Adam Conlon was a captain in the British Army, undertaking his officer training at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He the entered the Royal Artillery, and is a veteran of two tours of Afghanistan. Adam talks about the development path from basic training to the heat of battle, where his job was in leading teams, calling the shots and co-ordinating the use of weapons on the battlefield. Adam shares the intense feeling of receiving volleys of fire from the Taliban, how he responded under that pressure and how his t...
Adam Conlon was a captain in the British Army, undertaking his officer training at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He the entered the Royal Artillery, and is a veteran of two tours of Afghanistan. Adam talks about the development path from basic training to the heat of battle, where his job was in leading teams, calling the shots and co-ordinating the use of weapons on the battlefield. Adam shares the intense feeling of receiving volleys of fire from the Taliban, how he responded under that pressure and how his training and camaraderie developed and enabled him to perform. Poignantly, Adam shares the process and the emotions of decompressing after a tour and adjusting back to normal life. Adam spent a brief time serving Her Majesty the Queen in Human Resources, but now is leadership consultant and speaker, but still finds time to out his skills to use in the first response teams that aid disaster zones and we get into that skill of developing rapid teamworking and the importance of listening and rapport in engaging with survivors and locals in catastrophe stricken areas. This interview was humbling, richly engaging and I would say 1 hour and 25 minutes of pure performance. I finished the interview fascinated, moved and frankly I was thankful that we have people like Adam amongst our population that do what they do in order to make the world a better place.
Show notes
Adam Conlon and his background
Sandhurst, becoming a soldier, captain and leader
Leading people and making the decisions to fire artillery within the infantry
The importance of 'fit' in finding the right people for the right roles
Variety and being a generalist 15:15 Leading people, by developing followers - ego and vulnerability
Upping the pressure to test your skills
Being relaxed in chaos
High performance industries develop people because if they don't the consequences are high
Nad Ali and the operations in Afghanistan
Getting on the front foot with the enemy
Response to the first rattle of fire
Humour as a pressure valve
Fight or flight is a good option, freezing is not
Decompression on the way home from a tour
Stressful heart rate response to post-tour come-down
Letting the emotion out with crying
Working for Her Majesty the Queen
Learning what he didn't want to do
From tax consultant to frontline operations through sport
Applying skills to disaster zones
Operating in the Caribbean in 2017
Get face to face
Listen, empathy and trust
Arriving in Dominica - it was like a bomb had gone off
Sensing when there might be trouble - being observant when something is out of place - the absence of the normal
Who supports Adam, family, friends
Supporting Champions on Twitter www.twitter.com/support_champs
Steve Ingham on Twitter www.twitter.com/ingham_steve
Supporting Champions on Linkedin, www.linkedin.com/company/supporting-champions
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/supportingchampions/
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