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Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast
Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast
203. Just Shoot The Shot: Inspire Your Career Story
In this third episode of our Confidence Enables Success mini-series we focus on having the confidence to take the shot in those moments that inspire a new direction in our careers.
We are honoured to be joined by our guest Mo T who shares his passion for inspiring the next generation of engineers to have the ambition and confidence to build their career. Having created a huge online community with his videos and and insights as The Airport Guy, Mo is now travelling the world and working with the UK government to engage and attract talent in new and inclusive ways.
Mo shares his experiences of building a engaged community of followers via TikTok to attract apprentices and his advice for handling fear, negativity from others and the benefit from being 'ready'.
An inspirational listen for those looking to encourage self or others to step up, step out and take the shot for an opportunity. Useful listen for anyone for whom online community or attracting apprentices is relevant.
Curious for more? Check out our relevant episodes:
Ep. 85 Inspiring Confidence in the Next Gen Workforce
Ep. 115 Savour Success for Self-Confidence
Ep. 108 Inspiring Others to Succeed
Ep. 149 Maximising Your Performance Potential
Secrets from a coach Thrive and maximise your potential in the evolving workplace. Your weekly podcast with Debbie Green of Wishfish and Laura Thompson-Staveley of Phenomenal Training. Debs, laura, you alright? Yeah, I'm good. How's your week been?
Speaker 2:I've got to ask you a question first. Oh, go on, before you ask me about my week. Have you ordered your gold larmé?
Speaker 1:jumpsuit. Oh, I thought you were going to say about the product she was selling bit personal.
Speaker 2:I didn't think I should put that out there, laura, actually so and if you're thinking, what are those two going?
Speaker 1:on about, you'll have to listen to episode 202, which was the second in our four-part focus looking at all things around confidence. But the approach we're looking at is how confidence enables success. So in the first one in our series we looked at how the simple act of preparation empowers those confident moments, and sometimes it's the long cut, the behind the scenes work that actually enables you to pull it out of the bag in that moment. We then heard from the sensational Pippa Winner talking about how it's never too late to pursue a career dream, and there was just some priceless moments in her interview with you, deb. So that's going to stay out there as one of my favourites, and it is with great delight. We are welcoming back a former guest who is going to inspire us from a perspective around career stories and this idea of being able to shoot the shot, and what does that mean from a career story point of view? So Mo T, he's a human, isn't he? What an amazing chap he is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he is an amazing human and so inspiring when you listen to him and you just think, wow, so should we take a listen and see what he has to say? Welcome everyone. As you can see, for the month of September, we promised you guests and, oh boy, have we got you some guests. So we've already spoken to one person that we've known for years, pippa Wynn, and you'll be delighted to know that I've actually got one of our old timers to come back, who actually was on our podcast about 18 months ago, maybe nearly two years ago and so welcome back, mo. We are so honoured to have you talk with us again because you have been, oh my goodness, worldwide just phenomenally going so well in what you're doing, and you are no longer in the current role that you were in when we first spoke. So, mo, welcome. Give our listeners a bit of an update as to what type of world you are now in and what's changed and what shifted since we last spoke. Tell us all.
Speaker 3:Dev, thanks so much for having me on. It's a pleasure. One of my favorite podcasts is the energy. The energy on this podcast is different. I was an engineer working at Heathrow Airport.
Speaker 2:You were.
Speaker 3:At that point, I had started building a community online, which was growing slowly, of young engineers who were fascinated by the aviation space, and I sort of give them that behind the scenes to show them what's all happening. Since then, a lot has changed. The community has exponentially grown in size. I've become an aviation ambassador for the uk government. Yeah, wow, I was selected from the uk government to become an aviation ambassador. I've become a keynote speaker and educational speaker around the world.
Speaker 3:I have the pleasure of speaking at conferences all over the globe, all the way from malaysia to the americas and and europe and everywhere in between. So I'm very, very grateful. I have another one coming up in africa as well, which is going to be interesting. Oh, wow, yeah, that's coming up actually in less than a month, so that's going to be interesting. Yeah, but yeah, I'm just unbelievably blessed for the journey that I've been on since we spoke. I'm no longer an engineer at Heathrow Airport. I've now taken on, I guess, the responsibility of trying to inspire the next generation of aviate talent to try and solve a very critical problem which not many people know about, which is that over the next 10 to 15 years, we're going to have a mass crisis in the aviation sector okay our aging population is going to decide to retire, yeah, and when they do decide to retire and you look at the talent pipeline, you realize they don't add up and that leaves a massive gap in the middle, and that gap is what I'm here to try and solve.
Speaker 3:So you're working with the government, working with industry, to really try and bridge that gap, yeah, so that the industry doesn't suffer as a result of that.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I guess life's changed you could say that in a very long way and it's really interesting. You say that I was running the workshop today and it was a real mixed demographic on people that have been there working 37 years. To somebody, this was their first job and we started talking about that talent pipeline. And how do we encourage the younger generation to get into work? I mean, they were in insurance, so not maybe the most exciting, maybe for some people. Not maybe the most exciting, maybe for some people, but it was an amazing conversation that we had around. How do we give our younger people the confidence to be able to go out and find their dream and search for it? But you know who are the role models and I think you know when you look at you and what you're doing, mo, and obviously I think I'm not stalking you, honestly, but I just keep an eye on where you're at and you know the people that you impact on.
Speaker 2:The people get you talking as a keynote speaker. You can see it from some of the video clips. The audiences are just buzzing. They like the energy. You mentioned about energy, but the energy you're giving them it's like wow, it's you know what? What is it that enables you to have recognised there's a gap and actually completely pivoted on your own career to be able to fill that gap and, as you said, being an ambassador for the government because it is a crisis. I think you're right, but what can we do to instil more confidence in young people to be able to go and follow their dreams? What would you say?
Speaker 3:I always. I think you know it's sometimes quite daunting and intimidating when you, when you might hear a story like this and you hear wow, you know, ambassador for the government and working with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic and the European Safety Authority and yada, yada, yada and all these big, big names. But the reality is right. I'm just a kid who likes planes, and that passion overflowed onto the internet yeah and then, after it overflowed onto the internet, in chronological order.
Speaker 3:This is what happened, right? I discovered that I loved making little videos on the internet to teach people about what happens behind the scenes at an airport yeah as a result of those videos, my social media platforms overtook that of Heathrow Airport's official channels.
Speaker 3:53% of all the apprentices that decided they wanted to join Heathrow Airport pointed back to those videos to say it was those videos that made us want to join the aviation industry. So then I realized hold on a minute, oh wow, this thing called social media is really good at talent attraction. Like you can actually attract a mass of diverse talent from backgrounds that would have otherwise not known about this industry via social media. Okay, that's interesting. That was one piece of the puzzle. The other piece of the puzzle happened in the middle of COVID, when I went on to LinkedIn and I discovered that the government's just released this brand new thing called generation aviation. Why? Because they discovered that the data is going to suggest that in 10 to 15 years there's going to be a crisis.
Speaker 3:And here I was thinking a crisis, have you seen, like my comment section? Like there's a mass of people here saying, hey, I really want a job, where do I get a job? How do I get a job? Crisis, and I realized that there are two people looking at the same situation with completely different lenses and they've missed something huge. And the thing that they've missed, which seems so obvious to me, is that the next generation spends all day, every day, scrolling through social media, and that is the place they go to learn, that is the place they go to get insight, that is the place they go to just understand the world around them and, ultimately, that's the place they go to choose a career. So what started to happen is I started to piece. I'm an engineer, I like to solve problems you know, solve problems and connect right I solve problem.
Speaker 3:I saw a solution yeah, I thought to myself why is nobody talking about this? Like, surely there has to be something talking about this. And then what really started to give me data is that is what's restarting me confident. Sorry, is the data. Yeah, when I was in a room full of all the apprentices at heathrow and I asked who in this room decided they wanted to join heathrow airport because of videos on tiktok and instagram that I had made in my own time, and I saw 53 of the room put in their hand that that's mad, isn't it? And the head of airport operations over my shoulder leaned over saying well, that's more than half the room.
Speaker 3:The pennies started to fall, yeah, and I thought hold on, if I'm benefiting Heathrow in this, and I can hear the government saying this is a crisis that is spreading across the entire industry, why just stick to Heathrow? Why not benefit an entire industry? Why allow Heathrow? Why not benefit an entire industry? Why allow Heathrow to be the bubble that I just operate in? Why not see what's out there and see what the world has to take in? Obviously, that meant having to take a risk. Yes, um, and. But it was a risk I was willing to take. Yeah, because the alternative would have been more risky okay, got you okay and stay.
Speaker 3:staying at Heathrow would have meant that I wouldn't have been able to be an aviation ambassador, and I don't want to get too deep into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:We touched on things just before this call started about what happens when certain people in an organization may see you doing things working well. Yeah, what sort of emotional reaction happens as a result of that? But ultimately I was kind of given a.
Speaker 3:I was put in a situation where either I was going to go and help the entire industry attract this talent or I just remain an engineer at Heathrow airport, not to say anything that's wrong with that, but I knew which one I wanted to choose and, uh yeah, the data and the community and everything that I had done up until that point was what gave me the confidence to take that leap of faith, knowing that there's a parachute on my back that will open in due time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I suppose to have that self-belief, but knowing, I suppose, in your heart, that what you were doing was you were on purpose, you were living on purpose, you knew you were put on this earth to do something to change people's lives ultimately, but also for the greater good as well. So it's that ability to see that, I think, is incredibly insightful and you took a risk. Now that takes courage to take that risk and get out of what would be a regular job, a regular income. Probably, if you'd stayed you probably would have progressed through the ranks and 20 years from now you'd still be there. You know, wow, just even saying that makes you just like. It's not for me either, by the way, but for some people it is right. But your ability to then connect with governments and the big players in the world of aviation, you know I remember I saw one of your clips that you was it with Richard Branson. You met as well.
Speaker 2:I mean, you're not talking little insignificant people, right? You were talking about trailblazers. So how did you, I suppose, have the confidence to know that I'm pitching up with this name that everybody knows, and then you're talking aviation with him and what's needed. How did you do that? I suppose, is the question I want to ask.
Speaker 3:I think the fundamental thing that I always try to remind myself is is that we're all just human beings, no matter who they are, no matter what they've achieved. They have their insecurities, they have their doubts, they have their own challenges and and if you talk to them like that, they're like they're somebody you actually build like a. You build like your own paradigm, where you've put yourself at a lower position and like you're breaking your neck looking up at them, and what that does to your self-confidence is that it actually shatters your own self-confidence. To put somebody up on a pedestal now you say, yeah, well, they've achieved amazing things, so I'm going to put them up on this pedestal. But what you shouldn't do is put them up and keep yourself down.
Speaker 3:Right, if you're going to put somebody up on a pedestal, you should also remind yourself that, yeah, well, if they could do that, that means I can do that too, and you can build yourself up to that sort of level and standard. And I think one of the challenges is that the corporate world, I find, indoctrinates people to, no matter how much they talk about flat structure and flat hierarchies. Look, this flat structure and flat hierarchies. Look, this person's your boss. That person's their boss.
Speaker 3:That person's their boss and it is a ladder and it's a chain and yeah you know, don't you dare like say something to the boss's, boss's boss and, and you know the middle management it is, it's just when you enter a company at the bottom of the food chain, they'll, they'll make you feel like, no, you know, you're not the food chain, you're this, you're that. But ultimately, psychologically, you, you, yeah.
Speaker 3:Sometimes, even if other people don't put you down, you put yourself down yeah, yeah and that's a challenge where you never we don't really need to do that, but the moment I stepped out of that structure, all of a sudden I'm now the ceo of my own company.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so cool, isn't it?
Speaker 3:richard branson, you're the CEO, and so am I, right, and it's that simple, ultimately. And of course, he's done amazing things, and that's not to take anything away from anybody, but it's just to say that, look, we're all human beings, yeah, and also, the other element to this is that, look, I have something that I know can help you. Yeah, like I know that there's a skills crisis that's happening in your company, whether I'm talking to Richard Branson, or whether I'm talking to the Secretary of State for Transport, or whether I'm talking to the CEO of British Airways, or I'm talking to the head of safety promotion at one of the biggest agents sort of safety agencies in Europe. Look, you want to get a message out there? Well, I have a community of half a million people who I've built over time yeah who I.
Speaker 3:I can get your message to those people yeah, I can deliver that message to those people, and that's some I can. I'm gonna come to you and I'm not just gonna nod my head and say yes, uh, you know, hello, sir, yes, sir, no, but I'm actually gonna challenge your thoughts. If you say something, I'm gonna ask you why is that right? And not a place of questioning, but a place from curiosity. Now we look eye to eye and I have the confidence to look you eye to eye and say what do you mean by that? Yeah, I don't feel I can get my head around that. Can you help me out? Can you help me understand that? And you not necessarily question their authority, but give yourself a chance to learn from them. Yes, and when you give yourself a chance to learn from them, you're betting on yourself that they've got a brain and I've got a brain and it.
Speaker 2:I was really intrigued by one of the posts that you wrote actually about authenticity and I think that was what prompted me to go oh my God, I've got to speak to you about that Because for me that was fascinating.
Speaker 2:So I'm sure a lot of people will find themselves in this position about I want to be my authentic self but, as you said, I can't just go straight to the top if I'm in a corporate, because that would be frowned upon or I'm not allowed to in inverted commas and therefore you hold back from being your true self. And that was fascinating for me to read because I haven't been in a corporate world. I don't think I'd ever be employed in corporate, for since I stepped out like 20 odd years ago, I think I wouldn't be employed anymore. Because of that, you have a voice and why would you not be heard? So I suppose, for people stepping into the world of work, knowing that there's this hierarchical structure, how do I suppose leaders embrace the fact that that younger I hate the word younger, but you know that next generation of people coming through have an opinion. They see the world differently to you. How would you suggest leaders encourage those conversations to take place so people can be their authentic self?
Speaker 3:I'd say take off the mask. Okay, that's interesting. No leader is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone has the good days and they have the bad days.
Speaker 3:Organ organizations, where leaders act like everything's so polished and perfect and everything's going smoothly and life is all great, have have built, burnt the bridge of relatability to that, that, that generation that sees the world for what it is, quite, quite frankly, right, they like, yeah, they. Even when you look at social media, I think previously on social media a lot of people would connect with really polished, nice, fancy things. But more and more recently you've seen actually social media, the people who really cut through the mustard are the authentic, genuine, unfiltered. Say it how it is, just pick up the phone and talk to it like you're on FaceTime kind of influences, right, and actually that's what we expect these days. We expect authenticity, we expect people to be genuine, just to say what's on their mind, just to be unfiltered, and it's typically those people that the next generation connect with the most. So if you're in an organization, I think one of the things that resonated with me most when I first joined Heathrow was when you meet a leader and they'll tell you about.
Speaker 3:I remember when I was a grad and I messed up this and I messed up that and I destroyed that, and they'll tell you about all their mess ups and screw ups and and, and they'll just be so authentic and genuine. You kind of look at them you're like damn, this person's a real human being. Yet they were able to still make it to those those you know lofty, quote, unquote ranks, but they still feel human. They still feel like a person I can relate to and talk to and just have a chat with. That's the way to it and it's the core of that idea is vulnerability, and I think that's what people struggle with is that leaders are afraid to be vulnerable because they think they need to be seen as leaders.
Speaker 3:And there's this stigma that a leader isn't vulnerable. A leader is strong, powerful and this and that. But the real leaders are people who connect, and the way you connect, the way you build trust, is via vulnerability. So for a leader to be able to put their guard down and say, hey, look, I'm having a rough day today, you know it's it's, it's tough, you know, and there's, maybe there's things going on at home, you know, maybe my parents are, are, are, you know, getting older and they're going through their struggles and that's on my mind.
Speaker 3:So bear with me today, you know, but like, I'm here for you, but just bear with me. At the same time, these sort of glimpses into their reality build trust, they build connection, they build authenticity. Um, and it's something that I now carry through with me whenever I meet, like a leader of some sort. I don't sugarcoat myself. I say what's on my mind, and even if that's not perfect and not polished, I say it because I want to show them that I'm a human being just like you. So don't try and give me that polished stuff. I don't buy it anyway.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, isn't it? Because there will be a time where we do buy that. As you said, we do buy that stuff and to some extent we just go oh my God, they might be better than I am, or they've done this or that, but, as you said, once you get under the surface and get to understand them, we all have a backstory, we all come with different ups and downs and everything else, but that ability to be authentic and be vulnerable, I think, is critical. And yet some people stepping into the world of work for the first time, again, have only got role models that are, if you like, showing them that you can't show your emotion, you can't say what you really want to say, and I suppose that's where the disconnect comes right of new people stepping into the world of work for the first time.
Speaker 2:It's. How can we, I suppose impact, influence keep saying passing the message on? It's okay, but actually we need other people to hear it as well. So, when you're working with your people that you are impacting on because you see so many people, you've just been in Atlanta. Haven't you doing some stuff right there which was, oh my, my god. We've been to that airport and it's vast, it's so efficient it's very efficient yeah, it's mad.
Speaker 2:And then you obviously were also talking about um with david courtard as well. I'm not going to give away what um, what it where you never expected him to say they could listen to what you had to say for him. But again it's that ability to give the confidence to others that says, go on, you can be who you want to say for him. But again it's that ability to give the confidence to others that says, go on, you can be who you want to be.
Speaker 3:So what would your advice be to people to do just that, I'd say to people who may be struggling with their confidence and it depends on what setting that you're in. I'd say it's a two-step process. I'd say number one invest in yourself.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of advice out there that says, you know, just be yourself and be this and be that, and, and I agree, but invest in yourself right like make yourself someone you're proud of yeah right like practice, how articulate you may be and how you say things and how you portray ideas, read, read books and get insight and learn and think about things deeply so that when you present yourself and you open your mouth, you say things that add value to the situation and actually bring insight, and you can't just no one's born out of their mother's womb just bringing a whole load of insight and wisdom and knowledge. I mean, that's just not how the world works. But if you go and take the time to invest in yourself, read books, listen to interesting podcasts, these ideas don't even have to be your own ideas. You can just be a vessel that transmits these ideas. Yeah, but if you can be seen as a person who opens their mouth and typically has something that's quite well articulated and interesting to say, then to say, and guess what?
Speaker 3:you get given more opportunities to speak, and that gives you your own self-confidence. Say, oh, wow, look, I said something that added value. So, yes, I wouldn't. You know, there's a lot of devices. Now, just be yourself, remember, you can add value. Well, if you feel like you're in a position where you're not there yet, that's okay. Well, invest in yourself. Yeah, go out there, go and sign up for a course about public speaking, go and do stuff and just by.
Speaker 3:I've found personally, the moment I put my hand in my own pocket and signed up for a course about public speaking, go and do stuff and just by. I found, personally, the moment I put my hand in my own pocket and signed up for a course I paid blood, like hard-earned money, to go. Yeah, instantly, that gave me a confidence boost. Yeah, because I'm like I'm actually investing money into myself, like I'm not just, I'm not just here, like riding the wave and waiting for a corporate to send me on a training program. Yeah, I'm taking my own money and investing it into my own self. And that got my back up a little bit chest out Like, wow, like you know, I'm building myself, I'm building something, and that that gives you confidence, and then that makes you, that builds your confidence as well.
Speaker 3:So invest in yourself. And then, once you've invested in yourself, remember that you've invested in yourself, remember that you have something good to say, remember that you can add value to a situation and that you're going to share a perspective that's interesting and and and and coherent, and you're able to articulate yourself and nobody. And then, with all of that being said, remember that nobody's perfect. Yes, so, even if you do open your mouth and the words just don't seem to come out, of come out, laugh about it, yeah Right, yeah. Of come out, laugh about it, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's one of those days.
Speaker 3:Don't, don't allow that to bog you down, because everybody has those days. Yes, anybody who tells you they don't have one of those days is a liar.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, I'm with you on that and I think that ability to invest in yourself as well, because I think that's the other thing. You can invest, as you said, and pay for a workshop, which is like your hard-earned cash. You can volunteer, right. You can mentor people. There are so many avenues that you could do because you know, I do some work for a local school and their mentors, for the younger people coming in, like coming out of primary school into secondary school, their mentors are those that are in I don't know what the years are anymore, but they're like the 15, 16 year olds, so they are mentoring. You know those people as well. So mentoring is a great one to do to broaden your knowledge and horizon, right. So and I know you encourage that, don't you as well? Within your community, that you've built and the talks that you do is incredibly powerful and you can see people are inspired by that as well I hope so.
Speaker 3:Um, I hope so, I think, anywhere. Anywhere you are in life, you have to recognize that you may be one or two steps ahead of somebody else, and taking the insight that you've learned and passing it on to the person who may be one or two steps behind may seem so simple to you, and surely they'd already know this by now. But remember, you may have not known this two or three years ago. Yeah, why should they? And it's not even about just about age, right people?
Speaker 3:yes people learn things at different times in life yeah and that's where this sort of idea of reverse reverse mentoring comes in as well, to build on the image, but from the inverted perspective is that you, as much as you can learn from people who are two steps ahead of you, you can also learn from people who just have a completely different perspective on life and they share that perspective. So, even if, by the by the corporate ladder's perspective, they're not ahead of you, they've got life experience that you don't. Yes, and keep your mind open that everybody you meet has life experience. You can learn and you can take, yeah, and you embrace that relationship. Yeah, you can really and you can take, yeah, and you embrace that relationship. Yeah, you can really both add a lot of value to people around you but also benefit and learn from the people around you as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's just a wholesome. It's a wholesome experience because it is when, when you know when you're. It's amazing when you see a group of people who've been taught each other is because you allow people to stand on your shoulders or, vice versa, other people allow you to stand on their shoulders and it's a very selfless thing to tell somebody that you know. Look, I didn't know this when I was your age and I wish I did.
Speaker 2:Yes, here you go yeah, I'm sharing my wisdom, my wisdom, which is I want to pass it on. It's like pay it forward, isn't it really? Which is can be so, so, so valuable. So, when we're thinking about then confidence as a whole comes from within. And those that say I'm not very confident I had somebody today say that they're not very confident in speaking or feel like they're not going to say the right thing. So we had an opportunity. They had the opportunity to be coached in the moment, really, which was just quite a simple question around what does the confidence mean to you? How does it look? How does it show up? What could you do? And it was just tapping into that person's strengths and who they are that she turned around and she went oh, maybe I could do it and that's all you need, right? Is that possibility to go? Go on, then, which you? You offer for people, but you've also doing that for yourself as well, aren't you?
Speaker 3:and I think that's the only way it should be right. You lead by example and you take one step up to the other. You continuously seek opportunities to put yourself outside your comfort zone. You continuously seek opportunities to invest in yourself and to question your own thinking, and you do that for other people at the same time as well. And you call a spade a spade and you say it how it is.
Speaker 2:We need more of that for sure. I think we do disrupt. We always talk about disrupting people's current thinking, and if you could do it in a respectful way, that comes from a good place, with a good intent, that where you're adding value because you're speaking from a place of understanding, I think that's when the magic happens right. So, thinking about advice you'd give to somebody else about build your confidence, you've said, about investing in themselves, going out, putting themselves out there, trusting that they know we are all human what one piece of advice would you give to somebody to say you do have the confidence within you. How would you get that across to them so they can start to see it for themselves?
Speaker 3:I'd actually say and this might be an interesting perspective to take on this but I think the moment that you're afraid of doing something is the moment you know you're finally doing something right.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's super nice. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 3:Because if you live your life where you're not pushing yourself to a point where you're physically scared of doing something, yeah those are the defining moments in your life where you, whether or not you're gonna you're gonna conquer, or whether or not you're gonna crumble, yeah. So I'd say that you know what. Look, if you're in a situation where you may not feel like you have the confidence to do it, and then then what? I and that's weird I do this thing right. Whenever I take cold showers, I take cold showers.
Speaker 2:Whenever?
Speaker 3:I take a cold shower, I always have this thought in my mind which is like don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. But what I do is I put the cold water on and I allow the stream of water to sort of flow right in front of me, so like my toes can feel it, but the rest of my body is still warm. What I'll do is I'll say, look, I'm not going to get in the shower. All I'm going to do is I'm going to step forward with my left foot and then let the right foot follow.
Speaker 2:So what.
Speaker 3:I then do is I disable this idea of I'm going to do this scary thing and instead I'm saying, well, I'm not going to do the scary thing, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put my hand up and ask the question, or I'm going to take a step and get into the cold water, so you kind of disassociate the thing that you're afraid of with, like, the physical action of doing it. So what I'd say is what you need to do is you need to take incremental steps closer to the thing that makes you fearful, not by thinking about the thing that's scaring you, but trying to break it down into physical, mechanical movements and steps that are going to actually physically put you outside of your comfort zone, to the point where it's too late to go back now, like I have to say the thing, or I have to ask the question and I'm going to.
Speaker 3:I'm going to give an example of actually a time where I felt physical fear of doing this, and it's actually a story that I've already mentioned.
Speaker 3:I was in a room with our director of engineering. It was still while I was at Heathrow Airport. Our director of engineering, head of airport operations, was stood right by my side. We had one of the HR managers and all loads of the senior management at Heathrow Airport and I looked at the room and I saw all of our apprentices all sat in that room right there and I knew, if I don't ask the question of how many of you were impacted by my videos in that exact moment.
Speaker 3:I'll never get the chance to actually ask them ever again, and I the thought. And the thing is is that not everybody in that room was my biggest fan. Right, there were people in that room that knew the work that I was doing, but kind of didn't really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were about 80 times, don't we?
Speaker 3:yeah, basically, and I knew that and I knew that they were around there and I knew that asking a question like that in front of this could result in two things either nobody puts their hand up, and I've just made a fool of myself, or people do put their hand up, and I know that they wouldn't like the response that they got, but both situations made me like shiver, like internally, like I was genuinely afraid of asking this question.
Speaker 3:And it seems so simple now and it's something that I wouldn't fear anymore because I've asked much more difficult questions and much rooms with a lot more senior people. But I was actually afraid, I genuinely feared, and I didn't have the confidence to do it. So instead I, rather than thinking about asking the question, I remember as the sort of, the day wrapped up and the director of engineering shut down the event and he said, okay, well, now everybody's going to go off into their own cars and we're going to go do our thing. I had about three seconds before the room erupted in conversation to either shoot my shot and ask the question or I've missed the opportunity forever and I wouldn't have had that all important data point that I use continuously now 53% of that room and I remember all I did instead was I literally just paced to the front of the room and put my hand up like this.
Speaker 3:I was like excuse me everyone, and like I could feel the quivering in my voice when I was filming oh I bet, excuse me everyone, and I stumbled through the question, didn't really have it orchestrated in my mind and I'm not the type to do that. Yeah, I just shows you. I'm not the type to stumble through questions. I mean.
Speaker 3:I think I'm quite articulate when I want to pose, but I was so afraid in that moment because of the people in the room and knowing that some of them weren't going to like me doing this. But I did it anyway and the result of me doing that gave me so much confidence because I saw the challenge head on and I just and I tackled it.
Speaker 3:You start moving the needle on like internal confidence. But I knew that had I not asked that question, I probably would have taken five steps back in that confidence journey. Yeah, so all of this is to say that you will be presented with opportunities in life where sometimes you just kind of need to like let go of that of the idea of how scary it is and just do it. Yeah, just do it like, just take the leap. What's the worst that can happen? You might make a fool like yourself, but making a fool like yourself would probably still push you in the right direction yeah not doing anything is actually making a decision to move backwards yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I learned and there's something I've learned over the past year as well is that not making a decision is making a decision is yeah, it's doing something or nothing.
Speaker 2:Both have consequences, right. So yeah, so it's your choice to do it. I mean, mo, I mean I know you have just completely pivoted in your career and talking to you today again, what you have to offer and share is just so invaluable, and I feel very privileged to be able to have you back on our podcast, because you are a person in very much high demand and, as you said, you're going off to Africa as well, as well as being in the States and wherever else. It's like amazing, um. So how can people get connected with you and follow you and see the impact you are having? Share with us now what? How people can find you.
Speaker 3:So it depends on what part you're interested in. If you want to watch the fun educational videos and you're that way inclined on TikTok and Instagram, then you can just search for the airport guy and you'll find a little miniature icon of me in a high vis. You can follow those pages just the airport guy. The tag itself is motivate and then if you want to keep up with more of the professional journey and the speaking and all the other things that I'm doing around the world from more of a corporate side and how I'm working towards changing the narrative and how we attract talent for the aviation sector, then just feel free to add me on LinkedIn. So it's just my full name, mohammed Tahir, and I think if you search the airport, that comes up as well. It does come up as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're connected on both. Yeah, I love that. So, mo, as ever, thank you so much for your time, and just chatting to you makes you go. Yeah, let's change the world, let's speak and make it happen. Why would I not do that? So I think, thank you for sharing your wisdom once again and we look forward, laura and I look forward to sort of having you back to say give us an update. You know, know, what are you finding out, what are you now learning and how we can continue to plug that, that gap. That's very much needed and, I suppose, show people that you can, with a little bit of support and help and guidance and some steer. So I just want to say a massive thank you once again for taking the time to speak to us mo.
Speaker 3:Thank you my absolute pleasure, devs. It's a pleasure to be on the podcast and I look forward to being back next time yeah, definitely, thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Take care Mo.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Bye, so Law. What did you think?
Speaker 1:What an inspirational person. How fantastic to have watched that evolution of his journey as well.
Speaker 1:And there were two standout moments, debs, that sort of really stuck out for me. So one was the analogy he used of about to go into a cold shower and this idea of disabling the fear from the big thing you're about to do and just treating it as a series of steps, and I thought that was absolutely brilliant advice in terms of just taking that step forward and you know where that might sort of take you. And the other bit I mean he described it so brilliantly. I could imagine being there in the room with him where that moment where he knew he had three seconds to take the shot and he did it, and he did it with a quivering voice, but it was the hours of prep and the thought that had sort of gone behind it that enabled him to have that. I've got to do it, I've got to say it now, and I thought that was a really again, really inspiring. It might not be polished, but sometimes there are those moments where you can shoot the shot and take it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was really inspiring and I think the work he's doing to inspire that next generation that are coming through into the world of work and you know some of the stats he had on how we get ready for the future and I know you're a big advocate of the future generation of work anyway, it was just fascinating to just see how he spotted a gap, looked for the opportunity and now he's doing his thing and inspiring others, you know, all around the world. Um, because I think we were lucky to get him back in between flights, bless him. So, um, going from there. But I think listening to him it sort of came.
Speaker 2:My call to action sort of came through quite clearly, listening to him around it, and it was around. If it doesn't feel right, do something about it. Don't just let it be be, as he mentioned, that had he maybe not done it or if it didn't feel right, he just ignored that feeling. Who knows where he might be today. He definitely wouldn't have been doing what he is doing. So I think that would be my call to action for anybody listening to Mo would be that if it doesn't feel right, do something about it, because you can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, loved it. My share of the secret would be if, encouraging the next generation of workforce just even to have the confidence and the imagination to think about what they could do, then get them to listen to this. I mean I think that would be a brilliant listen for anyone that has got, you know, children in their family network who are late teens and sort of you know thinking about choices and decisions et cetera, and I think also for anyone for whom attracting new talent. So we know there's a whole new wave of apprenticeship focus. So different ways of doing it.
Speaker 1:And, although I might sort of roll my eyes a bit when my children talk about, there's this YouTuber who and it can be very easy to sort of go and be a bit dismissive about, oh, this thing on TikTok, but a half a million people following Mo on his airport guy account, like that is some serious change in engagement that he's able to achieve. So I think it's also a bit of a wake up call for people I mean myself included with whom this use of social media not for dotting around and fun and leisure, but actually as part of your strategic commercial candidate attraction technique, I think that's really got me thinking as well about how the very serious role the lighthearted social media has in the second half of this decade in terms of attracting and empowering and including voices.
Speaker 1:Maybe that might not have had a chance to speak up or get involved in the world of work before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, and I think that's why it's so important to listen to you know those generations. I always laugh. You know what category I sort of fall under. Is it the baby boomer category? So in theory, I should be retiring. I'm not, by the way, but if I'm then looking at the Gen Alpha that are coming through in a couple of years' time, if I'm not going to listen to what they have to say and keep up, then I'm missing a trick. So my encouragement would be to really listen to that diversity of thought that people bring into the world of work and, as you said, social media now plays a massive part in that, and learning from that can be huge. So how do we, um, how do we utilize that for the advantage of everybody, not just for one or two, but for the masses as well?
Speaker 1:Yes, debs. I mean morally it's the right thing to do. Socially, you know who wouldn't want to get lots of different types of people involved? And commercially, there ain't going to be a state pension if we don't have the next generation of work generating tax income. So sorry to be a bit of a boring sort of voice in it, but that's also the reality. All of us who are currently in the world of work if we're imagining some kind of post work of where we're going to have a lovely great big state pension, well, that is all dependent on us being able to do the work to attract and appeal to people who maybe absorb information a different way than we did back in the day. So I think the answer's all kind of there. It might not be easy, but I think that simple act of listening I think that you're so spot on with that.
Speaker 2:Just do that. Yeah, I love it. So go to listen back and see what else we can take from that and go oh yeah, what can we maybe do different? Or embrace as a different way of being and trusting what we can do and bringing our confidence to that and going yeah, I'm willing to learn. Show me. I think that's the other thing that we can do as well. Show me.
Speaker 1:Shoot the shot, shoot the shot from you and then we can then, you know, sort of do our part in kind of, uh, setting people up ready to shoot the shot. So I loved it when you said that. So, debs, we have got, as part of our fourth, of this four-part focus, looking at confidence enables success, and we're going to be hearing from someone else talking about, from a comfort zone stretch point of view, yeah, what that then means so again a chance to be inspired by other people's stories, real life people sharing their real life stuff, and always in the aim to be supporting and cheering us all on in this rapidly ever-evolving world of work that we find ourselves in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, debs, have a glorious week shooting lots of shots you two.
Speaker 2:We can compare next week. I love that, yeah, and learn from it. Have a fab week you too.
Speaker 1:Lovely, love you we hope you've enjoyed this podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Email us at contact at secrets from a coachcom, or follow us on Insta or Facebook. If you're a Spotify listener, give us a rating, as it's easier for people to find us, and if you want to know more, visit our website, wwwsecretsfromacoachcom and sign up for our newsletter here to cheer you on and help you thrive in the ever-changing world of work.