Leaders Performance Podcast

Eddie Jones, the Head Coach of the England men's rugby union team, is a firm admirer of Liverpool FC's Jürgen Klopp. "I watch Klopp coach and he definitely adds something to his team," says Jones, who regularly cites other leaders whom he finds inspirational both in sport and beyond. "When he's out there at Liverpool's home ground, [the players and supporters] want someone energetic; someone who u...

Performance psychologist Mia Stellberg works with some of the finest teams in esports, having made the transition from Olympic sport back in 2016. She explains that the parallels between both performance domains in terms of the psychological demands are manifold, from the relative immaturity of young performers to the stress and self-esteem issues that come with the constant need to perform and wi...

Major League Baseball remains shutdown but Mark Shapiro spies opportunities for growth and self-improvement right across the Toronto Blue Jays. “We’re going to have to increase our level of open-mindedness and the way we connect with fans,” says the Blue Jays’ President and CEO. “The way we think about our game and the way we actually play and produce our game - the path back is likely to be a lon...

"Even before my playing career concluded, I'd already started my coaching journey," says England Netball Roses Head Coach Jess Thirlby. She continues: "a) I wanted to share my knowledge and b) I really wanted to explore the game; I was fascinated with how many ways you could play the game, coach the game, and go about imparting that knowledge in others and really helping other people to reach thei...

For the best part of a year we have endeavoured to bring you human performance experts across the world discussing best practice, the role of performance data, and what the future of athlete and intelligence management systems might look like. In this episode, we spoke to Tommy Powers, the strength & conditioning consultant at the NHL's Arizona Coyotes. He also heads up his own performance cen...

The Leaders Performance Podcast returns with Andy Friend, the Head Coach of Connacht Rugby. The Canberra native has been coaching for more than two decades across three continents, building the sort of resume that enticed Connacht to charge Friend with sustaining their recent success. Having been forced to retire prematurely due to injury, Friend stayed in the sport as a skills coach and assistant...

Welcome to the fourth in a new series of podcasts from the Leaders Performance Institute and our partners Kinduct. Over the course of this series you'll hear from human performance experts across the world discussing best practice, the role of performance data, and what the future of athlete and intelligence management systems might look like. Episode 1 with Kevin Forbes, Enterprise Product Manage...

The Leaders Performance Podcast brought to you in association with our supporters at "First of all, whether it be with the Tigers or the Rockets, it's always been a food-first approach." The Leaders Performance Podcast has asked Javair Gillett, who serves as the Director of Athletic Performance at the NBA's Houston Rockets, how he works to educate their playing group around their use of supplement...

Eliud Kipchoge ran into the record books in shattering the two-hour barrier for the marathon on 12 October. Beyond the Kenyan’s brilliance, the mastermind of the operation was Sir Dave Brailsford, the Principal of Team Ineos cycling, who served as CEO on the Ineos 1:59 Challenge, spent five months leading a project that proved a triumph of human performance, science and technology. In a Leaders Pe...

“We’ve used tennis as the platform but really this is a book for sports parents, sports coaches. It’s for athletes who really want to understand how they can create a much more successful life as well as be a successful athlete.” Simon Wheatley recently co-authored with Keith Humphrey a book called The Sweet Spot: Unleashing Potential in Tennis Coaches, Players & Parents . It is going down a t...

Burnley manager Sean Dyche | Chelsea manager Emma Hayes | Google's creativity guru Kirk Vallis | Internationally renowned storyteller Clare Muireann Murphy. The latest edition of the Leaders Sport Performance Podcast comes from behind the scenes at Twickenham, the home of England Rugby, and, for the first time this year, the flagship London edition of the Leaders Sport Performance Podcast. On the...

The Leaders Performance Podcast brought to you in association with our supporters at NSF Certified for Sport® “By some we’re viewed as a world leader and by many we’re viewed as a model program – something to base their own programs on.” Jon Coyles, the Vice President of Drug, Health & Safety Programs at Major League Baseball speaks with considerable pride at the status of MLB’s anti-doping pr...

Welcome to the third in a new series of podcasts from the Leaders Performance Institute and our partners Kinduct. Over the course of this series you'll hear from human performance experts across the world discussing best practice, the role of performance data, and what the future of athlete and intelligence management systems might look like. Episode 1 with Kevin Forbes, Enterprise Product Manager...

We start the latest edition of the Leaders Performance podcast by asking author Jonathan Harding about the meaning behind the title of his latest book, Mensch: Beyond the Cones . “It’s the German word for a ‘person’ or ‘human’; it’s also a word in German that can be used out of aggravation or frustration – you’d say ‘mensch: come on!’,” he replies. “It can also mean being a ‘good person’. That’s n...

Welcome to an exclusive behind the scenes episode recorded at the 2019 Leaders Sport Performance Summit at Atlanta’s state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The two-day event between 25 and 26 June attracted Leaders Performance Institute members from far and wide, who heard from esteemed speakers including Mark Shapiro of the Toronto Blue Jays, Nyaka NiiLampti - VP of Wellness and Clinical Service...

Welcome to the second in a new series of podcasts from the Leaders Performance Institute and our partners Kinduct. Over the course of this series you'll hear from human performance experts across the world discussing best practice, the role of performance data, and what the future of athlete and intelligence management systems might look like. Episode 1 with Kevin Forbes, Enterprise Product Manage...

The sense across a day of insight at the City Football Academy in Manchester was of a topic – wellbeing in elite sport – finally reaching a tipping point into the main discourse. Themes covered ranged from developing performance environments and the fulfilment duties of care, to resilience and mental health. Leaders Performance Institute members both gleaned and shared knowledge in equal measure a...

Passion is an important consideration for athletes and coaches alike but how do you harness that passion while also avoiding burnout? That is one of the major questions addressed by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness in their latest book The Passion Paradox . “This book is about learning to control your passions so that it doesn’t control you,” explains Stulberg in this exclusive interview with the L...

Welcome to the first in a new series of podcasts from the Leaders Performance Institute and our partners Kinduct. Over the next few months you'll hear from human performance experts across the world discussing best practice, the role of performance data, and what the future of athlete and intelligence management systems might look like. In this first episode of the Kinduct Athlete Management Serie...

Welcome to the second episode in our new series of podcasts from the Leaders Performance Institute and our partners Keiser. In this second episode, Leaders Performance Institute Editor John Portch caught up with Aaron Wellman. Aaron is the Strength & Conditioning Coach of the New York Giants. His arrival at the Giants saw him overhaul the team’s offseason and in-season training regimens and th...

Welcome to the first in a new series of podcasts from the Leaders Performance Institute and our partners Keiser. Over the next few months you’ll hear from human performance experts from around the world, discussing best practice, the role of technology and what the future of training and rehabilitation might look like. In this first episode we sat down with Jimmy Pritchard, who is Director of Stre...

What was your key takeaway from the Leaders Performance Institute's first visit to the desert? With best practice insights from fields as diverse as World Series Poker, haute cuisine and the US Air Force. It is safe to say there was something on the menu for everyone at the UFC's Las Vegas Performance Institute and we could not have picked a more fitting venue . The curtain came down and members o...

Mark Warburton, the former Manager of Nottingham Forest, Glasgow Rangers and Brentford, is recounting the tale of a recent job interview for the benefit of the Leaders Performance Institute. "I went for this interview and they asked me what my first 30 days in the job would look like," he says incredulously. "Someone had said it to me jokingly two weeks earlier; 'forget the 100 days it's the one m...

"The way the fight is being won is changing - strike rates are up, knockouts are down and results by decision have gone up." So says Duncan French of the UFC and the world of mixed martial arts. The Vice President of Performance at the UFC explains that what it takes to win in the UFC - so comprehensively benchmarked in this recent report - continues to evolve in a sport that has been professional...

Mubarak Malik believes the New York Knicks are just a few steps from achieving something special in the NBA. The Leaders Performance Podcast spoke to the Knicks' Director of Performance ahead of the NBA Global Game in London where the Knicks faced the Washington Wizards at the O2 Arena. The result may not have been to Malik's liking that evening, with the nominal hosts claiming a 101-100 victory,...