Charlotte Henshaw MBE – Learning from your failures

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast

Charlotte Henshaw MBE – Learning from your failures

Episode 42

Introduction

Charlotte Henshaw was born and brought up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

• She was born with the condition bilateral tibial hypopplasia, which meant her lower legs were underdeveloped.
• When she was 18-months-old, her parents decided to have her legs amputated.
• Charlotte started swimming at the age of four and at the age of 16 she was picked to represent Britain.
• She was selected for her first Parlaympic games – in Bejing, China, in 2008 – when she was studying at the University of Sterling.
• At the London 2012 games, she won a silver medal. Then at Rio 2016, she won a bronze.
• After Rio, Charlotte retired from swimming and took up paracanoeing.
• She subsequently became World Champion in the KL2 200m and VL3 200m paracanoeing events and won a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
• In 2020 Charlotte discovered that she had been suffering from the painful condition endometriosis for more than ten years.
• Charlotte (now aged 37 and still World Champion) will compete for Paralympic GB again this summer at the Paris 2024 games.

Key takeaways – What Charlotte told the NBS podcast

On having her legs amputated, at the age of 18 months…

“I feel fortunate having never known any different from my disability… I don’t remember any time before I had my amputations. The earliest memories I have are of using my prosthetics.”

On meeting Paralympic swimmer Emily Jennings – who won gold at the Atlanta games – at the age of ten…

“It absolutely inspired me. Now I’m that person who people ask for a picture – and I know how powerful it can be.”

On coming fourth (and missing out on a medal) as a swimmer in her first Paralympics, in Bejing 2008…

“Maybe I wouldn’t have had the drive to carry on if I had achieved everything at that first Games. The thought I’d still got things to prove was the catalyst that set me off on a very successful, ten-year swimming career.”

On transforming from a world class paralympic swimmer to a world class paralympic canoeist…

“I had to put myself in a position I really wasn’t comfortable with… to try new sports. It was a real learning curve… but it has led me to a whole new career that I never anticipated.”

On struggling to deal with nerves and the anxiety of expectation…

“I’m a naturally anxious person. I’ve had to learn to be more rational… I find going into the gym and embracing the challenge of [physical] pain relatively easy. But working on the psychology of sport has been a real difficulty for me.”

On having a ‘melt-down’ early in her paracanoe career…

“I had all kind of thoughts and feelings… I went to counselling and off-loaded all those feelings to someone else who helped me learn the tools to deal with them. Now I feel more able to… navigate tricky situations. Learning to tackle my mental state has been one of the most impactful pieces of work in my career.”

On managing to overcome every hurdle she encounters…

“I have an in-built tenacity, stubbornness, whatever you want to call it… I have the will to see the positives and take the learnings from every situation.”

On what she has learned looking back on her career (so far) …

“It’s important to recognise that ‘failure’ isn’t always a bad thing – but you can always learn something from it.”

Her advice for fellow leaders…

“The most inspiring leaders have a willingness to collaborate, to be open… Being a good leader is about being part of a bigger picture; about recognising that it’s not just you driving – it’s actually a collaborative thing.”

Related links:

There are more details about Charlotte Henshaw here

And her glittering career, on the Paralympic GB website here

And on Instagram, here

And her endometriosis diagnosis, on the BBC here

If you enjoyed this episode of the NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast, listen to previous episodes with…

Women’s Rugby World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi MBE

Paralympics GB Chef De Mission Penny Briscoe OBE

Chair of the English Football Association Debbie Hewitt MBE