Take a Risk to Fail to Succeed

The Virgin Strive Challenge is officially complete. I’m incredibly proud of how everyone has come together as a team, and everything that we have achieved. We’ve pushed ourselves further than any of us could imagine, and in the face of hardship, learned some important life lessons and formed so many wonderful bonds of love and friendship.

One delightful friend I made on the journey is Felix Stellmaszek – Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group. As members of the core team, Felix and I had many opportunities to reflect not only on the Virgin Strive Challenge, but also on our business journeys. Talking, it became very apparent to us just how many parallels there are between successful entrepreneurs and Strivers.

Below, we have outlined seven actions that all businesses could learn from the Virgin Strive Challenge, and implement in order to achieve great things. 

Have a clear purpose and goal

We undertook the Virgin Strive Challenge with the grand aim to raise £1.5 million for Big Change to help young people adopt a growth mindset and thrive. Likewise, in order to truly strive, businesses should have a clear purpose, whether it’s solving a customer problem or generating value, or challenging the status quo and creating positive change in the world.

Translate goals into actions

Along the Virgin Strive Challenge route we kept our purpose and goal in sight by mapping our fundraising targets for each stage. In order to convert ideas into business models, entrepreneurs and leaders should also continuously check and rapidly adjust their targets, and put actions in place to make sure that they achieve their goals.

Assemble a great team with a good foundation

The Virgin Strive Challenge wouldn’t have been so successful if it wasn’t for our amazing team. Made up of 25 inspiring individuals – with very different characters but one common goal – our core team built an incredibly solid foundation for the challenge. We were also joined by stage participants, who gave us enormous morale boosts, and a fantastic support team of medical professionals, chaperones, caterers and organisers. Any business, at its heart, is a group of people – so in order to truly succeed, businesses must assemble great teams of people with positive attitudes and complementary talents, and support and empower them to accomplish great things.

Master the art of delegation 

I was so proud of my children Holly and Sam, and nephew Noah for leading the Virgin Strive Challenge. What’s more, I was proud of their ability to delegate different tasks to other team members, in order to empower the group to function optimally. There was delegation incorporated into every stage of the challenge. For instance, on the cycling legs nobody was ‘pulling’ all the time; if someone had, then we wouldn’t have unlocked the power of the peloton. Delegation has been the key to my success as an entrepreneur. As a leader it’s important to hand over the things that you don’t do so well, so that you can focus on the bigger picture. Leaders should be well-versed in all aspects of their business, but specialising roles within a team accelerate the process to achieving collective goals.

Learn from failure

Testing the absolute limit of human power, there were many ‘failures’ throughout the Virgin Strive Challenge. There were spills and falls. Some didn’t make the full swim across the Strait of Messina. While some had to skip cycling stages because of injuries. But that’s ok, because things can’t always go to plan, and failure teaches us life’s greatest lessons. Each yesterday tells us more about each tomorrow. Failure is a theme that’s intrinsic in business. Entrepreneurship, in a nutshell, is all about taking calculated risks, which makes failing inevitable. Openly embracing it, instead of fearing it, helps us grow.

Be resilient and adaptive, and have mental toughness

The Virgin Strive Challenge was absolutely gruelling. Long days, dangerous paths, and often less-then-ideal weather; we experienced so many set-backs, but as a team demonstrated mental toughness and persevered. And when challenges were thrown our way we viewed them as opportunities. One day the cycle was cancelled due to torrential rains and landslides, so when the weather cleared, the team took the opportunity cycle into Rome and take a few pictures in front of the Coliseum. Similarly, it’s so important for entrepreneurs to be resilient, adaptive and have mental toughness. In the early stages of business, everything is about survival. Combining the lessons learned from failures with the support structure in place, business can take on new challenges to make positive changes.

Celebrate success

At the end of each and every Virgin Strive Challenge stage, we came together as a group, shared stories and toasted to our accomplishments. Not only did it give us an opportunity to bond as a team, it also put us in a positive mind frame to get on with the next day and achieve even greater feats. It goes without saying that every business should celebrate both the achievements of individuals and the team. Celebrating and supporting one another builds trust and camaraderie, and spurs innovation and success.

Do you have a tip to help businesses strive? I’d like to hear about it in the comments below.