How Winning Works: Lessons in Teamwork and Leadership with Champion Adventure Racer and CNN Hero Robyn Benincasa
Robyn Benincasa is a world-class adventure racer, top-50 motivational speaker, and author of the New York bestseller How Winning Works; Leadership Lessons from the Toughest Teams on Earth. She’s also the founder of the Athena Project, a nonprofit which enables survivors of serious illnesses and emotional trauma to take part in confidence-building multi-sport adventures and endurance treks. In 2014, Robyn was selected as a CNN hero in recognition of her outstanding work with survivors, and through her inspirational keynotes and epic adventure challenges, she continues to encourage others to emerge stronger from adversity and work relentlessly towards their goals.In this episode, you’ll hear from Robyn Benincasa on;(00:17:31) Cultivating courage. When it comes to courage, Robyn believes you’re either born with it, or you need to borrow it or build it by surrounding yourself with people who believe in you and setting yourself audacious challenges and goals that benefit others as well as yourself.(00:21:47) Eight essential leadership lessons. According to Robyn’s ‘teamwork’ acronym, leadership is defined by total commitment, empathy, adversity management, mutual respect, ‘we thinking rather than me thinking,’ ownership of the project, relinquishment of ego, and kinetic leadership.(00:27:17) Overcoming adversity. Robyn recalls an extraordinarily challenging situation where her teammates’ emotional support and encouragement helped her complete the seemingly impossible challenge of climbing to the top of a 20,000-foot active volcano in Ecuador.(00:44:06) Fulfilling your dreams. We discuss the importance of goal-setting, and Robyn describes how she stays motivated and purpose-driven by always making sure to have a goal or a dream on her calendar to work towards.(00:45:32) Expressing gratitude. Robyn explains how her diagnosis of end-stage osteoarthritis made her grateful for what her body is still capable of accomplishing and inspired her to create Project Athena to provide support and hope for others recovering from illnesses or traumatic experiences.