Against the Odds: ADHD, Adversity & Ambition
From Confessions of an Entrepreneur by Carl Swansbury
August 19, 2025 · 1h 14m · Season 2 · Episode 17
About this episode
Steve Rawlingson shares his journey overcoming adversity and leveraging ADHD as a superpower in his entrepreneurial success.
In this episode of ‘Confessions of an Entrepreneur’, Carl sits down with global recruitment specialist Steve Rawlingson. Founder of Samuel Knight, Steve overcame a challenging childhood to become a trailblazer in the recruitment industry, carving a significant niche in the international renewable energy sector. He has embraced ADHD as a ‘superpower’ to drive him to the success he is achieving and talks frankly about how the condition impacts and influences his life, and entrepreneurial spirit. Having left school with no qualifications and little idea of the direction he wanted to take, Steve opens up about the decisions he made and the opportunities that enabled him to set up, scale and grow his international business, including securing significant investment from private equity firm, Gresham House Ventures. In this fascinating episode Steve reveals his ‘why’ and what drives him, balancing business with being a dad, and, and how despite having not gained a single GCSE, his latest achievement, which is an academic one, is one of his proudest. Carl and Steve also delve into what makes an entrepreneur and how to overcome challenges to build businesses and achieve personal and…
People in this episode
Host: Carl Swansbury
Guest: Steve Rawlingson
Topics covered
- ADHD
- entrepreneurship
- resilience
- business growth
- personal development
- renewable energy
Keywords
- ADHD
- entrepreneur
- business success
- renewable energy
- investment
- personal growth
- resilience
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Samuel Knight, Gresham House Ventures
Places: international, UK
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