I love teaching! This week I coached a bunch of highly motivated and smart Sport MBA students of the Real Madrid University about “Entrepreneurship the Herculean way”. Over 20 different nationalities in the room!

Was a bit nervous they wouldn’t be interested in my story as it was their final class and a few hours later Real Madrid would play against Dortmund in the semi-finals of the Champions League. All turned out well except for Real Madrid. Good to know the Indians, Canadians and Americans expressed a lot of interest in Hercules Trophy.

Told them our story, talked for 2 hours about the Herculean mantra and did a business case with them. They were split up in teams, all representing a country, they all had to challenged me with serious questions on why Hercules Trophy would be so great for their country (as they had other events they could pick). Once convinced of the power of Hercules, they then had to convince me why I would pick them (as we have to make choices too, you know). They learned a lot, I learned a lot.

What struck me the most: the social responsibility and entrepreneurial mindset of a lot of students. They loved the fact that we use sport as a means to increase CSR within corporates. They loved the fact we help Special Olympics, Randall’s Island, Kid Care, Nelson Mandela Day, Senses… They loved the fact that we are not in it for the money, but for the dream.

Seems like teaching/coaching is in my blood. Can’t help it. It’s a useful skill to coach a team, but I want to coach other people too. It feels like I have to. Mum and dad were teachers. My father’s dad combined teaching with entrepreneurship. My mother’s parents were true entrepreneurs and they did what Inge and me are doing right now: work together day and night and build something from scratch. He died very young, she made it to 94 and was probably the smartest godmother in the world. Let’s hope we both make it to 94.

Reminder to self: we’ve been testing the idea of the Hercules Academy for some time now as fans kept on asking to support them before and after the Hercules Trophy. We tested with business coaches, functional coaches, public speakers, Olympians,… and I’m convinced it’s the way to go. We want to extend our platform and connect our fans with Herculean coaches to inspire them to improve their wellbeing throughout the year. Here you go, I’ve said it. Isn’t that a cool idea? We just partnered with Gella Vandecaveye and Eddy Vinckier in Belgium. Guess why?

Other reminder to self: about time we publish our eBook on the Herculean lifestyle. Mmmm, maybe we should incorporate the feedback of the fans while writing it. Let us think about it.