“Wouldn’t that be great if it was you?"

– Margaret O’Connor

In my experience, what makes the greatest leaders great is not that they are superhuman. What makes them exceptional is their ability to fully express human potential. 

It’s an important distinction, because far too frequently the biggest thing standing between where we are and fulfilling our own potential is our own self-limiting beliefs.

Kevin O’Connor is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Kevin was a Team Leader in the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the most secretive of the UK Special Forces. 

The SRR specialises in covert surveillance and intelligence gathering that enables precise action by other special forces units such as the SAS and SBS.

When you understand that, you’ll understand why Kevin’s expertise and experience is uniquely transferable to the world of business leaders. 

His greatest skills aren’t physical, they are mental. And they are exactly the ones leaders like you need most:

• An adaptive mindset that embraces change as the norm

• The ability to lead a team under extreme pressure and stress

• The ability to navigate a hostile, volatile environment

• The ability to problem-solve at speed with incomplete data

This is a man who has led his teams successfully through life and death situations and who will now share his leadership secrets through Prime Performance Labs.

To understand why these capabilities are so transferable, you need to know where Kevin started.

Let’s go back to the same man at 20-years-old. Kevin had spent his teenage years drifting through life in Glasgow. He was a decent standard at football, rugby and boxing, but couldn’t stick to anything. He smoked, he drank, he hung out with his mates.  

There was absolutely nothing there to indicate the path that lay ahead – no self-worth, no achievements, no clear indication he'd become anything remarkable.

However, change is inevitable and when it happens to us, how we react can be life-defining. 

So when the next event in Kevin’s life saw him getting fired from a bank for putting the phone down on a rude customer, his response was critical – Kevin's firing could have been something that happened TO him – just another disappointment in a decade of disappointments. Instead, he made it happen FOR him.

He walked out of the bank’s office and went straight into the army recruitment office down the road. He signed up for the Paratroopers, the toughest division in the regular British Army.

The Power of Belief

But here’s the thing… six weeks into six months of basic training and Kevin was hanging on in there, but as one of the weaker members of the 60-strong contingent. Doing enough to survive, but nothing to stand out.

It was one phone call that provided the ignition point for a different path.

Kevin called his mother Margaret and in the course of their conversation he mentioned that there would be a Best Recruit award at the end.

Her response was simple, direct, and most importantly delivered in a way that made it feel genuinely possible:

"How great would it be if that was you?”

That phone call triggered 2 powerful responses in Kevin’s brain:

1. Belief – Something he thought was beyond him, was made to feel possible.

2. Purpose – His family had endured a decade of strife and turbulence. He realised he wanted to give them hope that things could get better. 

Nothing happened overnight, but after about a week of deliberation, something shifted.

Kevin came to the realization that his previous attitude of "let's just get through it" was never going to be enough. 

In his own words, he resolved to “step out of the shadows”. He started volunteering to lead tasks, even though it initially made him feel deeply uncomfortable. He started acting like a leader even when he wasn’t asked to. 

With the physical challenges he asked himself: “Where can I find that extra 10% in everything I'm doing?”

Of course it wasn’t easy (anything but!), however he found he could push above and beyond that pain threshold he’d told himself was his limit.

The more Kevin acted like a leader, the more he became one. Process determines outcome – not the other way around. He didn't wait to feel capable before stepping up. He stepped up consistently, and capability followed. 

Your brain rewires based on repeated behavior, not on belief. Kevin proved that showing up as a leader daily made becoming one inevitable.

And when Kevin sat with me, telling me about the look on his mother’s face when he was announced as Best Recruit at his passing out parade, he shed a tear. 

Never underestimate the power of purpose. Never forget change is always possible. 

There are many more lessons to come from Kevin – some through this newsletter, others through the programs we're launching together.