The Campbell Academy Blog | Colin Campbell (63)

Balancing balance

Cape Town will stay with me.

It'll get inside my bones, but it's a paradox.

It's the type of place that makes me question, well, everything.

We went to see whales on Monday, and a Southern Right Whale swam right past the side of the boat and put her head out of the water. I could have patted her.

It was extraordinary.

The following day, I climbed Lion's Head, one of the other mountains in Cape Town, and I looked like an old man with a fat stomach (I've put on about three stone).

I don't want to post a photograph here because it's not great, but I did get to the top.

Georgia took me to the top of Lion's Head; she is the daughter of Daniel Millner, whose family were the founders of the supply company, which is now Wright Millners in South Africa.

Georgia climbed to the top barefoot, and her partner Dom brought her son Eli partway up the mountain, too. Eli climbs mountains and rock faces at five years old like he's been doing it for 50 years.

The three of them climb the mountain in bare feet.

I spent the time in Cape Town between fancy meals (and drinks) and lecturing to people about how to make their businesses more successful and then seeing the most extraordinary nature and climbing mountains.

In the middle of that, I would drive to places past sprawling townships as far as the eye could see where 66% of under-25-year-olds are unemployed.

Everywhere is a paradox, and Britain is becoming an even greater paradox, but it's hard to figure this out, isn't it?

It's hard to navigate the contrast, and it's hard to find balance in the balance.

I think I probably want to be all things all the time, and that is the hardest part of this.

It's hard to find the focus and not spread yourself too thin.

I got a 12-hour flight back to think about it, get my feet back on the ground and go again.

Georgia and I talked a lot as we walked up the mountain.

She is an extraordinary person.

She did a degree in environmental science in Cape Town and realised that she was a daughter from a privileged family and didn't want to be that anymore.

Her partner, Dom, makes surfboards, and they live on the beach. He surfs daily, and Eli starts school when he's seven.

But she's troubled as well and doesn't know how to make a difference, and we agreed over a 45-minute chat to the top of Lion's Head that all we could do was the best with what we had where we were right now.

And so, I'll continue to try to balance the balance.

I'm not sure I've got it right, but that's the thing, right? You have to continue to balance the balance.