England is not known for its snow skiing…at all. The tallest mountain is 3,209 feet and might have a thin layer of skiable snow for a week or two in January. Compared to the large expanses of 15,000 foot peaks in the European Alps or the American Rockies, England is, at best, dotted with a few mole hills.

It’s not that folks from England don’t like to ski. Many do. They are often, however, people who have a bit of extra money in their pockets. This lets them fly to famous mountain towns like Chamonix, France or Verbier, Switzerland for a week and rent a cabin perched on the sides of beautiful ski slopes. More a luxury than a lifestyle.

Eddie grew up not experiencing much luxury. He fell in love with skiing on a school trip, not a vacation. He stepped off of a bus, not a plane. He fell asleep in a crowded dorm, not a chalet. He went with his classmates, not his family. He rented equipment, he didn’t own it.

On this class trip to Italy, he spent a few days tumbling down the cheaper, smaller ski hills in the same way that many thousands of students from all backgrounds and from all corners of Europe do every year. It was a nice, but pretty normal experience in Europe. For Eddie, it was life changing. And, for reasons that maybe even he can’t explain, he became interested.

**Mentor Carita Cole discuss the topic of inspiration with the group of Jackson Grow Leadership Fellows.**

On September 29th, The Jackson Grown Leader Fellowship held its second Monthly Meeting for the 2023 - 2024 school year. Building on an amazing Kickoff Meeting headlined by New York Times Bestselling author Brad Montague, the Fellows and Mentors focused on the concept of “Launching Inspiration”.

After an icebreaker led by Tosh Newman, the small group discussion focused on the questions of “What are the building blocks and components of people you would consider ‘inspired’?” as well as “What would you (the Fellows) be inspired to do for 8 hours per day for the next 5 years if money, security and current responsibilities could be set aside?”

Fellows then presented brief summaries of their discussions to the bigger group. It was an opportunity for the students to dream, to reflect on what activities, ideas or causes inspire them to go beyond being an observer to taking an active part in whatever it might be that inspires them.

Interest

In the years after his school trip, Eddie found ways to continue to ski on the small, muddy molehills in England. It became his “thing” in the same way that some kids like band, or basketball or video games.

For Eddie, skiing was something that he enjoyed thinking about during his days as a contract drywaller. He enjoyed dreaming about and doing it. Even though he wasn’t particularly fast or very good, he was interested in learning the techniques, perfecting the moves and admiring the big names of skiing. He became a fan.

It is worth asking ourselves what makes us interested in something? In some ways developing an interest is a channel, perhaps, to get to know ourselves better. In music for example, we can have a strong interest in something whether we can carry a note or not. Of course we can dream of becoming a mega star like Taylor Swift. But we can also express and explore an interest in music through collecting vinyl records, going to concerts or, just simply, singing in the shower.

Eddie did the equivalents of all of those in skiing. As sometimes happens, he started to think bigger. He started to have ambition. Like a passionate shower singer with a flat voice wanting to sing on stage with Taylor Swift, Eddie started to dream about taking part in the Winter Olympics. The real Winter Olympics.

To his parents, friends, family and the few others he skied with this was, in polite English terms, a bit overly ambitious.

Ambition

Ambition is a tricky thing. We are always told to “think and dream big”, “shoot for the moon” and “chase the impossible”. And we should. But are there dreams that are just a little too far fetched? Eddie’s dream of skiing in the Winter Olympics of course isn’t the only example of what most would consider “irrational ambition”.

“Ambition is a tricky thing.”

We all have our favorite movies of real life humble people doing amazing, impossible things. Movies like The Pursuit of Happyness inspire us. How can a homeless man in San Francisco with no college degree manage to get an internship at an investment bank and eventually establish a successful multi-million dollar career in investment banking while raising a young son and having to sleep in public restrooms?

Is it grit? Determination? Luck? Did the stars happen to align just right? Certainly, in the case of Chris Gardner played by Will Smith, his dream of becoming an investment banker and driving a Ferrari wasn’t rational or maybe even very wise by most people’s standards. Chris should have “just gotten a job whatever it was and raised his son as best he could”. He should have let someone who had a “real chance” to succeed do the dreaming. Let people who go to top schools or participate in top programs or play on top teams have ambition. Let them do the big things in the future.

Whether investment banking or Olympic level snow skiing, Chris and Eddie were not afraid to dream too big. They weren’t afraid to have ambition.

Creativity

During his teenage years Eddie became good enough to ski on the same day and at the same time as the national team for Great Britain. “With” but not with. Because they were politely British, the team let him try out. Though there was never a real chance, the team gave him the honor of officially letting him know that he didn’t make the cut to ski in the 1984 Winter Olympics. Ever the optimist, he set his sights on making the British team for the 1988 Olympics, somehow.

Though his dream was to ski and, importantly, ski in the Olympics, it was very expensive to practice. Like his father, Eddie worked construction and skiing regularly enough to reach a high level was as financially impossible as it was physically impossible.

“Being inspired is one thing. Acting on it is another.”

So, Eddie started to focus on the sport of ski jumping. It was unheard of in England. There was no Olympic team. Ski jumping was however cheaper and could be done on astroturf “summer hills”. He could walk up the 100 foot tall stairs instead of having to pay the expensive ticket for the ski lift. It was also a lot more dangerous especially for someone like Eddie who was 25 pounds heavier than an average Olympic level ski jumper.

We see here though a key element of inspiration: creativity. For Eddie, he was crafty enough to see an opening. He realized he would never be fast or smooth enough to ski downhill with England’s best. But, he might just be able to be the best ski “faller” in England. He would need to ski down a near vertical 300 foot hill, “fly” 150 feet and somehow land on two feet.

Being inspired is one thing. Acting on it is another. For reasons that are often out of our control, many times we are required to let go of the idea that there is only one road for running with our inspiration. It may look different. We may not be Taylor Swift or Beyonce, but if we let go of the idea that there is only one way, we could find a way to be on stage with them or carve our own special identities around what inspires us.

“For reasons that are often out of our control, many times we are required to let go of the idea that there is only one road for running with our inspiration.”

Determination

A lot of folks are interested in stuff. Many of those can also dream up a bit of ambition to do something related to that interest. With the help of friends and family, maybe they can even come up with a creative way of wiggling into a space that, for whatever reason, is hard to access.

What happens when they find that entry point whether creative or traditional? Without a doubt it will get hard. Continuing to work as a contract drywaller, Eddie didn’t have much money. Ski jumping requires a lot of expensive equipment and traveling.

The ski boots he borrowed required him to wear 6 pairs of socks to make them fit his smaller feet. He drove around Europe to competitions in his mom’s car. He cut grass, worked as a babysitter and served in hotels. He ate out of garbage cans in the back of restaurants and, during training in Finland when he couldn’t afford a place to sleep, he slept in a mental hospital. Regardless of the cost, he was determined.

“In this very rare case, his interest evolved into ambition which spurred creativity and powered determination. ”

And, somehow, in the 4 years since first attempting to ski jump in 1984, Eddie found himself making the Olympic team representing Great Britain as a ski jumper. No mattter that he was the only one who tried out. He was on the team. For Eddie, that was all that mattered.

Perhaps it is here, we see what separates people from having a passive interest in something to being an active participant in that space, whatever that participation looks like. Determination is not easy. It is messy. It hurts. It is not comfortable.

Eddie could have been an interested, passionate fan of Olympic skiing and stayed up late at night in England watching the events in Canada. That would have been perfectly fine and good and respectable.

In his very rare case though, his interest evolved into ambition which spurred creativity and powered determination.

Too often (perhaps almost always) we attach standard ideas of “success” - like winning a gold medal - to the perception that only winning is “inspirational”. There is an important distinction to be made. A strong argument can be put forward that success is relative. Success for Finland’s Matti Nykanen, the 2x gold medal winner in the 1988 Winter Olympics, was dominating the ski jumping events and setting records. He did. Success for Eddie was, against every imaginable odd, finding a way to make the team. He did.

Eddie also made an extraordinary mark on the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics in a way that Matti never could. Through his participation in the Olympic games he became known as “Eddie the Eagle”. He made history as the first person from Great Britain to become an Olympic ski jumper. The official Olympics website states that “his story and character endeared him to the sporting world and beyond.” Since then he has lived a happy and healthy life and a box office film was made about his life in 2016 which starred Hugh Jackman as his fictional coach.

Most would argue that Eddie’s story is perhaps more inspirational than the “on paper” highly successful gold medal winner that year in 1988. Eddie was the ultimate underdog who exemplified extraordinary levels of interest, ambition, creativity and determination. He was inspired. Matti pounded the record books. Eddie touched hearts and gave others a nudge that they could do the same.