Happy New Year and a run up Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales

This blog has moved to outperform.co

Please visit the new site for more on Jon Geldart and the

Outperform courses and ethos.

China and escaping Brussels airport

The journey back from China into snowy UK over the weekend was a good example of how you need to think ahead and plan for every eventuality! It all started as - after an 11 hour flight we started to descend into Heathrow on Air China CX369. The pilot announced that we had to go to Paris as Heathrow had been closed by snow! Then as we descended into Paris he announced that Paris was full and we had to go to Brussels. The low fuel landing at Brussels into a snowy and icy airport was interesting only to be followed by 12 hours of delays and frustration.

As the picture shows - in the early hours of Sunday morning on 19th December - there were NO flights planned from Brussels airport!

Air China do not operate out of Brussels so they first had to negotiate ground staff, then fuel and then a hotel room for the pilots to be able to get their statutory rest! This sequence of events brought me to the conclusion that we were unlikely to leave Brussels until at least Sunday afternoon, even if Heathrow opened again - of which I had my doubts.

I decided that since I only had hand luggage (my general approach to business travel no matter how long I am away now), that I should get myself home!

Talking my way out of the security in the airport and using my UK passport to claim my rights as a European citizen and as such free to travel anywhere across European borders, was interesting!

I then found my way to the train station, caught a train to Brussels central station, bought a Eurostar ticket for the late afternoon and then presented myself to board the 09.30 train to London. The staff told me it was full but that if I was prepared to take any seat they would put me on standby... I got a seat!

As of Monday afternoon the Air China plane was still on the tarmac at Brussels and the passengers still there!

The lessons for me in all this are:

1. don't believe anything officials tell you about what to do and where to go. In a crisis they don't know any more than you do if you have a web based phone and access to the Internet!

2. don't believe it when people tell you there is no food or water - toilets have water and an emergency couple of items in the bottom of your bag (I always have something!) mean that you don't have to queue with 200 other people to get calories.

3. don't believe it when the ticket man says there are no tickets to where you want to go. Buy whatever he has and get to the next place where there will be someone different with a different attitude. Harassed people tell you whatever is easier for them to be less harassed - not what you might need to know!

4. don't believe it when people say trains are full - there is always standing room somewhere and most trains and planes keep a seat for last minute staff transit - if you hold your nerve a friendly staff member will let you on at the last minute.

5. don't believe it when you start to think being resourceful doesn't seem to be working - keep focused on the goal and keep trying. There is usually more than one way to solve a problem.

6. don't believe it when people say "you can't" - they usually have not thought of how you can!

At the end of the day I am home and that is a wonderful place to be for Christmas!

Outperform new web site

Launching soon 1.1.11 Outperform.co web site.

The New year will signal the end of this blog and the opening of the new Outperform web site with all the courses we run complete with case studies and other information about how we can help businesses develop from the outdoors in.

The site is already live but more will be added in the New Year.

All feedback is welcomed

Here is the new logo for Outperform. Our approach is around challenging your people to take the lead and by so doing changing your business from the outdoors in.

Using the expertise of myself and a small group of highly experienced adventurers and trainers we offer the chance for businesses to create bespoke training and development experiences focused on the four key areas of Agility, Responsibility, Leadership and Communications.

Look out for the links in the last few blogs on this location.

Almost the last post and a new era for Outperform

I have been working on a brand new website which will be launching soon. This blog will move to the new site for Outperform - the leadership and outdoor business which will be offering leadership and development skills training from a new perspective... 'building business from the outdoors in'.

I have been providing courses and outdoor experiences for a variety of individuals and businesses for some years and have brought these together under the Outperform organisation to formalise the mainly ad hoc offers from the past.

The links are not 'live' yet but look out for more specific links as I close down this blog and move to the new home at Outperform.co

Speaking out on leadership and the outdoors in China

I am currently in Phoenix Arizona on the next leg of my round the world trip. I am here to speak with some of the leaders of the global organisation with whom I have my day job! However, I came here from speaking at an event in Beijing to which I was asked to contribute because of my outdoor leadership training experience. The Tienjian economic development Agency, along with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICEAW) organisation in China ran a leadership seminar at which I was one of three speakers. Co presenters included Ling Lai, Vice President of BP in China and Graham Durgan, Chairman of global training company Emile Woolf International.

It was wonderful to hear Ling Lai talk about how BP in China is facing up to the challenges of the recent Gulf of Mexico disaster and how that has refocused the organisation on getting the basics right. Both he and Graham had fascinating stories to tell of how their personal experience of leadership is grounded in the same principles which I encounter and train in the outdoors... agility, taking responsibility for your actions and clear, effective communication. Indeed Graham Durgan and I share the same hero - Sir Ernest Shackleton!

This was my second invitation to speak in China and as I left there was enthusiasm for me to return.... the outdoors really does have something to bring to the field of leadership development.

A break in South Africa

I am just back from a long break in South Africa (on holiday for a change!). It is an amazing place with wonderful landscapes and wildlife. I have been before but the trip this time took me to Knysna and the Wilderness National Park on the Southern coast of this vast land. It was spectacular scenery and a highlight included riding bareback on

elephants as well as watching dolphins in the sea only a short distance from

the accommodation.

I also managed a run up Table Mountain on

day one before getting into the serious matter of sampling the food and wine of the Cape region!