The High Performance Podcast

In this retrospective episode to mark Mental Health Awareness week, Jake and Damian look back on some of the conversations they've had with guests about overcoming struggles with their mental health. Featuring a sneak preview of an upcoming episode with Gary Barlow, there are also moments from Mark Cavendish, Courtney Black and Danny Cipriani. Listen to the full episodes: Danny Cipriani - https://...

Jax Jones, known privately as Timucin Lam, is a DJ, songwriter and record producer. He rose to fame in 2014 and since then has sold over 35 million records, with 4 billion streams. For the first time, he opens up to Jake and Damian about how his turbulent childhood, challenging family relationships and immense pressure to succeed from a young age has shaped him: “Music was a way out. It was a way...

We are so excited to invite you to an Audience with All Blacks legend Dan Carter at Hackney Empire on June 14th 2023. The event will be a live podcast with Jake, Damian and Dan, followed by an audience Q&A. Tickets go on general sale today (Friday 11th of May) at 10am. All tickets include a signed copy of Dan Carter's new book - THE ART OF WINNING. To announce this special event, Jake shares some...

Kieran Trippier is the current captain of Newcastle United and is widely regarded as one of the best English right backs of his generation. As well as winning the La Liga title with Athletico Madrid, Kieran reached the Champions League final with Spurs and scored the opening goal for England in the 2018 World Cup semi-final against Croatia. He has played under some of the finest managers in the ga...

In this episode we look back upon some of the guests whose dedication to High Performance has had a detrimental effect on other elements of their lives. Jake and Damian explore the difficulties associated with going 'all in', while reliving moments from Jill Scott, Brent Hoberman, Stephen Hendry and Jonny Wilkinson. Listen to their full episodes here: Jill Scott: https://pod.fo/e/17147d Brent Hobe...

In this episode, Jake has an honest chat about being out of your comfort zone. The High Performance Podcast is currently touring the UK and although this is extremely exciting, it can bring about lots of new challenges. For Jake, one of the challenges is public speaking to thousands of people.  He opens up about the pressures of performing on stage, making sure the audience enjoy themselves a...

Lord Bilimoria is a businessman and life peer in the House of Lords. Founding Cobra Beer in 1989, in this interview Lord Bilimoria distils decades of business experience into valuable lessons. After attending university at 16, Lord Bilimora came to the UK on a scholarship at 18. It was then he identified a space in the market for Cobra Beer, inspired by his youth in India. In this episode, they di...

These bitesize episodes focus on the greatest lessons we’ve learnt from the guests we've had on the podcast. In this episode Jake and Damian reflect back their conversation with Paralympian, Neil Fachie. This episode was recorded via Zoom during the pandemic, Jake and Damian discuss how this set up sometimes led to more open and honest conversations - this was definitely true in the case of Neil....

Guenther Steiner is a renowned motorsport engineer and team manager, best known for his current position as the Haas Formula One Team Principal. With over 30 years working in motorsport, Guenther is highly admired throughout the community and has become a leading figure in popular Netflix series, ‘Drive to Survive’. In this episode, he describes how he found his way to a career in racing, his appr...

“What advice would you give your younger self?” Since the beginning of the podcast, Jake and Damian have asked this question in almost every conversation as a way of finding out what a high performance life has taught the interviewee. In this episode, they reflect on why this question is important, what they’ve learned from asking it, and review a few of their favourites from Rio Ferdinand, Steven...

Phil Giles is the current Director of Football at Brentford Football Club, responsible for overseeing player recruitment, scouting and youth development. With over a decade of experience at Brentford, Phil shares how to have honest conversations with staff and players, what it means to be a good Director and how to share bad news with a team, among much more. In this episode, Phil shares the thing...

In this special bonus episode in partnership with Get Into Teaching, Jake chats to Kit Brown, a primary school teacher and a semi-professional footballer. Kit has accumulated over 1 million social media followers sharing his passion for teaching and education. He shares the rewards of being a teacher and how the small wins make the hard work worthwhile. Jake and Kit discuss the skills he has gaine...

Brent Hoberman is an entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded lastminute.com and made.com, both of which went on to be valued at $1 billion dollars. Being born in South Africa, from a Jewish family and moving to England to attend boarding school, Brent identifies being an immigrant and an outsider as a driving force in his work. He shares with Jake and Damian how he used his misfit status to creat...

In this special episode, Ikigai expert Hector Garcia joins Jake and Damian to discuss how utilising Ikigai will get you closer to finding your purpose.  Ikigai is a Japanese word that means ‘reason for being’. Hector explains to Jake and Damian how people can find their Ikigai and the actions you can take to change your life once you find it. They reflect on previous podcast guests and see ho...

Jill Scott is a former professional football player, namely playing for Everton and Manchester City. She was part of the winning team at Euro 2022 and has represented England in the Olympics multiple times. Jill is also known as ‘Queen of the Jungle’ after winning ‘I’m a Celeb Get Me Out of Here’ in 2022. In this episode, Jill, Jake and Damian discuss what Jill has learnt from an almost 20 year pr...

These bitesize episodes focus on the greatest lessons we’ve learnt from the guests we've had on the podcast. In this episode Jake returns to an episode that has shaped his view of high performance and changed his mindset for the better. This guest was Billy Monger. Billy was just 17 when he lost both legs in a life-changing crash that took place during a Formula 4 race.  This bitesize clip ex...

Jake and Damian reflect on their key-takeaways from the guest that joined the podcast in March. They summarise each episode from the previous month, covering the key stories and greatest lessons from each guest. What was Jake’s biggest takeaway? How will Damian be using these learnings in his everyday life?  In this wrap-up they discuss the lessons on post-traumatic growth from Stephanie Shir...

Keir Starmer is the current Leader of the Labour Party. A self-described “undersharer”, Keir takes this opportunity with Jake and Damian to open up about his childhood, his leadership style and what it’s really like to be the Leader of the Opposition. As a big football fan, Keir shares what he has learnt from watching Arsenal play and why he has developed such a love for the game. Discussing his c...

In this special bonus episode in partnership with Get Into Teaching, Jake is joined by Ed Haslam Whiston. Ed is the Trust Director of Sporting Excellence of the Laurus Trust he oversees the 'electives programme' Trust wide which is their extra-curricular initiative to make sure 100% of KS3 students participate in sport or physical activity outside of lessons, securing the only official partne...

Molly McCann, also known as Meatball Molly, is a mixed martial artist, currently competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In this open and honest interview, Molly shares stories from her turbulent childhood, including her mum's struggle with addiction. Her mum was able to recover from addiction, get qualifications and turn her life around - Molly shares the immensely positive impact this h...

To celebrate Mother’s Day, Jake and Damian sat down with Jake’s mum, Liz Humphrey, to chat about Jake’s upbringing and her parenting advice, among much more. Jake shares his experiences being the victim of bullying whilst at school, and Liz explores how she dealt with this challenging time as a parent and as a teacher. She offers advice that she would pass onto the next generation of parents, incl...

Ryan Mason is currently a first team football coach at Tottenham Hotspur FC and was the youngest person ever to manage a Premier League football match at 29. Ryan played football professionally until a life changing skull injury, which he suffered during a match and led to 48 staples in his skull. In this episode they discuss the injury and the struggles that took place in the following months. He...

“What are your three non-negotiables?” This is the question Jake and Damian ask at the end of every conversation they’ve had on the podcast. No two answers have been the same. In this episode, Jake and Damian reflect on the many varied non-negotiables from a wide range of guests including Eddie Howe, Owen O’Kane and Courntey Black.  They discuss their own non-negotiables and how they have evo...

To mark International Women's Day, we hear from GP, writer and podcaster, Nishma Manek who describes the struggles and successes of working within the NHS, and the key learnings she's taken from her career so far. Check out Nishma's podcast 'The Next GenCast' on all podcast platforms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dame Stephanie Shirley is a businesswoman, technology pioneer and philanthropist. Currently at the age of 89, Stephanie has had a long career championing women in the workplace and new forms of technology, including being part of the team that programmed Concorde’s black box flight recorder. After being born in Germany, Stephanie was brought over to the UK on the Kindertransport during the WWII an...