Vincent is not your average successful CEO. Hes a man with a deep passion for leadership and endurance sports and also an ability to appreciate every detail of the present moment. From this he creates a clear vision of what he is striving for and then sets out to achieve his goals with absolute discipline, preparation and routine.
He realised very early in his life about his love of leadership and from that moment since he was House Captain in high school, he set out to travel a path that would lead him to take on many leadership roles. These roles include being president of a triathlon club and then ultimately to the position of CEO of Flinders Ports.
Vincent has a very high level of Emotional Intelligence which I feel gives him a great ability to understand and connect with people from all walks of life. This also enabled him to make sure he has the right people around to help him build the teams necessary to create the success he desires. He talks about what makes a good team. Most importantly he says, you must get three important fundamentals right in order to create a successful team in either business or sport.
Furthermore, you must involve all team members in the decision making process and have their “buy in” to the strategy so that they are all invested in the plan. You must also choose the correct team members who are natural leaders, have a high level of emotional intelligence (more important than normal intelligence) and are smart, as he believes smart people listen better and understand.
He says that quite often you can tell that someone is not a right fit for the job/team, quicker than you can tell if they are a good fit.
The second half of the conversation focusses more on Vincents endurance pursuits including 18 marathons, 3 Hawaii Ironmans and the climbing trek of Mera peak in Nepal. He discusses an interesting cross country marathon he undertook (whilst on “holiday” with his wife) in England (The Dorset Invader Marathon). Where people dressed up as soldiers, representing a famous battle and where the time taken to finish the race was basically irrelevant. He will also be undertaking a walk across England next year with his wife and a group of his mates.
He talks about his training for the New Zealand Ironman in 6 weeks time and his quest to qualify for his 4th Hawaii Ironman, as well as the Hawaii Ironman race he competed in where he was recovering from a previous bike crash and had to race with broken ribs.
His love for the Hawaii Ironman is obvious. To hear him describe looking back from the swim and looking at the palm trees and the people lining the beach, the crystal clear waters and the radiant heat from the road whilst on the bike, really shows the passion of the man and how in touch he is with the present moment. He describes his reason for trying to qualify again for the Hawaii Ironman as, “Because theres something magical about that place”.
He used to watch marathon runners cross the line on TV when he was young, and this used to bring him to tears, this is the passion that drives this man to visualise the experiences he wants to have in life.
He goes to bed at 9.30 in order to try and get the rest needed to allow him to rise early and commit to his disciplined and routine training program.
The conversation with Vince helps us to understand his awareness of his passion and desire to be a leader. It shows that with a high level of awareness and emotional intelligence and the ability to enjoy the small things about every experience, we can discover and connect with our inner passion and purpose.