18th Jun: WeDO Inspiration

We’re beyond thrilled to have John Davidson joining us at this WeDO Inspiration event.  With a date change to accommodate his busy schedule, John will be sharing his amazing story with us which takes resilience, fortitude and admirable values to whole new levels.  With so many lessons learnt and a phenomenal approach to life, there will be plenty of lessons for us to learn and tips from John to take back to our businesses and approach to life.

“It’s amazing what can be achieved when people leave their comfort zone.”

John’s values include:

• • To transform the lives of people of all ages by teaching them resilience and the magic of being outdoors.
  • To ensure everyone gets an education.
  • Amazing things can be achieved with hard work and clear values.
  • Every experience is a lesson and every negative can be turned into a positive.

ABOUT JOHN

Having been asked to leave school at 15 with no qualifications, John joined the Army via a few dead-end jobs.  He served in two Special Forces units, including 22 SAS and was awarded Mention in Dispatches whilst serving in the Military.

Since leaving the armed forces, John has forged a successful career using the skills learned from war zones around the world – from being a bodyguard to being involved in hostage negotiations with armed terrorist groups. He’s been shot down in a helicopter, shot down in a plane and shot. He’s also been a kidnap for ransom hostage negotiator and worked in some of the worlds hotspots, but a solo 3,000-mile row in a 28-foot boat has been “his biggest challenge yet”. 

In December 2019, John rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, solo, as part of the 2019 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. In his epic voyage from San Sebastian de La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean and raised more than £80K for our charity partner, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.  He is one of under 100 people to row the Atlantic solo. 

With charity always close to heart, in May 2020, John rallied more than 100 Ocean rowers to row 20 miles from their ergs at to help raise more than £231k as part of the Around the World in One Day campaign for NHS Charities Together.

Every year since 2013, he’s ridden a motorbike across North America with Sons of Royalty to help raise nearly £250k for Childline. 

During his Atlantic row, John battled illness so bad it caused convulsions, extreme weather conditions and near-constant electrical and steering issues. He braved the Atlantic Ocean without any home comforts – not even a pillow – so he could push himself to his limit, and had to spend more than two months without his wife Jessica and four children. rowing for at least 16 hours every day.

“Memories of the sickness and struggle will fade with the passage of time and the sea could be terrifying, but I’ll always treasure the wildlife I witnessed, the sunrises and sunsets I saw and the clarity of thought I experienced. When the going got tough, and it did, many, many times, I just remembered why I started all this in the first place, because I was inspired by Doddie Weir and his indefatigable spirit in his battle with Motor Neurone Disease.”

Don’t miss this event which will take motivation and inspiration to whole new levels.

Click HERE to visit John’s website where you can also view a video of his arrival in Antigua after the row on the About page.

You can add this event to your calendar and will receive the Zoom link details in your registration confirmation email.