The Watchword Podcast Mark Thomson

Adam Hugill spent 18 months riding his bike 20,000km through Asia and North America having been in the Army before that. When he returned he found it difficult to re-adjust to normal life and starting out on a new career.
In this episode he talks us through how how he made that adjustment, the role cold water has played for him, the importance of finding a community you relate to and the five key lessons from his bike trip around the world.

Krishna Thapa grew up in mountains of Nepal, he applied to join the British Army's Royal Gurkha Rifles as a teenager and was successful. He spent 7 years in the Gurkhas before attempting SAS selection, becoming one of the first two Gurkhas to ever join the Regiment.

Krishna spent 17 years in the SAS, deploying overseas 12 times. During one of his first deployments a team mate was killed right in front of him, a moment which he admits led to some dark times. He found sanctury in the Buddhist teachings of his childhood. He is now a mountaineer who has climed Everest several times and recently helped the first double above the knee amputee to summit the mountain. We talk about his journey and spiritual outlook, with the assistance of Magnus the dog.

Paul spent 35 years in the Army, reaching the rank of Major General, having completed his initial training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst he returned nearly 30 years later to run the Academy. During his career he also commanded an Armoured Brigade of 5,000 soldiers before latterly being responsible for Army recruiting, Army basic training and the centre for Army leadership.

In this episode we talk about the challenges of leaving the military, regardless of rank, the evolution of training even within the last few years and how to build a high performing culture in the workplace.

Paul is happy to connect with anyone who would like to on LinkedIn. Please leave a review for the podcast if you enjoy it!

Huw founded the Motivational Preparation College for Training 23 years ago after a long career in the military. Whilst working in Army recruitment he spotted a gap between the standards the military required vs how prepared some applicants were.

Huw started the MPCT with a handful of people, 23 years later their team is 180 strong, has 35 colleges across the UK and has trained over 20,000 learners.

Profit with purpose and responsible capitalism are two terms that we hear more now than ever before. The reason I was excited to talk to Hugh is that he and his team are achieving exactly that, helping people get a better start in life and find a more fulfilling job than they otherwise might have.

You can find out more about the MPCT at mpct.co.uk

This week's episode is with rugby player Toby Flood, Toby has played professional rugby for nearly 17 years, earning 60 England caps during that stime. He started his career at Newcastle, moved to Leicester Tigers where he captained the side and won 3 Premiership titles, then in France where he played with Toulouse and became fluent in French before returning to where it all began with Newcastle.

Toby is planning a big career change, his departure from rugby, in this episode we talk about what Covid has been like for a professional sportsman, how he has achieved longevity as an athlete in such a brutal sport and how he has developed as a person and leader during his career.

I recently completed a 493 mile bike ride in 5 days to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, like many people I was inspired by the rugby player Rob Burrow. I've raised just over £2,000. A disease we can't do much about at present, but hopefully with investment one day it will be curable. 

The link to sponsor is here - Just Giving

Alex spent 10 years in the Army, six of which were with the Special Forces.

His journey into the Army was result of a childhood ambition but his career in Special Forces started as a result of a setback…

Alex left the Army in 2020 and now works for cyber security company Senseon as an Account Executive, he has also founded his own business called WILDNIS, which exists to provide bespoke adventures in exciting environments.

You can find out more about senseon at sension.io and wildnis at wildnis.co.uk

You can also find all episodes of the podcast on our website thewatchword.co.uk