How To Chase Your Dreams Without Fear Holding You Back with Fran Millar
Feb 8, 2021
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Fran Millar, the CEO of Belstaff and former head of Team INEOS, shares her incredible journey through the male-dominated cycling industry. She discusses the importance of embracing confidence as a woman in leadership roles while navigating career transitions. Fran reflects on the emotional complexities of teamwork and the need for a supportive culture amid competition. The conversation takes a deeper turn as she emphasizes living authentically and prioritizing meaningful experiences over wealth, inspired by personal challenges in life and health.
The fear of quitting and stepping into uncertainty should not hold you back from pursuing your dreams.
Creating a winning culture in a team involves managing emotions, eliminating losing behaviors, and fostering a strong team dynamic.
Influential leaders possess qualities such as vision, bravery, boldness, and the ability to inspire high-performance teams.
Hard work and a strong work ethic are crucial factors in achieving success, despite the toxicity surrounding the narrative of hard work.
Deep dives
Importance of personal identity and quitting
The speaker reflects on the importance of not letting a job or career define personal identity and the fear of quitting and stepping into uncertainty.
Creating winning behaviors in a high-performance team
The speaker shares insights about creating a set of behaviors for a cycling team that fostered a winning culture, including managing emotions, eliminating losing behaviors, and building a strong team dynamic.
The influence and qualities of Sir David Brailsford
The speaker highlights the influential qualities of Sir David Brailsford, such as his vision, bravery, boldness, and ability to lead and inspire a high-performance team.
Dave's management style and high standards
The speaker describes Dave Brailsford's management style, including his attention to detail, appetite for learning, and setting high standards while simultaneously being compassionate and understanding.
Importance of Hard Work and Work Ethic
The podcast discusses the importance of hard work and having a strong work ethic. The speaker emphasizes that hard work is a crucial factor in achieving success and being successful in one's chosen field. They argue that most successful individuals have put in relentless effort and have a passion for what they do. While acknowledging the toxicity surrounding the narrative of hard work, the speaker still believes that hard work is essential and personally values it.
Choosing a Different Life Path
The podcast episode delves into the speaker's personal decision to deviate from societal expectations and pursue a different life path. They share their lack of desire for marriage, children, and a conventional lifestyle. The speaker explains that they find fulfillment in their work and nurturing meaningful relationships with friends and loved ones. They express gratitude for the freedom their choices have afforded them and the depth of connections they have in their life.
Perspective on Death and Embracing Life
The podcast explores the speaker's perspective on death and how it influenced their approach to life. They discuss their experience of facing potential health issues and realizing the value of living authentically and embracing the present moment. The speaker reflects on the importance of positivity, avoiding worry and anxiety, and making the most of the opportunities life offers. They express a sense of gratitude for their experiences and emphasize the importance of focusing on what truly matters.
My guest this week is an inspiring woman and a brilliant leader, Fran Millar. Fran was recently appointed CEO of the UK fashion brand, Belstaff. Prior to Belstaff, Fran was the former CEO of Team INEOS (formerly Team Sky), the world famous cycling team. Fran led the development of the team’s operational and governance systems alongside all of the business and engagement strategies. Fran has been with team INEOS from the very beginning and during this time she has played a key role in the successes and gained considerable experience in all areas of the team.
She previously held a dual role as both Director of Business Operations and Head of Winning Behaviours at Team Sky. Returning to head up all the team’s ‘off bike’ functions in 2015, her responsibilities included overseeing the team’s marketing and communications strategy, stakeholder management, and all the commercial and legal aspects that come with running the world’s number one cycling team. Fran worked alongside the incomparable Sir Dave Brailsford for over a decade, as well as leading sports psychiatrist, professor Steve Peters.
Prior to working at Team Sky, Fran set-up and ran her own successful athlete and event management agency for 7 years, initially representing her brother, David Millar and going on to represent some of the UK’s highest profile cyclists, including 2011 Sports Personality of the Year winner Mark Cavendish and 2018 Tour de France winner and 2018 Sports Personality of the Year winner, Geraint Thomas. During her career in cycling, Fran had to deal with some tough challenges including getting caught up in tan infamous doping scandal that involved her pro cyclist brother David.
Fran’s story is a fascinating one, one that has twists and turns, one that would have left a lot of people behind but not Fran. Fran is tough, she’s tenacious, she’s inspiring.
