just never going to be able to do that.
David Ralph [20:29]
Why then do people aim for success? And they don’t aim for the ups and downs because you agree with it. I agree with it is a journey that you’re on, but people aim for that’s a
Gordon Tredgold [20:43]
success. I’m not saying aim for failure. I’m saying that. I’m saying aim for success.
David Ralph [20:49]
I’m not saying that either. What I’m saying is so many people out there will aim for success, but the first failure but they get oh it’s not working and DBS. Yeah. Well, you just have to keep Going on you.
Gordon Tredgold [21:01]
Yeah, absolutely. So in my talk, I talked about that there’s no such thing as failure. There’s only feedback. And it’s what we do with that feedback that determines what we’ll achieve. You can look at anything, I can’t do this and quit. You can look at it and think you know what, I’ll just try again, which is a definition of madness. Because if you don’t change your approach, you’re not going to change your outcome. Or you can learn from it. You know, Thomas Edison, he failed 1000 times when he developed the lightbulb. And they actually asked him, What was it like to fail 1000 times? And he said, I didn’t fail 1000 times the path to success and 1000 steps, which I think is a great mentality to have about it. And if you don’t fail, you didn’t aim high enough.
David Ralph [21:49]
But But we say Thomas Edison because it’s interesting, because obviously we’ve got light bulbs. Yeah, there must be a point with a lot of people that it does become madness, but you keep on doing trying different ways. And you know, there’s got to be sometimes I know that’s a great story. But there must be thousands of other people that have kept on going different ways, different ways, different ways and just not go anywhere.
Gordon Tredgold [22:11]
Oh, yeah. I mean, the world is full of failures. I mean, you know, failure is the 80% of businesses fail 70% of projects, 95% of product launches, tonnes of people fail, but also people break world records. People create new innovations. And it’s all about, you know, perseverance, consistency and adaptability. Looking at your approach and thinking, that won’t work. I’ll try something different. That won’t work. I’ll try something different. We look at Leicester City, I love Leicester City. I lived in Leicester for two years and, you know, there were bottom of the league last season. And this season, instead of instead of doing what a lot of teams in their position do which is we’ll go and play the bigger teams away from arm and we’ll try we’ll try and hang on for the draw or not get the too much, they decided, screw it, we’ll go for the win.
David Ralph [23:06]
And, but but that was an interesting thing again, because I think with any American audience are not going to notice there was an interesting article and a sports journalist from the BBC went over to America to try to find similarities of the Leicester story. And they couldn’t, there was always some kind of hidden investment behind Americans teams and stuff and less to have done it on a shoestring. Now, the interesting thing about that was there was a tweet that went out and it said, on this day, a year ago, we were seven points adrift. This year were seven points top, but it wasn’t just Lester was it? It wasn’t Lester. It was the team, the managers, the supporters, and then all the rest of the supporters. We all wanted them to do it, even if it was their own team. So it wasn’t just a sort of a city believe it be it’s spread like wildfire because Bible we’re always looking at them as our second favourite team.
Gordon Tredgold [24:03]
But how many of us until because I was right with you, but how many of us until one month ago thought this is gonna they’re gonna blow up the show. At some point the bubble is gonna burst. And that was a that was my belief, you know, I was like I want them to win but I just can’t see it’s less than for God’s sake. And I asked all of them Manchester City spurs or you know maybe spurs time and yet you know less than just that that belief and they just kept going and kept going and kept going. And now they’ve redefined they’ve redefined normal now I think if this if this time next year, West Bromwich Albion on this time next April, if West Bromwich Albion a top and Claire by four, we won’t be looking to go they’ll they’ll fail. They think oh, they might do a Leicester Yeah, yeah.
Unknown Speaker [24:58]
Well you redefined We have to redefine your strengthen the pathways to success.
David Ralph [25:04]
So you live in Florida now and obviously you grew up in northern England and Leeds in Leeds go Leeds. Did you? Did you have a different viewpoint to life? Or do you operate in a different way? Do you see? For example, Americans I love Americans because they celebrate success. English people we celebrate the underdog. We kind of don’t celebrate. Do you see in a totally different way now you’ve operated in both sides?
Gordon Tredgold [25:34]
I I think I’ve always had a different I don’t know if I’ve had a different mentality because I’m from Yorkshire. And I think in Yorkshire we have a different mentality to a lot of England. We have that kind of stiff upper lip. quintessentially British. Were a good show old chap, you know, it’s honouring defeat. Great show. I never liked that. I always had that. The philosophy and I I liked rugby and you know rugby league and rugby union and I was in admired a lot of teams and looked at how they won and one of the philosophies that I had was there’s there’s no such thing as a beautiful defeat and there’s no such thing as an ugly victory. Yeah, just get Yeah, I don’t care how well you played if you got beat now I will caveat that way if you did your best and got beat I’m okay with that. But if you use played well and you’re now looking for credit for Well, you know what, at least we you know, we played a good game did you do your best we are fully prepared Did you try everything possible? Because I I’m five six and a my I played in the front row in rugby all my life. He said to me, you’re too small. And I was like, I’m not. I’m going to prove you wrong. And and I kept in teams, and I very, very Rarely played on a team or did anything where I got beat by Sunday, who wasn’t as good as me. Because I was always prepared, always prepared. And I can tell you the number of times I beat people who were better than me, because they thought, Oh, this is going to be easy. And then the next thing you’ve got your foot on the throw, and you by five foot by 10. And now now they’re they’re struggling to come back.
David Ralph [27:26]
You sound like that guy, Rudy, you know, the American booty.
Gordon Tredgold [27:30]
Yeah, absolutely. But I tell you this, my my first leadership story, which I tell a couple of times, and I don’t want to really repeat a lot of stuff, but I think this is, you know, for me, this was kind of formative. And that was when I was nine years old. I played in a rugby team. I played in Leeds, and you know, we had a very multicultural team. We were actually in the paper as a team of nations. I think we had two Nigerians, three West Indians. Somebody from Pakistan, somebody from Hungary Paul, and I like for English and to Scots in a Welsh. Yeah, we had this kind of multicultural team. And we finished in the, in the league, we finished bang middle, we played, we played in the cup, and in the cup, we managed to draw everybody that had finished beer lovers. And we got to the final, which was a huge shocker. We played the team that won the league, and they beat us 15 now, and 35, three in the two league games, and they thought they were going to absolutely murder us. And our coach came up with a game plan and you said to his guys, they think they’ve already won. This isn’t a final for them. This is a lap of honour. They’re not going to be ready for what we’re going to do. And we’re going to come out and we’re going to just absolutely Blitz them. And I was a prop for hoarding those days, which beggars belief now It just sits around like culture to me said Gordon, you’re not very skillful, but I just want you to stand opposite their best player. And every time he gets the ball leather him in with everything you’ve got, if he doesn’t wake up with you on top of him, you fail today and you know we beat that team six three. And it was it was one of those things where if we did played them 100 times, we would have probably lost 99 times. But on that one day, we were like a coiled spring and we would a trap waiting for them and they thought they were going to be as and they came in half our aid and bang we knocked them right on their acids and out out four out thought them didn’t have more skill much more skillful team, but on that day and and for me, that’s always been my mentality.
David Ralph [29:50]
It was probably the fear of waking up with you on top of him. That’s it. That’s an image that you don’t want to have in it first thing in the morning, wake up and there’s Gordon on juicin lubricated up,
Gordon Tredgold [30:03]
well, possibly, but the thing was, it was that, you know, the college gave me this is what you need to do a wind garden, you’re not going to score any tries. You’re not going to kick any goals for us to win. This is what you need to do well, and I was like, Okay, well I can do that. Yeah, I can’t score I’m not fast. I’m not gonna be I’m not gonna create something, but I can definitely stand up as at their best player and, and whack him every time he gets the ball. And a lot of leadership is about showing people how they can do things a little bit differently. Because that team we played they can with their old their old game programme against the opponents they beat and twice and we decided we wouldn’t be that team.
David Ralph [30:55]
Let’s play some words. Now. Gordon, that’s really gonna sort of break this up and move us to the last part. About compensation, but I think it’s, it’s worth hearing again, this is Rocky,
Rocky Balboa [31:03]
you, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take it keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.
David Ralph [31:19]
Now, obviously, that’s a movie speech, but they’re sort of connections to what we’re talking about.
Gordon Tredgold [31:25]
The hairs have stood up on my hands and I’m in the fight instance. I’m ready to go.
David Ralph [31:29]
Yeah, absolutely. So So do you think the world as I said in this sort of introduction at the beginning, somehow lacks that fight? Do we look at the quick route to success? Do we want to just pick up a phone, click a few buttons and become millionaires. Do you think the long game is still there?
Gordon Tredgold [31:47]
Yeah, absolutely. I think I think the world has changed. I think the barriers to success have gone in some in some instances. Now. I got I got to see in English my English teacher told me, I’m good. You I’m glad you’re good at mathematics because you’ll never, you’ll never make a penny out of writing. And yet now I write for ink magazine and Huffington passed, because there are there are more opportunities to advance quicker. You know, my son’s a musician, he produced his own album and launched it on the internet. So the barriers to entry have gone. But the competition is fiercer,
David Ralph [32:30]
which is why you create your own path, isn’t it?
Gordon Tredgold [32:33]
Correct? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, when I when I started writing people said to me, Well, what makes you think you know, any better, you know, so, if I could blog, you know, 20 years ago, I couldn’t blog I would not to go and get a publishing deal, or to get a column in the newspaper. It would never have happened because people would have wanted to see a track record of success, which I didn’t have was with the blogging. I just woke up one morning Bought WordPress and downloaded it and started typing. So the the barriers to entry are not as high. But the competition is fiercer yet a lot of people give up. It’s, you know, it’s persistency consistency tenacity. For me, those are talent multipliers. And if you’ve got a little bit of talent and a tonne of persistency, you’ll do fantastic if you’ve got huge talent, and a little bit of persistency. Good luck working at McDonald’s.
David Ralph [33:32]
So So do you think when you look at something now, the fact that you know I’ve created a radio station, you’ve created a business on your own terms, that literally, there’s nothing stopping you if you find that the right thing for you? Is it does it always come down to operating within your sweet spot?
Gordon Tredgold [33:53]
So one of the things we haven’t talked about was three years ago, I decided to run a marathon and I wasn’t a marathon runner. He said to me, you’re too fat. You’re too old. You’re too on fit. You can’t do that. Not only did I run a marathon six months later, but the two people have told me I was too fat actually ran it with me. And this year I ran. I ran four marathons in a 10 week period. And when I did that, there was a there’s no way you can do that. And I think it’s, we just need to take some of the skills that we have, and multiply it by tenacity and persistency. And it might not be something that we’re great at. It might just be something that we’re passionate for, because it’s passion that gives you tenacity, and persistence persistency. Now my brother was a fantastic will be player could have played professional, he just wasn’t interested. If I was playing. He loved to come and play with me, but I was never good enough to play professional. And he had all of the capability, but it wasn’t his passion. So find something that you’re passionate about, and if you’re good at it, then apply the tenacity and persistency and just watch yourself Gar says,
David Ralph [35:04]
How do we scale this man? But for the people out there going, right, okay, I know that I like doing this. Is it simply that you find something that you like doing? And then work really hard at it? Or do you need to have a business plan to begin with? Um, how is the best way to sort of structure it?
Gordon Tredgold [35:23]
So I try and find I try and find a model and model myself on somebody, you know, because it, but but the challenge I had with this leadership was, I didn’t really have a model. So I just decided to strike out, you know, just down Christopher Columbus, I built a ship was sailing West. Yeah, let’s, let’s see, you know, they said the world’s flat. Well, let’s, let’s check it out and see, and, and somebody told me something pretty profound the other day that I hadn’t heard and that is that there are two things that are stopping us from being successful. And the two biggest blockages One is that voice inside our head that says we can’t do it. So that’s an internal barrier. And the other big thing, is there an external barrier, which is other people telling us, we can’t do it. And we’ve got to better think we can. And we’ve got to get rid of the people who tell us we can, and that will give our talent, the chance to shine. Because if you’ve got a seed of talent, and if you just keep it in the dark and don’t water it, of course, it’s not going to grow. Put it in, put it in fertile soil, give it some sunlight, water it, and it might be a beanstalk. It might be a bean sprout, we don’t know. Because
David Ralph [36:40]
Yeah, I agree with you. Because since I was a small child, always if somebody says to me, you can’t do it. I think one bloody going to show you and prove my career. People used to say, Oh, you had a problem with authority. And I didn’t have any problem with authority as long as I respected the authority. Yeah. I’ve always got that burning desire to say, right? Okay, you think it’s not gonna be possible? Might you watch me? And I would say probably 90% of the time that I really set my heart on something and I worked towards it. I’ve achieved it. So it is it is possible. I agree with you totally.
Gordon Tredgold [37:16]
It is. But But the thing is, even though for me personally, I’ve got rid of a lot of I can’t I still have that voice inside me. And every time I look at something new, he always says, Are you sure about this? I don’t think he can do it. So it’s not. It’s not something that if you beat it one time, you’re going to be every time you know, it’s going to give up that that voice is always going to be there and wanting to keep you in your comfort zone. And you’ve got to get comfortable with telling it. You know what, you’re wrong. You have to you have to be comfortable telling yourself, you’re wrong. I can do this. And you’ve got to win that argument every single day. And if you do that, the possibilities is a limitless? I mean, they really are
David Ralph [38:03]
howhow Do you I know you mentioned a few sort of offers that you admire, but in this business world, who are guys that you look at and they’re so focused on what they want, they almost seem like lunatics. You know, I would think somebody like Elon Musk. Elon Musk’s mind works in a way that 99% of the people on the planet it doesn’t. It’s almost delusional. Tony Robbins, Tony Robbins and number one as well, you know, that that kind of mindset. You think, Wow, how have they managed to get that they’re there, borderland evening? lunatics.
Gordon Tredgold [38:37]
Richard Branson? Yeah. Richard Branson, is kind of he, for me. He’s, he’s probably a great role model for people to have in that. Just like, you know, I created a successful record company, Virgin. You know, I bet I could be successful running an airline I bet I could be successful creating cola. I bet I could be successful. And he looks at, you know what he did to be successful here and a lot of its disruption. And he just goes and applies it in completely different fields, music, airlines Cola, or virgin finance. What’s the connecting thing between all of us? And I think a lot of it is Richard Branson’s belief in that. You know what, I bet I can find a better way to do this. Yeah.
David Ralph [39:29]
And he didn’t. He didn’t with cola. That was bloody disgusting.
Gordon Tredgold [39:33]
Well, I don’t like Kohler anyway, so it just tasted as bad as the other callers. But you know, he doesn’t let that failure put him off. I don’t know how many times he’s failed. Bria. He has a belief in his his ability to do things differently in a way that people like, and that’s now his brand. I mean, I’m sure there’s people that drank virgin cola because they like virgin airways. But But I think he’s a I think he’s a great role model and you know, Just this, this thing’s the things that inspire me. And I can’t even tell you this guy’s name. I shouldn’t, I should know it, but I don’t. And it comes back to marathon running. And that is the the world record for running a marathon a day was 50. That it was 52 days, then a Belgian did 366. Then a Spanish guy ran a marathon a day for 607 days. And every time somebody tells me, it can’t be done, I just think but this guy can run 607 marathons on the bounds. That shouldn’t be physically possible. That shouldn’t be mentally possible. Yet that guy did it. So, you know, how does what I’m trying to do compared to that? Is it the equivalent of two marathons in one I did the former things in 10 weeks missing? Oh, you’re crazy. I looked at and thought you know what i’m not i’m really I’m not trying A decent effort would be one a day for 10 weeks. So I try and lift the limit by looking at people who have just said there are no limits.
David Ralph [41:11]
So is the old adage you are? Even in a virtual sense connecting yourself. You’re surrounding yourself with high achievers, which is, yeah, that perfect personal belief in yourself.
Gordon Tredgold [41:23]
Yeah, and they don’t have to be superstars. You know, when I ran my first marathon, and people said to me, you’re too old. You’re too fat. Yeah, I found out about this guy called for Rudra Singh is a 100 year old guy who did the London Marathon in seven and a half hours. I will now going to say that I’m older and less fit than a 100 year old guy. Come on you if he can do it, you can do it. There’s no excuse now. So in a find, find positive role models and examples. It’s like your podcast. Why couldn’t somebody else replicate what you’ve done.
David Ralph [42:02]
Well they can about this is the key thing to this actually, you step right into my trap, sir. Haha. Because yes they can replicate it but if I replicate it is not gonna be as good but they can you know they can do a podcast Absolutely. But that personal element that I bring to it Yeah, it’s not gonna be the same as somebody else does it and it’s like I can’t do their shows even though I would play it doing it is gonna be your thing, isn’t it?
Gordon Tredgold [42:28]
Yeah, I’m not saying do a copycat show but why couldn’t somebody else do a podcast? Now why couldn’t somebody else you know, write a write a blog on leadership on food what whatever, you know connect with people. Yeah we live in a knowledge and knowledge industry now and if you’ve got knowledge, share it, share it in different ways and you know people are hungry for knowledge interesting stuff, too. Just if you’ve got stuff, get out there and share it. You know, take your talent Multiply with persistency and consistency and visibility. And when you do that the sky’s the limit. And I think I’m proof of that, you know, 18 months again to to be one of the to be perceived as one of the top 100 leadership experts. Do I believe I’m one of those? No, I don’t. But that doesn’t stop me from being on that list.
David Ralph [43:22]
Now Yeah, that’s that’s an interesting point, isn’t it? Because what how the world sees you is totally different how you have to see yourself?
Gordon Tredgold [43:30]
I did. I’ve started a group now called booster mind. It’s like a mastermind. But it’s five people where what we try and do is we try and make everybody feel better about themselves share, to share resources, referrals, skills, and I was talking to somebody and he’s a speaker, and be a great guy for your show. And he was saying to me, I’m not sure about, you know how to pitch myself, and I said, but you’re a former super intend an international speaker and author, an expert in NLP and hypnosis? And he said, You know when you say that, Gordon, that sounds really great. I said, well write that down then he should but that’s not how I see me. I said, maybe not. But that doesn’t mean it’s not who you are. And sometimes we need, we need to have that external view, because we’ve always got that internal voice singers. You can’t, are you sure? Come on, you know, the the, what they call it the imposter syndrome. Even if we have success, we’re going to I was looking to achieve that any second now. So he’s going to go and, you know, pull the rug. I mean, I remember when I was made Senior Vice President. In the company. I was in the first meeting of all the senior vice presidents. I didn’t say anything for the entire meeting. In case when I spoke somebody said Hang on.
Who invited we need to we need to get to levels and feel comfortable. And you know, sometimes the external view can really help us.
David Ralph [45:03]
So just before we send you back in time on the Sermon on the mic, I want to play the words of the late Steve Jobs. He basically created the whole theme of the show. And every day we play these words, and then we asked to profound question, what was your big dot? This is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [45:20]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [45:55]
So there you go. It could be your dad, the well worn path, create your own path, all those When you when you listen to those words, are they the truth of the ages? Do you think that’s ever gonna change?
Gordon Tredgold [46:07]
Yeah, I think so. Because I think I don’t think we really know who we are. Until we look back on what we’re what we’re capable of. And you know that join the dots. You know, now, people ask me, are you a motivational speaker? No, I’m not. I’m what I call an inspirational speaker, because I give people the belief that they can be successful. motivational is about being a cheerleader. Inspiration is about showing people how they can be successful. And when I look back at my career, playing rugby at nine winning a game we shouldn’t want because we found a way and then doing projects that people said couldn’t be done. And then doing that repeatedly and then getting into coaching and leading teams and showing them how to do it. You know, when I look back, what felt like me out During journey going down multiple sidestreets was actually, it wasn’t a straight line, but it was straight ish. But you couldn’t see it. I couldn’t. I couldn’t have told you that I would be where I am. Now. If you did tell me you, you’ll write three books. You’ll be a speaker. I would have told you you’re not. That’s just not going to happen. yet. A lot of my friends just say, Oh, yeah. Who didn’t see this coming? Yeah. I was like, really? What? Yeah, this is this is totally you. Really?
David Ralph [47:32]
Yeah. Well, why don’t you tell me? Why don’t you tell me about years ago?
Gordon Tredgold [47:36]
No, absolutely. So I don’t think we can see the dots forward. And that’s why we have to, we have to step out. You know, Christopher Columbus discovered America, not knowing America was there. Let’s just repeat that, shall we? Christopher Columbus discovered America not knowing it was there. So we don’t always need a plan. Sometimes we just need to set out boldly with confidence and keep going.
David Ralph [48:03]
Brilliant stuff. Well, this is the end of the show. And this is the part that we call the Sermon on the mic when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young golden, what advice would you give them? What age would you choose as well? Well, we’re gonna find out because I’m going to play the theme tune and when it fades, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Gordon Tredgold [48:48]
So I probably go and speak to myself at the age of around 20 to 23 just about coming out of university. And I would say to myself, Gordon, you probably recognise this from voice as the voice that tells you, you can, don’t listen to them. Let’s go for it. And I want to tell you that I was partly right, you can go for it. But I need to tell you dream bigger, aim higher, and really go for it. We have no limits. Our only limits are ourselves. And if you, if you carry on the path you’re down now and let’s face it, you have half assed some of the things on this path, you’re going to end up as a speaker, you’re going to end up as a recognised leadership expert. And that’s with giving it a lot but not really doing it full out. So go full out. And let’s really see where we can take this because I think we’ve only scratched the surface, and you’re gonna think it feels great, but we’ve only scratched service so dream big and go for it.
David Ralph [50:03]
Gordon what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you sir?
Gordon Tredgold [50:09]
It’s probably via email Gordon at Gordon fed golf comm or friend me on Facebook. I’m massively sociable.
David Ralph [50:18]
That was nice and short. It was so short for me. Well
Gordon Tredgold [50:24]
I’m five six and I’m from Leeds. Oh sure. Other than that, well that
David Ralph [50:29]
was nice and sweet. I want to thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up those dots Please come back again when you have more dots to join up because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures golden trade gold Thank you so much.
Gordon Tredgold [50:44]
Thank you It was my pleasure.
David Ralph [50:48]
So golden trade gold by basically breaking free from the those restraints that we personally put on ourselves or our colleagues or our friends or whoever say to us it’s not possible. He’s proved. It didn’t have the size. He didn’t have the strength. But he fought his way around a problem. He’s gone through the hard route. And why is that fast route? Because less people do it. So if you’re looking at going for the route that is the popular one, obviously, it’s going to be congested. If you go through the route back to your own one, the one that you’re making up the one that is only yours to create, then of course, it’s going to be a bit of a lonely journey, but it’d be quicker in the long run. I’ve certainly done that on this podcast. More often than not people would give me advice. If it was somebody I truly respected. I would listen to their advice, not necessarily take it. But more often than not, I would just ignore most of it and just do things my own way. Was it a quick route to success? I certainly learned a lot faster and I would say that is a good indication that you’re going the right way if it feels right inside you. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for sharing the show. Being part of it. Love getting your emails. love getting your tweets love getting your Facebook comments and, and I just love I love you. I love you. Thank you so much and I will speak again soon. Cheers. Bye bye.
Outro [52:09]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you or wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
