Re: Summer 2015 | Page 99

Lead. Inspire. Action When you get an email from Neil Laughton you know something exciting is about to happen and recently I received just such an email. For those of you that have been readers for a while you may remember the interview with Neil back in issue 3 entitled Bravo Two Hero. Neil is probably the most interesting person I have had the pleasure of spending time with, he is an adventurer and entrepreneur. He has climbed the highest mountain on each continent (Everest more than once), crossed the Sahara, been to both the North and South Poles, circumnavigated the UK on a jet ski, flown a car to from here to Timbuktu (yes I did mean flown) and plays polo on a penny farthing just for fun amongst many, many other things. When he is not doing madcap things he finds time to work on a number of his business interests and it was about one of these businesses that he emailed me. Laughton & Co is a bespoke business development resource, founded and led by Neil who draws on his 30 years experience in leadership roles in the military, in business and on his many adventurous expeditions, Neil and his team of training staff, executive coaches, speakers and adventurers offer bespoke learning & development programmes, speakers for special events and exciting adventures for businesses and their employees. Neil got in touch to ask me if I would help him out (alarm bells started to ring) as he was putting together a new one day leadership and teamwork course that he wanted some guinea pigs to try out on. I can’t remember if I willingly agreed or just accepted my fate but either way I was booked on with a number of other business leaders from Neil’s black book. The joining instructions included the following: All safety equipment, overalls and helmets will be provided. Parts of the day will be conducted outside and we want to ensure that you keep warm & dry so the following items in a holdall bag are essential: 1. Pair of walking boots / socks 2. Outdoor jacket / trousers (rainwater  resistant ideally) 3. Spare set of warm clothes (in case of  accidental immersion in the swimming pool - a shower & towel would be provided in this unfortunate scenario!) 4. Hat / gloves (optional)  Alarm bells were ringing loud and clear at this stage. building a giant frame to knock over some barrels, archery, putting together toy cars, meditation and building a tower out of spaghetti……..to name just a few activities. As someone who has been on hundreds of courses I have to say that this one was one of the most enjoyable and engaging that I have done. There was a good mix of theory and practical activities but more importantly there was a no nonsense approach to feedback from Neil and his team. They didn’t dress it up, they told it exactly how it was and I know that I was not the only one to learn some valuable lessons from the day. If you want to know more about Neil you can read his interview in Re: Magazine online or to find out more about the courses on offer visit his website: laughton.co By Jason Edge I don’t want to give too much away about the detail of the day in case you are interested in taking advantage of Neil and his team’s service but I can say that it did include, fa