How To Chase Your Dreams Without Fear Holding You Back with Fran Millar | E67

Why am I doing this? I'm doing this because society wants me to do this.

Mm-hmm.

I'm doing this because my mates want me to do this. This is bullshit. (boom) That's not gonna happen, and I think it- you show that little boy inside that was just, like, ruined by it.

Mm-hmm.

Sorry, it's all quite emotional. (instrumental music plays)

What an amazing story. What a cruel, amazing, twisting career. My next guest has one of the most fascinating journeys through business and through life that I think I've ever heard. She spent her life surrounded by a couple of people that, that I actually consider to be inspirations of mine. One of them is Sir David Brailsford, who's been a sort of elite performance coach and cycling coach for Team Sky, which went on to win more than they were ever expected to win. He's the, I guess, the author of this, this marginal gains thinking, which ch- changed how business and sports teams function. The other person she was surrounded by throughout her career is Steve Peters, who a lot of you will know from the book he authored, The Chimp Paradox, which redefines, from a psychiatrist's point of view, how our mind works and where our behavior comes from. And the other male figure in her life that's important for the story you're about to hear is her brother, David Millar, who was this incredibly sort of highly regarded cyclist, British cyclist, who had this cruel twist to his career where he got involved in the doping scandal, which really left a stain on British cycling as we know it. And David Millar recounts the story of him being sat in this, this cafe shop with David Brailsford and being tapped on the shoulder by three men wearing suits, who would then raid his house and find syringes. And that was one of the key moments in British sporting history, where I think in many respects things have never been the same, and we always view our elite performers with an element of skepticism. But this is Fran's story, and Fran's story is one of tenacity. It's one of success. It's one of jumping off cliffs and figuring out how to build your skydiver as you fall. Her story is inspiring. It's peculiar. She went from starting her own business to spending, I think, 12 years at Team Sky, worked her way up to the very, very top. And when it became Team INEOS, she became the CEO, leading a predominantly male-dominated industry. And then, out the blue, in the middle of a pandemic, when retail was on its arse, she decided that she was gonna change lanes and become the CEO of Belstaff, which is a brand that has been struggling, that's been making losses, and then was then kicked up the rear end by COVID. She's brave. She is unusual. She's inspiring. She's tough. She describes herself, or at least she respects the idea of being a difficult woman, something we'll talk about. So without further ado, I'm Steven Bartlett, and this is The Diary of a CEO. I hope nobody is listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself. (instrumental music plays) Fran, I- I've done a lot of stalking of your, your history, your past, your professional career. And, uh, I was stalking your Twitter feed the other day, and I saw a quote that you'd, um, you'd written, I guess, in, in honor of your brother, um, David, who is a, a world-renowned professional, incredibly accomplished cyclist. And the quote said, "Following a boy who loved it so much he got absorbed into the fabric of it, and has spent a lifetime carrying the weight of the cruelty, wonder, brilliance, and tragedy it would bring him," um, is ultimately what got you into the, the world of cycling.