A lesson in lifelong resilience
“You need to constantly reiterate communication messages and update training so staff understand what we’re trying to achieve.”
Dan White knows a thing or two about resilience. Having trained to be a paratrooper at the age of 17, he endured six months of sleep deprivation and a brutal training regime designed to build mental and physical strength. Now almost 60, he says this indoctrination has stayed with him and makes those who prevail more resilient than most because “you’ve been exposed to physical exhaustion and still been happy to get up and do your job”. “The training was brutal,” he says. “To do something that difficult at that age meant they had to bring you along with them. It was incredibly tough but also clever – they could easily break you on day one, but they didn’t.” Regularly enduring 15-hour days of mental and physical training, in addition to night exercises and 48-hour stretches without sleep, White and his peers were expected to work under intense pressure. They had to run with increasing loads of equipment, complete skills tests and drills to a higher level than other regiments and manage the psychological impact of exhaustion while still being expected to perform. “The parachute regiment attracts those who want to be, or already think they’re going to be, the best,” he says. “Those who succeed achieve the ultimate level of resilience.”
You have to be fit, organised, resourceful, clear about your purpose and demonstrate exceptional teamwork to survive behind enemy lines because “once you jump out of that aircraft there’s no chance of getting back in. It’s unlike any other branch of the military, retreat is not really an option, so you have to succeed.” And acute attention to detail is a mission-critical skill. “A paratrooper will know exactly where any piece of kit he needs is at any one moment. He’ll know precisely how many rounds of ammo he has left and how much water and rations remain. He knows everything because any mistake could result in you getting killed. You’ve got to be better than anyone else to minimise the chances of anything going wrong.” White says the lengths they went to in order to mitigate disaster may appear “ridiculous” to those outside the forces, but it served him well during his 22 years in the army, as well as during life outside of service.
“In the military,” says White, “you have a set of orders and you know what you are and aren’t allowed to do, and you also understand precisely what to do if something out of the ordinary happens. Everything is laid out in endless detail and you practise, practise, practise.” This is how they get through, he says, even when the worst happens. “There were times on operations where people were killed and it’s the training and resilience that gets you through. Most soldiers will say when something bad happened ‘the training kicked in’. Knowing what to do in the moment is crucial.” Applying military discipline to business When White left the army and took over the family company, The Hogarth Group, in 2004, he took lessons he learned in the forces and applied them to business, where he was often astonished to find people were unclear on the mission. “I was surprised at the lack of understanding many people had about what they were actually doing and why. They were frequently doing things without considering if it made sense.” The Hogarth Group of indoor and outdoor health, leisure and sports clubs in West London employs around 120 people. Its facilities include bars, restaurants and beauticians. It runs some services directly and leases space for complementary offerings, such as acupuncture, osteopathy, hairdressing and physiotherapy. Each Hogarth facility must be successful in its own right to continue. So, for example, when White discovered crèches were offered even though they were not well used, he →
Former elite soldier Dan White has used his training to survive behind enemy lines, climb Everest, run a family business and support a double amputee to conquer the Matterhorn
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