Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast
Charlotte Henshaw MBE – Learning from your failures
Episode 42
Introduction
Charlotte Henshaw was born and brought up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Key takeaways – What Charlotte told the NBS podcast
On having her legs amputated, at the age of 18 months…
“I feel fortunate having never known any different from my disability… I don’t remember any time before I had my amputations. The earliest memories I have are of using my prosthetics.”
On meeting Paralympic swimmer Emily Jennings – who won gold at the Atlanta games – at the age of ten…
“It absolutely inspired me. Now I’m that person who people ask for a picture – and I know how powerful it can be.”
On coming fourth (and missing out on a medal) as a swimmer in her first Paralympics, in Bejing 2008…
“Maybe I wouldn’t have had the drive to carry on if I had achieved everything at that first Games. The thought I’d still got things to prove was the catalyst that set me off on a very successful, ten-year swimming career.”
On transforming from a world class paralympic swimmer to a world class paralympic canoeist…
“I had to put myself in a position I really wasn’t comfortable with… to try new sports. It was a real learning curve… but it has led me to a whole new career that I never anticipated.”
On struggling to deal with nerves and the anxiety of expectation…
“I’m a naturally anxious person. I’ve had to learn to be more rational… I find going into the gym and embracing the challenge of [physical] pain relatively easy. But working on the psychology of sport has been a real difficulty for me.”
On having a ‘melt-down’ early in her paracanoe career…
“I had all kind of thoughts and feelings… I went to counselling and off-loaded all those feelings to someone else who helped me learn the tools to deal with them. Now I feel more able to… navigate tricky situations. Learning to tackle my mental state has been one of the most impactful pieces of work in my career.”
On managing to overcome every hurdle she encounters…
“I have an in-built tenacity, stubbornness, whatever you want to call it… I have the will to see the positives and take the learnings from every situation.”
On what she has learned looking back on her career (so far) …
“It’s important to recognise that ‘failure’ isn’t always a bad thing – but you can always learn something from it.”
Her advice for fellow leaders…
“The most inspiring leaders have a willingness to collaborate, to be open… Being a good leader is about being part of a bigger picture; about recognising that it’s not just you driving – it’s actually a collaborative thing.”
Related links:
There are more details about Charlotte Henshaw here
And her glittering career, on the Paralympic GB website here
And on Instagram, here
And her endometriosis diagnosis, on the BBC here
If you enjoyed this episode of the NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast, listen to previous episodes with…
Women’s Rugby World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi MBE
