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.<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Her message? Take up the space. There\u2019s room.<\/p>\n For me, \u201cnever too much\u201d is about refusing to make yourself smaller to make other people comfortable. And I think, like many women, that\u2019s something I\u2019ve had to learn rather than something that came naturally.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spent much of my life being curious, ambitious and probably a little restless. I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n There have absolutely been times when I\u2019ve wondered whether I was being too ambitious, too outspoken, too passionate or asking for too much. I\u2019m much less interested in those questions now.<\/p>\n Approaching a milestone birthday next year, \u201cnever too much\u201d means owning all of it \u2013 my experience, my opinions, my ambition, my femininity, my mistakes and my curiosity about what comes next.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s room.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure there was one woman \u2013 I think there have been many, and perhaps that\u2019s part of the answer.<\/p>\n Throughout my career I\u2019ve been fortunate to encounter women who led in very different ways. Some commanded a room; others barely raised their voice but had enormous influence.<\/p>\n Watching them taught me that there isn\u2019t one template for female leadership. Fiona Dalton is one who combines powerful leadership with empathy and humility.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n She has led major businesses and been an enormously influential leader through Virtuoso, but she\u2019s also consistently made time to give back \u2013 mentoring through TIME, serving on boards and helping develop the next generation of our industry.<\/p>\n Now she\u2019s evolved again, consulting, writing and sharing decades of knowledge and some fascinating conversations through her podcast.<\/p>\n What Fiona has shown me is that taking up space isn\u2019t about being the loudest person in the room. It\u2019s about knowing that your experience has value and being willing to use it \u2014 while also creating space for other people.<\/p>\n At this stage of my own career, that really resonates with me. I\u2019m increasingly interested in what leadership might look like beyond the traditional corporate ladder: board roles, mentoring, sharing knowledge and continuing to reinvent myself.<\/p>\n Fiona has shown me that you don\u2019t have to become less as you evolve. You can actually become more.<\/p>\n At 16, I packed my bags and went to Argentina as an exchange student for a year.<\/p>\n Looking back now, I\u2019m not entirely sure where I found the courage. I didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n That year fundamentally changed me. It taught me that people are inherently kind, even when you don\u2019t share a language.<\/p>\n It taught me that our cultural differences, traditions and ways of seeing the world aren\u2019t barriers \u2013 they\u2019re some of the most fascinating things about travel.<\/p>\n And it taught me, very young, that I could back myself. I came home speaking Spanish, but I\u2019d learned a much bigger language: independence, curiosity and confidence.<\/p>\n So many of the decisions I\u2019ve made since \u2013 living overseas, building a career in travel, taking chances when I couldn\u2019t know the outcome \u2013 trace back to that 16-year-old girl getting on a plane to Argentina. She was braver than she knew.<\/p>\n Recently I wrote a question in huge letters and put it on my office wall: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU COULDN\u2019T FAIL? I realised the things that feel slightly too big are probably exactly the things I should be reaching for next.<\/p>\n I\u2019d ask her a different question: What would you ask for if you already believed you deserved it?<\/p>\n Women can be incredibly good at negotiating against ourselves before anyone else has even entered the conversation.<\/p>\n We wait until we meet every criterion. We soften the request. We explain why we\u2019re asking. Sometimes we decide the answer will be no and save everybody the trouble of actually asking.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve done it too. What I\u2019ve learned is that asking isn\u2019t entitlement. Ambition isn\u2019t arrogance. Wanting more responsibility, opportunity, flexibility \u2013 or simply a bigger life \u2013 doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re ungrateful for what you already have.<\/p>\n And a \u201cno\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t negotiate against yourself. Ask the question. Put your hand up. The worst you can hear is no \u2013 but imagine if the answer is yes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very clich\u00e9 but I look in the mirror and say \u201cyou\u2019re a badass, go show them\u201d.<\/p>\n I then try to make myself believe the words!<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve just become much better at recognising that voice for what it is rather than allowing it to make decisions for me.<\/p>\n Competitive gymnastics probably taught me some of that very early. There\u2019s a moment before you begin when preparation is over. You can\u2019t do another practice run. You simply have to commit.<\/p>\n 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\u2019ve done the work, I know my subject, and I don\u2019t need to be perfect to be credible.<\/p>\n More recently, I\u2019ve added another question: What would I do here if I wasn\u2019t afraid of failing? It has an extraordinary ability to cut through the noise.<\/p>\n Then I take a breath, shoulders back \u2013 and go.<\/p>\n My running shoes, without question.<\/p>\n Whenever I arrive somewhere new, particularly after a long-haul flight, the first thing I want to do is get outside and walk.<\/p>\n It helps me shake off the jet lag, but more importantly, it\u2019s how I get my bearings and start to understand a place.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n I love discovering the local square I wouldn\u2019t otherwise have found, watch a cat sunning on a wall, wandering through a local market or suddenly finding myself somewhere completely unexpected.<\/p>\n You learn so much more at street level than you ever can looking through a car window.<\/p>\n Perhaps it comes from having lived and worked in so many different countries, but I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve walked some serious kilometres around the world \u2013 and probably saved me from a fair amount of jet lag along the way.<\/p>\n The 2026 finalists have been revealed!\u00a0See the full list here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nWhat does \u201cnever too much\u201d mean to you personally? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Who was the woman who showed you it was okay to take up space? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
What\u2019s the trip, the role, or the moment that felt almost too big to reach for? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
What would you say to the woman who\u2019s still convincing herself to ask for less? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
What do you tell yourself in the moment before you step up? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
What\u2019s the one travel item you can\u2019t live without? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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