Leaders Performance Podcast

What role does science have in creating great art? This is the question that the Centre for Performance [CPS] Science at the Royal College of Music [RCM] continually attempts to answer and it was with this in mind that we sat down with Aaron Williamon, Professor of Performance Science at the RCM, for the latest edition of the Leaders Performance Podcast. Williamon, who spoke onstage at the 2018 Le...

That's a wrap for the latest Leaders Sport Performance Summit at London's Kia Oval. The great and the good of world sport and performance gathered in south London to share best practice insights behind leadership and culture, data & analytics as well as human performance. Weaving in and out of the corridors were the Leaders Performance Institute's David Cushnan and James Emmett, who joined us...

Mike Brey, the Head Coach of the Notre Dame men's basketball team, remembers the time a player came into his office and closed the door. Most of the time, he says, a player who shuts the door is about to divulge some misdemeanour from the night before. Not this time. "This player said, 'Coach, I really think you're selling us short' - he flat out called me out," recalled Brey onstage at the 2017 L...

"I'd drawn out a plan of how I was going to be doing things but in reality it's been very different - I've adapted." Eric Ernst joined Formula E as its Head of Technology in March and soon had to throw his plans out of the window. He says: "Things I thought would be straightforward are really hard and things that I thought would be impossible have already been done." It has been a challenge but on...

"So many times I crossed the finish line before I knew I'd won." Paul McGinley is reflecting on his illustrious career on golf's European Tour which reached its zenith when he led Team Europe to victory in the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. That feat alone was enough to hold an audience of successful business leaders in rapt attention at the 2015 Leaders Sport Business Summit in New York. Over the...

The Philadelphia Eagles' EVP of Football Operations Howie Roseman beamed with pride in February as he watched his team lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end of Super Bowl LII. It marked the culmination of 18 years working in the Eagles front office but this Thursday, as Philadelphia hosts the Atlanta Falcons in this season's curtain-raiser, the team goes again. No doubt the foundations have be...

"The hardest thing as a coach is to watch and say nothing," says Gareth Townsend. Surrey County Cricket Club's Academy Director oversees one of the finest youth development pathways in English sport and has got used to his alumni filling the ranks of the England men's national team. That said, he has learnt how to speak and when to speak with the youngsters that fill the academy from the age of ni...

"I was like a headless chicken at first," says Neil Black. The Performance Director of British Athletics is reflecting on his first days in a role he took in 2012 shortly after Team GB enjoyed a hugely successful Olympic and Paralympic Games on home soil in London. The nation would proceed to accrue even more medals at the 2016 Games in Rio, with the track & field team picking up an additional...

“It is important to learn the ‘end state’ for the coach,” says Shaun Huls. “It is not about my numbers.” The Director of High Performance at the Philadelphia Eagles, winners of Super Bowl LII, was speaking onstage at the 2016 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in New York. Huls sat alongside Phil Coles, who is the Head of the Athletic Department at the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, as they delved into th...

If you worry about your efforts to deliver actionable feedback in a manner that resonates with your athletes then you are not alone. Scott Hann ran us through his work coaching double Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Max Whitlock at the 2016 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London. He was joined onstage by Jo Cole, the Head of Strings at the Royal Academy of Music, to compare and contrast wit...

  “You can see the eyes light up when people see similar challenges elsewhere,” says Alex Hill, Co-Founder & Director, Centre for High Performance. Hill was speaking at the conclusion of the Leaders Meet: Human Performance summit at Williams F1 HQ last week where the great and the good of the Leaders Performance Institute gathered to hear insights from worlds as diverse as motorsport and neuro...

“When an athlete transfers into the world beyond sport, they’re stepping out of the bubble; you have your life mapped out for you… athletes are transferring to a world where that doesn’t happen.” And with that observation Rob Vickerman, the ex-captain of England Sevens and a Premiership Fifteens player of 11 years, summed up the problem that faces all retiring athletes. Retirement is just one of t...

What are some of the external influences that can affect your decision-making? This was the question at the heart of this exploration of risk mitigation, suitable preparation, and approaches to failure, which went down a treat at the 2016 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in New York. Speaking that day were the former US Air Force Pararescueman Douglas Kechijian and New York Times-bestselling autho...

The finest Leaders panels bring together the great and the good from sport and beyond and this session from the 2015 Leaders Performance Summit in London was a classic of the genre. Moderated by Professor Vincent Walsh, England and Saracens full-back Alex Goode told the tale of decision-making from the sporting angle and was complemented by Wing Commander Martin Higgins, head of the RAF’s Red Arro...

  What goes on behind the scenes at one of English football’s best youth academies? Despite the struggles of the first team this Premier League season, Southampton FC are widely admired for their investment in youth development and not only is their first team specked with self-produced talent but their handiwork is evident across the English top flight as well as the England men’s national team a...

Chris Weidman and Ray Longo were warmly received by the auditorium when they turned up at the 2015 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in New York. At the time, Weidman was the unbeaten reigning UFC middleweight world champion – his coach Longo’s second UFC champion, following as he did in the footsteps of Matt Serra. Weidman’s fortunes have fluctuated since that afternoon at the Times Center in Manh...

The Leaders Performance Podcast touched down this week with a cargo hold full of insight from the recent Leaders Sports Performance Summit in LA on 16th and 17th March. Want to understand the mindset of a chess Grand Master? Ever considered the notion of 'open vulnerability' when it comes to your athletes? Do you have your finger on the pulse when it comes to trends to look out for the performance...

“You need to be yourself – with skill.” Andy Flower borrowed that phrase from the lexicon of leadership consultants Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones but here, onstage at the 2014 Leaders Sport Performance in London, he delved far deeper into his own approach to authenticity. Flower, who at the time had just finished a highly successful stint as Head Coach of the England men’s cricket team, was joine...

It’s good to talk. That is the premise behind the Rugby Players’ Association’s (RPA) Lift The Weight campaign. Launched in February 2017 to help fight the stigma surrounding mental health issues, Lift The Weight promotes the idea that it is OK to not be OK; that if a player has a mental health problem there is help available – and it is almost certain that your fellow professionals will have exper...

“High performers are in extraordinary situations but often they are ordinary people and that transition does certain things,” says forensic psychiatrist Ceri Evans. At the 2014 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London, Evans, a former soccer player who has worked with the World Cup-winning New Zealand All Blacks and now works with English Premier League club Arsenal, was joined onstage by David...

The Surrey County Cricket Club duo were the latest guests on the Leaders Performance Podcast. Gareth Batty is a veteran spin bowler with over 500 county appearances to his name who has also represented England on a number of occasions. Arun Harinath is a top-order batsman with over ten years’ experience playing at the top level. Both men are starting to think about their post-playing careers. Join...

Why second-in-command is sometimes best. The mere mention of consiglieri conjures up images of The Godfather but beyond Hollywood the roles of the assistants – the No2s – are essential to any leader and organisation. This formed the central tenet of Richard Hytner’s 2015 book Consiglieri: Leading From the Shadows , which he discussed onstage at the 2015 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London....

What does a Director of Player Personnel actually do in the NBA? Austin Ainge, who can point to that job title in his role at the Boston Celtics, is unsure. It differs from team to team but what Ainge knows for sure is that he is tasked with assembling the roster and keeping tabs on a database of hundreds of players across the globe. He is also one of the few performance staff working in elite spo...

What separates the best from the rest in sport? Neuroscience tells us that it is elite athletes’ anticipation and decision-making skills. Strength & conditioning, medicine, and nutrition may be staples of performance set-ups these days but the penny is beginning to drop when it comes to the importance of cognitive skills. For the latest edition of the Leaders Performance Podcast, we spoke to s...

Where and how does Sir Dave Brailsford define the thin line between good and great? How do you overcome imposter syndrome? Why should you learn to cherish nerves? What have psychopaths got to do with elite sporting performance? All these questions and more are answered in the latest instalment of the Leaders Performance Podcast, which features a series of interviews recorded backstage at the Leade...