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Spencer Levy
On a balmy afternoon last September, Peter Stewart found himself struggling against the cold currents of the English Channel. He'd been in the water for more than 13 hours, at 66 one of the oldest people to attempt the 20.5 mile swim from England to France. His muscles ached. The tides had pushed him off course as waves of doubt and delirium were rising. It was out there off the coast of northern France that he came upon an unexpected inspiration: a boat with colleagues from CBRE’s office in Lille. People he'd never met, but who’d taken the day off and made an 80-mile trip of their own to offer spirit and support. On this episode, stories of personal determination and, indeed, teamwork. That is, how sports can prepare you for business and for life, and have an impact on a culture of camaraderie and healthy competition.
Peter Stewart
After 50 kilometers and god knows how many hours I was, like, a little delirious and I went, ‘Oh my God, these guys are actually there.’
Spencer Levy
That's English Channel swimmer Peter Stewart, a Senior Commercial Property Valuer for CBRE in Melbourne, Australia. Peter joined the company last year then completed the daunting open-water swim just six months later. Now he joins us along with one of those colleagues who came out to rally him ashore, Logistics Consultant Hugues Levis, who usually focuses on industrial real estate from the CBRE office in Lille, France.
Hugues Levis
It was important for him to see people from CB.
Spencer Levy
And we also welcome another world class athlete from CBRE’s ranks, one who competes on land and sea.
Nicole Levenson
When I set a goal for a race and achieve it, it's really satisfying. In the same way I'm motivated and driven that way even in my job. I like to set goals and achieve them as well.
Spencer Levy
That's Nicole Levinson, a Senior Marketing Specialist in the San Francisco Bay Area and a former college runner who stretched herself to become a triathlete competing at the grueling Ironman distance, one of the toughest races in the world. We'll learn more about these stories and also hear from other all star athletes who've appeared on our air to gain wisdom and inspiration from their ambitious pursuits. Coming up: We're spanning the globe, to paraphrase that old tagline from Wide World of Sports, with the thrill of victory and some takeaway from their feats. The games they play in real estate and beyond. I'm Spencer Levy and that's right now on The Weekly Take.
Spencer Levy
Welcome to The Weekly Take and this is going to be a fun episode today talking about athletics and how it can apply to real estate, starting with Nicole Levenson. Nicole, thanks for joining the show.
Nicole Levenson
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Spencer Levy
Great to have you, Nicole. And then we have Peter Stewart from Down Under in Melbourne, Australia. Peter, thanks for joining the show.
Peter Stewart
Hi there, Spencer, and lovely to be joining you.
Spencer Levy
Great to have you. And then last but certainly not least, Hugues Levis. Hugues, thanks for joining the show.
Hugues Levis
And thank you, Spencer, and good morning. Good evening, everybody from France.
Spencer Levy
Well, we've got it all covered. Good evening, good morning and good afternoon because we've covered the globe on this show for sure. Let's stay with you first, Nicole. Tell us about your backstory. Nicole. It's quite incredible.
Nicole Levenson
Okay. So I think the most notable thing to mention is what happened recently. I competed in the Ironman in Sacramento, California. An Ironman-distance triathlon is a 140.6-mile race. You swim 2.4 miles. You cycle 112 miles. And then you run a marathon 26.2 miles. I trained for that for a couple of years. Finally got to race in October this year and I placed high enough in not only my age group but the entire race. I was second place in my age group, 35 to 39, and I was third overall female, which allowed me to secure a slot to the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. So I get to go do another one, in debatably the most humid and hot areas and compete with all of the best athletes from all over the world.
Spencer Levy
Well, that's quite a story and we'll get more into the details in just a moment, but Peter, why don't you tell our team about your achievement?
Peter Stewart
I had the pleasure – I'm not sure that it was a great pleasurable experience right in the moment, but it was certainly a personal goal. On the 10th of September 2022 I was able to have the opportunity to swim the English Channel, which starts from Dover, that's the landmark, but you've got a motor on your boat out of Dover Harbor and it goes to a beach called Samphire Hoe. So you kick off from there across the English Channel through the separation zone into French waters and find yourself to the French coast. Generally the key landing point is Wissant in France. And for me that was a 68-kilometer journey that you get carried with the tides. It's certainly not a straight swim. It takes two years just to be able to get a boat, a captain, and find your spot with the Channel Swimming Association. So you've got a two-year preparation period, which you pretty much need. So in September 10, I was in England and had the opportunity to swim across successfully and get up and meet Hugues on the other side.
Spencer Levy
Hugues, you met Peter on the beach of France. And tell us about that, because what the today show is about is not just Nicole and Peter's experience, but bringing it home to business, to real estate, and how it not only makes you a better real estate professional but how it brings real estate professionals together. So, Hugues, why don’t you tell us about how you greeted Peter in France?
Hugues Levis
Yeah. So first of all, I want just to congratulate Nicole for her sports achievement and Peter, of course. And I am not here as an athlete, but as a CBRE team worldwide. I read the news on the CBRE Intranet page and so it was important for me and for my colleagues to me to support Peter as I know that it is not easy to cross on this Channel. There was not a lot of people on this side of the world to support you. So we went there with a boat and met Peter. I can remember even today that he was quite, really happy. And it was important for him to see people from CB.
Spencer Levy
Peter, were you aware that Hugues was going to meet you and whether you were or were not aware? Tell us about your reaction when you saw your colleagues on the beach.
Peter Stewart
We'd exchanged a couple of emails and I've got to say that the emails seemed a little apologetic or inquisitive. He said, you know, ‘Would you like someone to be on the beach? I know that you probably won't be in the greatest state to be receiving people, but I could be there if you like.’ And I was like, ‘Man, I would love that. Please be there. You know, I could think of nothing better.’ So, I was expecting, if everything went well, that I would see somebody on the beach standing there. Now, put that in context, I could be landing anywhere on the beach there within a 10 kilometer strip. And then so, it was up to Hugues also to find me and all of those things. So I'm like 50 kilometers into the swim. I've missed Cap Griz Nez, which is the little headland that you aim for, because that's the shortest distance that you could probably swim. I've missed that by two kilometers as the tide changes and I get swept up the coastline. But at that 50 kilometer mark, there’s a boat pulled up alongside me with a few guys in the boat holding CBRE and it was like a vision from heaven. I looked up and I thought, ‘Where am I?’ Because after 50 kilometers and god knows how many hours, I was, like, a little delirious. And I went, ‘Oh my god, these guys are actually there in the water and shouting out to me and holding up CBRE signs.’ So I stopped and I tried to call out. I'm not sure how great my vocals were. I sort of gave a thumbs up and I said, ‘God, guys, thanks so much for being there.’ I think somebody asked if they could get in the water and swim with me, but the Channel Swimming Association monitor on board said, ‘Sorry guys, you won't be able to do that. You may end up getting Peter disqualified if you happen to swim in front of him or touch him or something like that.’ So I said my goodbyes, swam on, and a cool 18 kilometers later I landed on the beach just above Wissant. And sure enough, there's Hugues standing there with a CBRE board and welcomed me into France, which was just heavenly.
Spencer Levy
Well, that's quite a story. That's quite a story. So, Nicole, let's go way back not the beginning of when you were a kid running down the street, but when did you realize that you wanted to be more than just a casual athlete?
Nicole Levenson
Well, I ran collegiate track for UCSD, Division 1 for a couple of years, and then after that, I needed to figure out what I wanted to do. I started getting into half marathon running and did a lot of half marathons, pretty much just for fun. I never really placed or anything like that, but slowly got introduced to the world of triathlon through friends and I got got hooked on it. It's a lot of fun. It's always changing. There's always something. Every race is different. And I worked my way up from the smaller sprint-distance triathlons that are very short and worked my way up to an Olympic distance and eventually a half Ironman. And in the triathlon world, eventually you just do an Ironman. Not everybody does, but it feels like once you get more serious, you should try one. So I had to wrap my head around that and decided, let's go for it. I originally wanted to do one in 2020 before. I signed up in 2019 and in 2020 obviously no races happened. So I signed up for 2021, Ironman California. That year happened to be a historic rainstorm – like, cyclone bomb and atmospheric river and of course they canceled the race in October 2021, so I deferred to 2022. So I kind of felt like I trained for this race for almost like four years.
Spencer Levy
What event did you do in track at UCSD?
Nicole Levenson
I was what's called a mid-distance sprinter. I ran the 400 meter and the 800 meter.
Spencer Levy
And how'd you do in college?
Nicole Levenson
I feel like it was so long ago, I don't remember. I wouldn't say I was anything special. Like, I made the team. I don't feel like I was the most talented athlete, but I have the heart and the drive.
Spencer Levy
Let's look at it this way. You were a college D1 athlete. That's a big deal. But you may not have been at the elite level then, but look at you now. You are at the elite level now and it shows the power of perseverance. That you don't necessarily hit your peak when you're in college. You may hit it much later if you stay with it. Is that the message that you tell our listeners?
Nicole Levenson
Yeah, I actually did revisit – I revisited running track meets again in my thirties just for fun, and I was totally scared. I was racing against collegiate athletes and I actually beat all my college times in my thirties. I was 18, 19 running track and I didn't really show much improvement. And then in my thirties I crushed my 800 time by 8 seconds, which is big for that race. So you don't know if you don't try.
Peter Stewart
But it's like you just keep showing up, don't you, Nicole? Just keep showing up and it starts to happen.
Nicole Levenson
Definitely.
Spencer Levy
Peter, let's talk about your back story. Obviously, swimming the English Channel was a lifetime achievement, but you started as an athlete much younger. Tell us about that back story.
Peter Stewart
Yeah, we've got a pretty sporting family. My dad was a top cyclist, Australian champion. So I figured I had some reasonable genes. My dad got me into swimming early on. And then triathlon also came along when it was just starting, I'm a little bit older than Nicole. So right in the early days when triathlon just kicked off, this was the next progression. I'd been a runner. I’ve been swimmer. And my dad was a cyclist. I went, ‘Wow, gee, I might be able to put all of these together. I might have something special and I'll be able to do it.’ So, yeah, I got into it and progressed along the same lines as Nicole was describing. Ended up in Ironman. Went to Kona Hawaii in 1989 – a few years ago now. It was the race of a lifetime totally. But then as you keep competing and getting older, your body parts start to fail. Injuries, which is one of the biggest things, that holds you back. So hip replacement and different things. So I thought, ‘What can I do next?’ I had to give away the running. Then I had to give away the cycling. So I thought, ‘Well, I've still got my swimming.’ So it's still just a matter of immersing yourself in whatever you can do. I mean, when you've got that drive or attitude, your sport becomes a bit of a lifestyle. So I dipped my toe in the water and I did it as a four-person team event – crossing the Channel – and we set the sixth fastest time on the records. Then I went, ‘Yeah, it's still not enough. I'll have to come back and do it as a solo.’ And so that was the goal that thankfully I was able to tick that box off.
Spencer Levy
Great. Well, the episode today obviously has some unbelievable stories from Nicole and Peter in their backgrounds, but we really need to bring it back to how sport relates to your job and your career and work with your teammates. So, Nicole, tell us about how you're able to, first of all, manage the time commitment of being a world class athlete with the work that you do and how it influences the work that you do.
Nicole Levenson
A big part of it is time management. I have a workout in the morning before work and a workout after work. Sometimes if I can somehow squeeze both workouts in the morning, I'll try to do that if it's required, but that can be really hard. You're waking up, getting out there in the dark, getting your workouts in, and then instead of going home, I go back to the pool to swim or whatever. So time management is huge and I try not to skip a workout. I've pretty good body awareness, so if I'm feeling highly fatigued, that would be the only time I would skip a workout. But in the same way for my job, you know, marketing can be very deadline driven. So there's time management and prioritization that definitely takes place in the type of work that I do. So I have to make sure that I'm really highly communicative with my team and make sure that priorities are set and decide how to prioritize different projects and then, of course, meet the deadline. In that way you can compare the two. I also, in every athletic achievement, I try to set certain goals and hopefully achieve them. And so far I'm going to have like any crazy, terrible race day yet. I'm sure that those days are going to come. I feel like the training is harder, like, mentally because you're just training for very long hours, for months on end. But when I set a goal for a race and achieve it, it's really satisfying. In the same way I'm motivated and driven that way even in my job. I like to set goals and achieve them as well.
Peter Stewart
The goal setting and achieving is so vital to this and that does overflow into my work life, whether it's getting a valuation in on time and trying to meet the pretty stiff targets that CBRE set. You want to still achieve those goals. So you’re really a balancing act. You're on a scale. You've got your sport and that fatigue on one side of the scale. And you've got the job that you've got to get done, you're training your work life, family, throw all those other things in the mix, and you've got to be able to stand up and meet all of those. But definitely that level of motivation and meeting targets plays a major role.
Spencer Levy
Peter last year we had a guest on the show, her name's Laura Clark. She's the CFO at Rexford Industrial, which is one of the largest industrial REITs in the U.S., certainly the largest in Southern California. She appeared on the show the day after she literally ran a marathon and she used a term. She called it quote “embracing ambition.”
Laura Clark
Even hroughout my career, people have asked, as a woman, how do you balance and how do you deal with obstacles? And I've always said, I actually don't think I've faced obstacles. And it's not that I haven't faced them, I think it's all about our mindset and how we perceive them. And having a growth mindset is so important. And I think that that's served me well from a career perspective. And I think it served me well as a marathoner. And I think it serves me very well as a mom. What that means is that I'm constantly taking whatever those obstacles are, and I say, ‘I'm going to take those obstacles and turn those into opportunities.’ And I've always looked and said, ‘You know what? There is nothing that's unreachable for me.’ And that's always been my mindset. I embrace ambition and I seek challenge. And I think that I do that professionally and I do that personally.
Spencer Levy
What do you think about that, Peter?
Peter Stewart
Embracing ambition. Yeah, I think it's a mindset. I haven't heard that before. It's pretty interesting. People that are doing these things and I mean, you get a very broad mix of people running marathons because there's all sorts of time frames and there's people that will even walk in. But they've got the goal, they achieve the goal and a great goal at that. So I think it's something that's in the DNA of those people and it really doesn't matter what you're doing. As soon as you talked about embrace, I thought of embrace the pain because there's certainly something about embracing the pain with a lot of this. And sometimes I wonder, am I just a pain junkie or something? Because some of those training sessions can certainly be painful. But you end up pretty sharp at the end of it. And you look at life in a pretty sharp way and embrace a lot of life. I mean, with the training in that training regime, you feel pretty good once you've got through your recovery. That first swim in a pool, when you dive in, those first couple of laps, you go, ‘Oh my god, this is just, like, sensational.’ But you would never get that feeling until you've done the training, those rewards. And sometimes I feel not exactly sad, but you go, ‘Gee, what are other people missing out on by not doing this?’
Spencer Levy
Let's ask a few more just very nitty-gritty, specific questions of how do you do it? Nicole, why don't you tell us first about nutrition? What do you do so that you have the capacity to act at the highest levels?
Nicole Levenson
This year, I might actually try to work with that nutritionist, but I haven't worked with one up until now. I feel like I know how to eat healthy and how to fuel right. I eat a lot of vegetables and protein. But because we're doing such high volume, I eat mac-and-cheese. I eat pizza. We eat the fun stuff too. Breakfast burritos, highly caloric and carbo and protein intake. I just make sure I have small snacks throughout the day. The main goal is just to be properly fueled for your next workout. And then depending how long the workout is, you actually might need to take in nutrition while you're working out, too. So if I'm looking at my training schedule and plan, I'll know ahead of time whether or not I'm gonna need an extra bottle of electrolytes, along with an extra packet of food for calories to make sure I get not only through the workout, but get through it feeling strong as well.
Spencer Levy
Peter, one, what did you eat prior to going into the channel? Second, what did you eat while you were in the Channel? Because you had to eat while swimming, which is – I love to know the logistics of that. And the third is technology, what did you wear, a Fitbit or otherwise, that helped you get through the swim?
Peter Stewart
On the food side, certainly two sides of the coin there. When you're out of the water, certainly following a lot of what Nicole was saying, you want to eat healthy. But my coach also wanted me to put on like four or five kilos in preparation for the channel swim because they just want you to build up the body fat to deal with the colder conditions of the Channel. I wasn't able to meet that. In fact, I found myself losing weight every day as training intensity picked up. I was just burning off more and more body fat and reducing my weight. So it was a bit of a concern. So during the day I was eating almost everything and anything but keeping an eye on the value of what I was eating. Certainly a lot of different vitamins. I was working with a nutritionist that I was seeing about every month – blood tests and that. and doing all the readings, which was great because he was able to pick up on small things. And all that was looking good. But the other side of it is in the water, you're basically limited to liquids. So I’m on electrolytes that have got a carb base to them. In the Channel the feeds were every 30 minutes. I’ve got special containers. They're on a string they get thrown out to you. You pump that into yourself as quickly as you can and get on with the swim. I think I had, well, let me see every 30 minutes in the water for 15 and a half hours. So there's 30-odd feeds and you want to get those done within 10 to 20 seconds and just keep moving. But seven and a half hours of the swim was in the night. It was absolutely pitch black, both in the water and out of the water. And I found myself fumbling around for my feeds because you actually couldn't see what they'd thrown into the water for you. You practice all these things in advance, even your night swims, because you don't know what your time slot is going to be in the channel. So you've just got to be ready for everything. Technology: pretty important really for me, and I'm sure Nicole's going to have some good things to say on this. I wear a Garmin 924 model. That pumps out lots and lots of information which you tend to only get once you're out of the water. But I'll get my number of strokes. I get my time per 100 meters, the water temperature, all of your splits per 500 meters. There's a huge amount of information – distance, per stroke, heart rate, obviously your speed and the distance that you've swum, resting heart rate, it just goes on and on. You can extract a lot of information from the technology. And I do fall back on some of that stuff because technique in the water is vitally important.
Nicole Levenson
I also use the Garmin watch both for the swim and the run. So, yeah, it gives me all the same statistics, data points, as Peter mentioned. And then on the bike I have a a Garmin bike computer that just sits on my aerobar, so I can see a lot of statistics from that. And I have Garmin pedals which have a power meter that can tell me how much power I'm putting into the pedals. That actually played a huge factor in my race, that Ironman California, because we had a really serious wind factor on race day. We had a constant 20 mile per hour winds with like 30 to 40 mile per hour gusts so, at that point, I didn't care about my speed. I cared about my power. If I was holding a specific number of power, I knew at least it was going to put me in a certain position and I didn't need to worry about my speed because everyone was going to be slowed down by that headwind, not just me. So that was really helpful in that race. And then on the run course, I use my Garmin again. And that gives you your miles slips and everything like that. And I really just use it as – I just peeked at it every mile just to see if I was still on pace and to see how I felt. But I don't feel like I relied heavily on the Garmin watch when I'm running because it's really, hopefully body awareness. You should know if you're running out of your threshold or not. You can literally feel it all over your body. But back into nutrition, I've taken about 3 to 400 calories per hour on the bike while cycling real food packets, about 180-calorie food packets, and then a really concentrated liquid form called Hammer Perpetuem that I was constantly hydrating with. And then on the run, you move over to the more liquid type fluid through GU Roctane Gels. And I took one of those every four miles religiously and then one that had a little punch of caffeine in it towards the end of the marathon.
Peter Stewart
Got to love that coffee. Hey, Nicole?
Nicole Levenson
Yeah. It really works.
Peter Stewart
Even I had a bit of some caffeine hits in my liquids for the swim.
Spencer Levy
There you go. Well, Hugues while Nicole and Peter had world class athletic achievements, it takes a village. It's teamwork. And there's ways that people that are not getting in the water, getting on the bike, running can be inspired and become better professionally by being associated with them. And I think you've proven that by meeting Peter on the beach. But tell us how your team reacted to Peter and how there may have been some long-term positive impacts of that experience.
Hugues Levis
Yeah, I think that everybody in our office was involved and understand our position and our goal to meet Peter. So I just think that it is important for us in France to be part of this.
Peter Stewart
I just want to say what Hugues did was a lifetime experience for me. Like, I'll remember that for the rest of my life, and it'll be totally mixed with that experience. What he did is part of my swim and part of the success of this swim. And that I will never forget.
Hugues Levis
Trust me, Peter, that we are happy to be part of this success for you.
Spencer Levy
Well that’s the very definition of camaraderie, the very definition of culture and teamwork so that's a wonderful way to look at it. But let's look at something that I think all of us need to overcome in a variety of ways, which is fear. And I'll be very honest with you, a lot of our listeners say there's no way I could get in the English Channel and swim. There's no way I could do the first 2.4 miles of the Ironman because it would scare me to death not only with respect to the potential for wildlife. But also in the Ironman, you have hundreds of people kicking right around you, and that's dangerous. So, Nicole, tell us if there was any fear factor there and how you might overcome it and how it might apply to the workplace.
Nicole Levenson
I feel like there's always some level of fear when it comes to race week, leading up to race day. You get race jitters. You feel, like, a nervousness. And then for some reason that I line up – you self -seed yourself in the swim start to where you think your pace is going to be – and somehow it all goes calm. I think we spend so many weeks preparing for this one day that it's the day to have fun and put all of that training to work. And once I'm racing, I'm not scared anymore. I just go out there and see what I can do and all those nerves go away. I'm not sure if that's true for everyone, but that's how I feel once I'm out there. As far as relating it to work, if something doesn't go right on race day, as an athlete you have to have the humility to pull back and look at what didn't work and how you can improve that. So I think the same thing in the work space, we can find out where our weaknesses are and build and improve on those things.
Spencer Levy
And I guess ultimately – everything we do, positively or negatively in the workplace or otherwise – hopefully learn from it.
Nicole Levenson
Yeah. And, I mean, anything can go wrong. You have to be able to manage that stress. It's really a testament to mental fortitude.
Spencer Levy
Well, you did it once and you came in what, second? So that's pretty good.
Nicole Levenson
That's third overall. But second, in my age group. Yes.
Spencer Levy
Let's go with second, but also third. However you prefer. So let's now talk about the ability to use what you've done, Peter, not just in the workplace, but outside of it. One of the great things about some of the sports we play corporately – golf, skiing or otherwise – it brings you out there and you meet clients, you meet colleagues. But how about outside of the office meeting potential clients or otherwise, either directly or potentially indirectly by just them learning about who you are, what you do.
Peter Stewart
That's pretty interesting. I was relatively new to CBRE and part of the condition of joining the firm was, I had to say, up front, well, sort of joining that within a short space of time are going to be asking for a few weeks off. And I may not even have the holidays built up by that time. They said, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I'll be swimming the English Channel.’ And they said, ‘Oh well, yeah, I mean, we can accommodate that, no issue whatsoever.’ So we tick that box and I was on board. And it certainly wasn't by design, but there was a lot of media around the event and it wasn't like I had to go out and meet people at CBRE because suddenly there was a bit of a label put on me and I was, I don’t know, a semi-celebrity. I'm a bit hesitant to use that word because I didn't feel like that. But it gave me a great opportunity for people to come up to me and talk to me rather than me having to go out and explore all the other personalities in and around the office. So it gave me a pretty quick profile and I tend to find that once you're in a group of people and this could be with work associates and clients, it's certainly nothing that I'm going to bring up and talk about. But invariably someone in the group says, ‘Oh yeah and by the way, you know, Pete is a swimmer and blah, blah, blah, and then suddenly it opens up a new conversation. Which is a great thing because, again, it gives more discussion points within the group, breaks the ice, and you've got a lot more to talk about with your clients and it builds another level of camaraderie and relationship.
Nicole Levenson
Just to kind of piggyback on what Peter said, it definitely gets people excited and breaks the ice. And I do find people, for the most part, like to talk about the type of things that we do. I don't know. I find that's a hard question to answer. And I guess, you know, I run with like a writing group here in the Bay Area and I'm surrounded by really, really high level talented runners and other athletes train with other triathletes and my husband does the Ironman with me too, so I get to train with him. I think I'm surrounded by so many talented athletes that I don't feel like I'm above average of people who don't do what I do. You're kind of in a bubble in a way, because I do spend a lot of my time with friends who do the same activities that I do because it's convenient. So sometimes you get caught up and you're not aware that most of the average people think you're probably crazy.
Spencer Levy
Well, crazy wasn't one of the words going through my mind. I mean awe frankly, because there's an old expression, ‘’The longest journey starts with a single step.” And you've both been on long, impressive journeys. I've taken you to some pretty incredible places. Another guest we had on the show recently, her name was Meggie Remynse, the Vice President of Curriculum at an EdTech firm called DataCamp. That's her day job. But she was also like you, Nicole, a college athlete. She was a tennis player. She picked up a new sport where she is clearly world class, which is pickleball, where she's a top-20 ranked player. And she talked about what it took to go from tennis to pickleball to becoming world class at her sport.
Meggie Remynse
I think for most athletes, your competitive edge never really goes away. It's a mindset that you come into it with, of continuously improving. For me, if I feel like I've hit a ceiling somewhere, it's probably time for me to find something else for me to do as I want to feel like I'm constantly improving. And I want to feel like I'm constantly bringing up the people around me because those are my teammates. I think a lot of athletes are going to come into the corporate world with that same kind of mentality as that they want to win, and winning can mean a lot of things. It could mean working and getting the best salary. It could mean going as high as you possibly can within an organization on the hierarchy. But it could also mean winning deals. I know some killer sales folks because they just don't want to lose. Winning can be a lot of different things, and it's also just about finding what is that one intrinsic value that is the motivator for an athlete. But I definitely don't think I have to work for my competitive edge.
Spencer Levy
What do you think about that experience, Nicole? Because it seems, have a lot of parallels to you in going from D1 to doing just casual athletics to becoming world class again?
Nicole Levenson
It took time to wrap my head around it, if I could actually qualify for Kona. But a big part was getting on a structured training program and following that diligently and then building on that year after year.
Peter Stewart
I think the lesson here is: keeping at it, keep turning up. Because if I had chosen to stop training because of injuries or whatever, I wouldn't be where I am. I wouldn't have achieved a lot more in my life without having had that principle. So I think the keep going part of it. And I look at it personally, that it's the side effects of better health, better attention, your cognitive abilities stay sharp, the longevity of life and health. So I think that sort of wraps it up for me as to what she was describing.
Spencer Levy
So let me start wrapping now and start with you Hugues. Any final thoughts about how the experience that you had with Peter not only made you and your team better, but actually made Peter better? And any lessons you would give to others about your experience?
Hugues Levis
It is not easy. But maybe it is: You can find unexpected support anywhere you are, any time. Even if you are in the middle of the Channel or anywhere, I think that you can find support.
Spencer Levy
I think the lesson there, putting it in my own words here, is you have your own individual pursuits, but there's more people here to support you than you think. Peter, any final thoughts from you? Lessons learned that you'd like to impart on our listeners to really not only achieve what you did on the English Channel, but balancing work and life?
Peter Stewart
For our listeners, it's certainly not to be overwhelmed by what I've done and Nicole has achieved. Because that was the starting point for me and also Nicole. And it could be a 25-meter swim or a 15-minute walk that develops into a run. We've all got the ability just to take small steps because I could never have thought of completing a 68-kilometer swim until I'd probably finished a one kilometer swim and slowly built on that. Everyone has the ability to create that reality. And on what Hugues has achieved – I think even a great lesson for me – was we've all got the ability to take that extra step. And Hugues went that extra step and rallied his colleagues to get together. That wasn't lost on me. What they demonstrated was that real display of teamwork and what people can do by just thinking a little bit differently. That's like the pebble in the pond and the ripples that go out. I mean, you never know where those ripples end up. It touched me, and I think it probably has touched a lot of people within CBRE as well learning about them.
Spencer Levy
Thank you, Peter. And Nicole, what lessons would you like to impart on your colleagues, our broader listeners, about your experience, how they could do it, or if they can't do what you do, do something that gives them the same level of inspiration athletically or otherwise?
Nicole Levenson
Yeah, I would say just start small. Take it one week at a time. You're not going to learn everything all at once. It did take me four years to get to this level, and you do have to start with manageable goals to begin with, and realistic goals too. Then build on that and keep moving forward and stay consistent. If you really, really want something and you want it badly, you're going to keep at it until you hit that goal. And I think consistency, at least in triathlon, is a huge part of it. If I had taken a year off in between those four years, I might not be as strong as I am right now. Really you have to build upon it year after year. I think if someone wanted to do an Ironman and they really wanted to do it, they can. But you've got to be smart about it and strategic.
Spencer Levy
Got it. And I know what's next for you is the Worlds. When are the Worlds?
Nicole Levenson
That is October 14th.
Spencer Levy
Good luck with that. And Peter, what's next for you?
Peter Stewart
I've got a swim in Western Australia, which is called the Port to Pub 26K Swim, and that'll be the second gem in my Triple Crown. So there's three swims in Australia to reach the Triple Crown. Only 18 people have achieved that. So that'll give me that second gem in the Crown. And I hope with that I'll also record the oldest person to have completed that swim – and by the time I've got the Triple Crown I’ll hopefully be the oldest person that's completed the series as well.
Spencer Levy
Oh, that's a wonderful achievement. So on behalf of The Weekly Take, what a great episode. Nicole Levenson, Senior Marketing Specialist, CBRE. Nicole, thank you for joining the show.
Nicole Levenson
Thank you.
Spencer Levy
Peter Stewart, Senior Valuer at CBRE. Peter, thanks for joining the show.
Peter Stewart
Thank you. And Nicole, I’'ll be watching out for your results on the 14th of October.
Nicole Levenson
No pressure!
Spencer Levy
And then Hugues Levis, Real Estate Logistics Consultant at CBRE in France. Hugues thank you so much.
Hugues Levis
You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Peter and Nicole.
Spencer Levy
For more, please visit our website at CBRE.com/TheWeeklyTake and keep an eye or an ear open for updates on the sporting challenges of our guests. Nicole at the Ironman World Championships later this year and Peter's quest for that Triple Crown swim in Australia. We'll try to keep you posted on their races and results. And if you're a fan of what we do, please show your support by sharing this episode. You can also root for us if you subscribe, rate and review the show wherever you listen. Next week we turn from sports highlights to a comeback story and an American icon. We head to Detroit where leaders from the Ford Motor Company, along with the Michigan Central Innovation District, talk about ways their real estate strategy and redevelopment plans are helping drive the city's revival. For now, thanks for joining us. I'm Spencer Levy. Be smart. Be safe, Be well.
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