kabarsula ‘What would you ask for if you already believed you deserved it?’: Adventure World’s Elsa McLean bandar SLOT INDONESIA

From moving to Argentina at just 16 to spending seven years working on ships, Adventure World head of sales Elsa McLean has built a career fuelled by curiosity and courage.

In this candid Q&A, she reflects on the women who have shaped her leadership, starting afresh after more than a decade with one business, and why she wants her six-year-old daughter to grow up knowing she never has to make herself smaller.

Her message? Take up the space. There’s room.

What does “never too much” mean to you personally?

For me, “never too much” is about refusing to make yourself smaller to make other people comfortable. And I think, like many women, that’s something I’ve had to learn rather than something that came naturally.

I’ve spent much of my life being curious, ambitious and probably a little restless. I’ve lived in Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Japan and Hong Kong, spent seven years working on ships, built a career in travel and then, after more than a decade with one business, made the fairly terrifying decision to start again somewhere new.

There have absolutely been times when I’ve wondered whether I was being too ambitious, too outspoken, too passionate or asking for too much. I’m much less interested in those questions now.

Approaching a milestone birthday next year, “never too much” means owning all of it – my experience, my opinions, my ambition, my femininity, my mistakes and my curiosity about what comes next.

I have a six-year-old daughter watching me, and I never want her to believe that being liked requires making herself smaller. Take up the space. There’s room.

Who was the woman who showed you it was okay to take up space?

I’m not sure there was one woman – I think there have been many, and perhaps that’s part of the answer.

Throughout my career I’ve been fortunate to encounter women who led in very different ways. Some commanded a room; others barely raised their voice but had enormous influence.

Watching them taught me that there isn’t one template for female leadership. Fiona Dalton is one who combines powerful leadership with empathy and humility.

I’ve watched Fiona be a powerhouse in our industry for many years, but what I admire most is that she has never confined herself to one version of success.

She has led major businesses and been an enormously influential leader through Virtuoso, but she’s also consistently made time to give back – mentoring through TIME, serving on boards and helping develop the next generation of our industry.

Now she’s evolved again, consulting, writing and sharing decades of knowledge and some fascinating conversations through her podcast.

What Fiona has shown me is that taking up space isn’t about being the loudest person in the room. It’s about knowing that your experience has value and being willing to use it — while also creating space for other people.

At this stage of my own career, that really resonates with me. I’m increasingly interested in what leadership might look like beyond the traditional corporate ladder: board roles, mentoring, sharing knowledge and continuing to reinvent myself.

Fiona has shown me that you don’t have to become less as you evolve. You can actually become more.

What’s the trip, the role, or the moment that felt almost too big to reach for?

At 16, I packed my bags and went to Argentina as an exchange student for a year.

Looking back now, I’m not entirely sure where I found the courage. I didn’t speak Spanish, I had no idea what to expect, and this was long before smartphones, FaceTime or the reassurance of being constantly connected to home.

I was stepping into a completely different culture, on the other side of the world, and essentially had to trust that I would figure it out.

That year fundamentally changed me. It taught me that people are inherently kind, even when you don’t share a language.

It taught me that our cultural differences, traditions and ways of seeing the world aren’t barriers – they’re some of the most fascinating things about travel.

And it taught me, very young, that I could back myself. I came home speaking Spanish, but I’d learned a much bigger language: independence, curiosity and confidence.

So many of the decisions I’ve made since – living overseas, building a career in travel, taking chances when I couldn’t know the outcome – trace back to that 16-year-old girl getting on a plane to Argentina. She was braver than she knew.

Recently I wrote a question in huge letters and put it on my office wall: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU COULDN’T FAIL? I realised the things that feel slightly too big are probably exactly the things I should be reaching for next.

What would you say to the woman who’s still convincing herself to ask for less?

I’d ask her a different question: What would you ask for if you already believed you deserved it?

Women can be incredibly good at negotiating against ourselves before anyone else has even entered the conversation.

We wait until we meet every criterion. We soften the request. We explain why we’re asking. Sometimes we decide the answer will be no and save everybody the trouble of actually asking.

I’ve done it too. What I’ve learned is that asking isn’t entitlement. Ambition isn’t arrogance. Wanting more responsibility, opportunity, flexibility – or simply a bigger life – doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful for what you already have.

And a “no” is information, not humiliation. We all know the saying that we learn more from failure than success, so perhaps the only real failure is not going for something you genuinely want because you were too afraid to ask.

Don’t negotiate against yourself. Ask the question. Put your hand up. The worst you can hear is no – but imagine if the answer is yes.

What do you tell yourself in the moment before you step up?

It’s very cliché but I look in the mirror and say “you’re a badass, go show them”.

I then try to make myself believe the words!

I still get nervous. I still often have moments of imposter syndrome and an inner voice that can produce an impressively detailed catalogue of everything that could go wrong.

I’ve just become much better at recognising that voice for what it is rather than allowing it to make decisions for me.

Competitive gymnastics probably taught me some of that very early. There’s a moment before you begin when preparation is over. You can’t do another practice run. You simply have to commit.

I think leadership is often like that. Before a difficult conversation, an important presentation or walking into a room where I need to hold my own, I remind myself that I’ve done the work, I know my subject, and I don’t need to be perfect to be credible.

More recently, I’ve added another question: What would I do here if I wasn’t afraid of failing? It has an extraordinary ability to cut through the noise.

Then I take a breath, shoulders back – and go.

What’s the one travel item you can’t live without?

My running shoes, without question.

Whenever I arrive somewhere new, particularly after a long-haul flight, the first thing I want to do is get outside and walk.

It helps me shake off the jet lag, but more importantly, it’s how I get my bearings and start to understand a place.

I’ll happily walk for hours with no particular destination in mind, I follow the green man walking sign at the lights and let energy guide me.

I love discovering the local square I wouldn’t otherwise have found, watch a cat sunning on a wall, wandering through a local market or suddenly finding myself somewhere completely unexpected.

You learn so much more at street level than you ever can looking through a car window.

Perhaps it comes from having lived and worked in so many different countries, but I’ve always believed the best way to get to know somewhere is simply to get amongst it. So my running shoes are always in the suitcase.

They’ve walked some serious kilometres around the world – and probably saved me from a fair amount of jet lag along the way.

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