Groupe Dynamite has many employees who constantly push their limits, both at work and in their personal lives. Stephane Parsons, Director, Total Rewards, is one of these employees, distinguishing himself by his desire to constantly beat his best performance. For him, it’s never good enough! Ex judo champion and now a triple Ironman, Stephane has truly found a perfect fit with GD, having spent 11 years working at the heart of a company where an emphasis on performance is omnipresent.
Q1: Which qualities that distinguish you at GD would make all the difference during a race? Persistance and discipline.
Q2: Is the preparation for an Ironman competition mostly mental or physical? It’s both because when your body starts to give up (which is inevitable), your head takes over and your thoughts push you to continue.
Q3: What is your biggest challenge? Juggling work, 9 hours of training each week, and family… it’s quite the challenge!
Q4: How do you face adversity? At work, I try to get a global sense of things and to take a step back with regard to the situation at hand in order to make the best decision. As an athlete, you must accept the fact that you will have to face many situations: changing weather conditions, physical pain, mechanical problems, etc. You have no choice but to adapt if you want to reach the finish line.
Q5: What are your goals for the future? At work, I’d like to continue with my development while creating and implementing programs that would benefit the company. In terms of sports, I think I have reached the pinnacle!
Q6: What are you most proud of? At work, I’m proud of my team and all the work we accomplish together on a daily basis. Above all, I’m most proud of being able to show my two kids that it’s possible to accomplish anything you want in life, as long as you put all the necessary effort into it.
Q7: After three Ironman competitions, are you ready to leave the sport? I recently asked myself, “Are you ready to sit out the next competition, to skip your turn and not be part of the celebrations?” To this day, my answer is “no.”
Stephane participated in the Mont-Tremblant Ironman competition on August 21st, which consisted of 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of biking, and 42.2 km of running, which he completed in 12:46:17.
Mini Survey
- Your mentor/person who inspires you: Terry Fox
- One place in Montreal where we would run into you: Mont-Tremblant! 🙂
- Your favourite clothing item/accessory: Jeans, t-shirt and a baseball cap
- Your style icon: Paul Walker
- Your daily ritual: Hugging my kids every morning before I leave for work
- Your dream destination:Scandinavian countries: Finland, Sweden
- The word you use most often:“Go go go”
- In high school, you dreamt of becoming…an F1 driver
- To take your mind off of things, you… work on some renovation projects
- Your guilty pleasure: a few not-so-manly songs on my girlfriend’s iPhone