This week Tom Foxley took a group of business owners to the Brecon 

Beacons — one of the most demanding environments in the UK, and the 

place where the SAS run a significant portion of their initial training.

23 kilometres. 1,500 metres of elevation. Winds that knocked people 

off their feet. Hail that made it necessary to walk backwards. A wild 

camp at minus five degrees. And at the end of the day's hiking — a 

lake, in freezing water, with everyone watching each other wondering 

if Tom was actually serious.

He was.

This episode is the debrief. What the weekend was designed to do, why 

it worked, and the principles that made it more than just a difficult 

day out. Including why positive thinking is one of the most dangerous 

ideas in psychology, why new environments produce new thinking in a way 

that familiar ones never can, and what happened in the 12-24 hours 

after the guys got home.

Topics covered:

- Why environment is the missing variable in most business owners' 

  development

- Why you grow fastest around people operating at the same level as you

- Why positive thinking is naivety disguised as optimism — and what 

  to do instead

- What cold exposure and physical hardship actually build in a business 

  owner

- What the week after looked like for every person who was there