I spent the first nine years of my life in Kuwait. A place of sun, an Anglo-American culture, and structure. Life there was comfortable and familiar.

But everything changed when I was sent to boarding school in Warwick, England.  The junior boarding house master, Roger Usherwood, was ex-army with an army hair-cut and rigid, upright posture..

It was a major shift. Suddenly, I was in a completely different environment—thousands of miles from home, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, routines, and expectations. I had to adapt quickly. Boarding school doesn’t wait for you to catch up. It demands independence from the start.

That’s when I found rugby.

Rugby was more than just a sport. It was a proving ground. On that field, I discovered I could physically compete with others. I learned what it meant to be part of a team—to trust, to support, to fight for something bigger than myself.

The discipline of training. Playing in all weather. The thrill of match day. The bond of teammates. It was through rugby that I built resilience, both physical and mental. It gave me a sense of identity at a time when everything else felt foreign.

I found out that I am competitive and I like to win.  I also experienced what it felt like to lose and it made me determined to be better.

These early experiences still shape me today. In business, I approach challenges like I approached rugby: head-on, with focus and grit (- I still go to the gym every two days at aged 67 – affectionately called ‘the cripples club!’ ). I know how to work in a team, when to lead, and when to support.

I don’t fold under pressure—boarding school taught me that early.

At one stage in my career, I encountered a lawyer who told me that he had not lost a case ‘ever’.  I quietly resolved that he would lose the case that I was handling on behalf of my employer.  He did and subsequently he was gracious in defeat when I met him unexpectedly at a conference.  (The amount of time I spent in defending the case, financially it would have been better to settle at the outset but I didn’t know that when the case kicked-off!)

Growing up abroad and then being thrown into a British boarding school gave me a blend of perspectives. I developed an independent mindset and a strong internal compass. I became quietly resilient.

At age 14 I broke my ankle in a game on a pitch furthest from the school buildings.  I was unceremoniously dumped on the side of the pitch until the game was over and my team mates could support me on the long, painful journey into the school buildings with arms draped over their shoulders and my foot agonisingly dangling!

There was no sympathy from the matron who got impatient as I was easing my rugby sock off my leg and yanked it hard almost sending me through the roof in agony. She then gave me a cup of tea as a gesture of goodwill which insured that I could not have an anaesthetic to set my ankle for 6 hours afterwards!

I was so knocked up, that the guy in the hospital bed next to me offered me his porn mags to distract me.

It’s funny how childhood moments, even the hard ones, carve out who we become. If I hadn’t left Kuwait, if I hadn’t been challenged so young, would I have learned the same things?

I doubt it.

Those years (now 53 years ago!) laid my foundation. And for that, I’m grateful.

What early experience made you who you are today?