‘Real world’ has helped Alex Gidman

Gidman became an elite performance, leadership and cricket coach and took in knowledge and information from mixing with ‘people who had been around the block’.

Add in the knowledge gained from leading cricket coaches John Bracewell, Peter Moores and Rodney Marsh and it leaves Gidman with plenty of experience to call upon for his current challenges.

He said: “I think actually being away from the game for 12-18 months or so on reflection now – although it was pretty brutal going through it – was actually the best learning I had.

“I ‘get’ the game of cricket so that bit is never going to change. I understand the game, I played under some wonderful coaches.

“I was very lucky – John Bracewell, Peter Moores, Rodney Marsh, some fantastic coaches, so, yes. Like I said, I ‘get’ the game of cricket.

“What I didn’t understand was how you can relate it to what happens in the ‘real’ world and what you can learn from the real world.

“I spent some time with some very successful people who have taught me a lot about the world and leading and business and it is up to me then to sieve through what information is relative to our world – but there is a lot that is very similar.

“I was very lucky to spend some time with people who had been around the block and taught me a huge amount.”

Gidman added: “I chose to try to stand on my own two feet. I tried to make things happen for myself as opposed to just applying for jobs and seeing what came up.

“It came with risk, it came with some tough times, it came with some loneliness but all those challenges I quite enjoyed in a bizarre way and I always felt they would lead me to where I belong so to speak.

“There is a quote by Steve Jobs, the wonderful creator of Apple, and he said you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking back and I think, if I look back now, those lessons from cricket, the lessons from coaches I played under, the lessons I learnt in those 12 months, has led me here.”