Claire O’Hara is a four-time world freestyle kayak and squirt boat champion. As well as her four world titles, Claire also won the World Cup in 2012 and added another European Championship to her CV. As a result, Claire is currently the world number 1 in her sport. Impressive as that may be, what can business leaders learn from Claire O’Hara?
Interestingly, Claire has become the world number 1 with just a fraction of the resources & funding available to her competitors.
“Freestyle Kayaking as yet isn’t an Olympic sport and as such gets no national funding so even as the current World Champion, I was a fully self-funded athlete with all my coaches, physio, trainers and support team working with me as volunteers. I had to raise my own funds to cover all my costs, do all my own promotion and rely on the help of a lot of very generous and kind volunteers.”
Until very recently, she wasn’t even a full-time athlete. So, what is it that has made Claire so successful? What has enabled her to become a world number 1 against the odds?
One answer is that Claire and her team employ an extra-ordinary level of ATTENTION TO DETAIL. Rather than relying on superior resources, funding and equipment, Claire O’Hara scrutinises her performance to ensure that she maximises every second in her performance.
“Much of my training focuses on examining the finer details of my performance. By analysing my moves and routines I can maximise on every second during a routine to ensure the best possible score in the knowledge that it can make the difference between being first and third. I look forward to sharing my experiences and lessons learnt.”
Claire was born and raised in Leeds, and has gone on to conquer the world in her chosen discipline. Business leaders often ask how they can achieve outstanding results with limited resources. Claire O’Hara has shown that with superior levels of scrutiny, preparation and attention to detail we can actually surpass those with more funds and greater resources.
You can gain a unique insight for yourself by attending Claire’s session at this year’s Be World Class Conference. The session, entitled ‘On… Attention To Detail’ is being sponsored by rebuildingsociety.com, who are also born and bred in Leeds and are aiming to become a global leader in their field.