The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Today’s episode is focuses on the topic of Mindset and we are joined by Mark Zimmerman to talk about Mindset. Mark is a Mindset coach and works with sporting teams across Australia and his homeland South Africa. His passion is Rugby and he has great energyand some of the things he said that resonated with me were:How he defines mindset as your mental outlook, and how that either helps or hinders your performance in a professional or just a competitive arena.The analogy he uses to explain how your mindset is the software that powers your hardware.And The interesting link between the collective mantra a team might use and their mindset.You can reach Mark at https://otmcoaching.com.au/ If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rhonda Revelle is an American softball coach and former collegiate pitcherAs a player she represented the University of Nebraska and played in the team at the inaugural Women's College World Series. She transitioned into coaching in 1986 and in 1993 became the Head Coach of her  alma mater. She has gone on to record over 1000 career wins across her 31 years as a coach including, 3× Big 12 Conference Tournament wins and one Big Ten Tournament victory. She has also led the team to the NCAA tournament on 20 occasions and 3 times to the Women’s College World Series.Rhonda is a leader with a deep sense of self and connectedness. In this insightful interview some of the highlights for me were:The 3 questions she asks herself everyday: have I helped someone today? Have I worked to make deep connections today? in my responses to others today, did I choose love? But also, how these questions have changed since her coaching style was very publically challenged.The story she shares about the work the team did on Feedback routines, and how they role played having difficult conversations, so they were more prepared for them when they occurred.And Her view that leadership is dealing with shades of gray, and how she works with the teams leadership group to help them develop their decision making skills in this area.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is something a little different, we are joined by Samantha Rockey to look at the ways psychology, teams and high-performance overlap. Sam has just co-authored the book: The Social Brain: The Psychology of successful groups. She is an Associate fellow at the Oxford University said Business school, is one of the co-founds of the consultancy Thompson Harrison, and also co-hosts one of my favourite podcasts, Ghost Lights. Some of the highlights from the interview are Sam's thoughts that: Its through team membership and in particular the teams leader that people experience the culture of the organisations they belong to. How the focus of leaders should be to create other leaders so that they can create a ripple effect throughout the organisation. The research that says 60% to 70% of people are stressed because of the behaviour of their superiors. And the implications of this for you as a leader. And The importance of disrupting your teams by bringing in ideas and stimulus from outside, and making sure that the membership is diverse. Samantha can be reached here.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Tom Reeves.Tom is a rodeo rider who won the USA National High School championship twice. Then from 1985 as a pro rider, he qualified for his first National Rodeo finals, going on to win the event in 2001. He was captain of the 2002 of the USA team for the 2002 Olympic Command Performance Rodeo where they won a silver medal. He retired in 2005, and took up coaching and led Ranger College to the men's Rodeo championship in 2007, a fact even more impressive given that the team had been in hiatus for the 23 years prior.He is a two times winner of ProRodeo Hall of Fame Mentoring Award and in 2009 was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame. He has also founded the Wild Horses Building Champions charity whose focus is the prevention of suicide and drug abuse for local youths through equine therapyIf you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Matt Thornton.Matt is a Brazilian Ju Jitsu coach, who has coached some of the greatest Mixed Martial Arts fighters in the world.He is the founder of the Straight Blast Gym, where he has developed cross training in several martial arts as well as boxing and wrestling.The gym now has over 50 affiliate academies located around the world.Fighters he has coached include Randy Couture, Forrest Griffin, and Dan Henderson while he has also helped develop the careers of coaches like John Kavanagh and Karl Tanswell.He is also a guest lecturer on philosophy and has recently published a book called The Gift of Violence: Practical Knowledge for Surviving and Thriving in a Dangerous World.In this philosophical and insightful interview some of the highlights for me were:•His core philosophy of Aliveness, which emphasizes training on timing, energy and motion through competing to deliver repeated experiments.•The idea that you can't acquire meaningful skill in Brazilian Ju Jitsu without submitting 1000’s of times. And through this approach to testing and learning through failure you achieve progress•And his belief that "frustration in the moment is almost always a useless emotion. So you run into a problem in a fight, or you run into a problem in a match. That's something that we're here to solve. That's a puzzle that will admit to a solution."Here is the link to Matt's new book: https://amzn.asia/d/asci4hFIf you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeff Traylor is an American Football coach.Jeff started his coaching career in 1989 as a High School Assistant coach. He would eventually return to be the Head Coach at his own High School. Gilmer High and would go on to lead the team to 3 state titles. His impact at the school was so profound that they would eventually name the stadium after him. He then took assistant positions at University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Arkansas before being appointed as Head Coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in 2020. In his first year he led them to the best start in the school’s history for a season, winning their first eleven regular season games. They went on to win their first conference championship, a feat they achieved again in 2022.This is one of our favourite interviews we have ever done. Jeff has great authenticity, and some unique ideas around building culture.Some of the highlights were:How the great coaches are self aware enough to know where they are great and where they are. Not. And they hire people to take the place of where they’re weak.The wonderful way he started with his new team and won their confidence by listening and working with their ideas on how to improve the team.How is history as a teacher and coach has taught him about the power of hands on learningAnd How he tries to fire himself from his jobs and hand the responsibility over to his support staff.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is on the topic of High Functioning Teams and we are joined for the discussion with one our past guests the Great Coach Hugh McCutcheon who has just written a book called Championship BehavioursHugh led the USA men's team to an Olympic Gold in 2008 and the USA women in 2012 and is presently an Assistant Athletics Director at the University of MinnesotaIf you are want to improve your own leadership skills, then you can reach Paul and another member of the team Grant, at Elevated Leadership where we coach you towards the leader you aspire to be.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Peter Eriksson .Peter is an Athletics coach who was formerly the head coach of the Olympic and Paralympic programs for both British Athletics and Athletics Canada.He started coaching in the early 80’s after a reaching the world championships as a Speed Skater for his native Sweden.Under his leadership as Performance Director and Head Coach, the nations that he has worked with has generated over 240 medals at major International Competitions.He is also the most successful Canadian Athletics coach in modern history.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Gareth Taylor.Gareth played as a professional football player for 18 seasons, playing for Bristol Rovers, Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Burnley and Nottingham Forest among others teams.He retired in 2011 and started coaching youth teams at Manchester City. After 8 years in the City Academy, he was appointed Head Coach of the Women’s team and led them to a FA Cup title in 2020 and the League Cup title in 2022.Some of the key highlights of the interview for me were:How he defines his purpose on this planet as helping people; and how understanding this has helped him focus his energies and life.The importance of their review process, which they complete using a multi-disciplinary team, in order to drive improved performance on the pitch.And the importance of risk taking in the culture at Man City and how he goes about empowering people to do this.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Doug Maclean.Doug is a former Ice Hockey Head Coach, GM, and sportscaster.His coaching career started in his hometown of Summerside in 1977 with High School teams. By 1990 he had his first professional job leading the Baltimore Skipjacks.A successful stint there, saw him move to the Detroit Red Wings as an assistant coach, and ultimately to the Head Coach role at the Florida Panthers in 1995. In his first season he led them to the Stanley Cup playoffs.In ‘98 he moved to the Columbus Bluejackets as the GM and commenced the second phase of his career. Then in 2008 he rounded out his career in professional hockey by moving into broadcasting.Doug is a great story teller and some of the highlights of our discussion were;•How one of the most rewarding experiences of his life was starting a franchise from scratch.•His view on being direct and that you can never be too honest, even though he once made a NHL player cry.•And , how in a healthy team culture, players want to get to practice and they care about doing their bit for the group.This was a wonderful conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast we discuss the Mens and Womens Ashes with Michelle Goszko and John Buchanan and in particular the way Leadership has influenced both teams. If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast is on the topic of Competitive excellence, and we are joined for the discussion with one our past guests the Great Coach Hugh McCutcheon who has just written a book called Championship Behaviours. Hugh played Volleyball for New Zealand national Junior and Senior teams before transitioning into coaching. In 2005 he was appointed as Head Coach of the USA mens team who went to win the Gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. Then in 2008 he was appointed coach of the USA women’s team, and led them to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics. Some of the key highlights of our discussion are: How a focus on competitive excellence helps you build a life of achievement, and not solely a focus on the winning achievements. His core philosophy of preparing your self to be at your best when the best is needed. And How you honour your commitment to your own life by trying to the best you can be, and this requires you to look being just performing better than your competitors. Instead it requires you to use use your competitors to improve your own performance. If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is rowing’s, Paul Thompson.Paul started coaching in his early 20’s when a hand injury impacted his ability to compete as a rower. He’s coached at the last 8 Olympic Games leading teams from Australia, Britain and China, and at each of these games his teams have won medals. He coached the team of Kate Slatter and Megan Still to Australia's first women's Olympic rowing gold at Atlanta 1996. In 2004, he became Great Britain's head coach for the Women and Lightweights squad, and has led the team to win 45 medals at the World Championships including 17 gold medals. While over the Beijing, London and Rio Olympics, the squad won 11 medals including 5 gold. Then at 2021 Tokyo Olympics he led the Chinese women’s quad to Gold.He has also authored 2 books on Rowing and in 2013 was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).Paul is the type of person who you feel instantly at ease with. The long arc of his career has given him deep experience with the high and lows of life in elite sport and human endeavor, and this shines through in the way he talks about life and leadership.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast is on the topic of Energy amd we are joined for the discussion by Dr Gavin Weeks.Gavin is a Doctor of Psychology, an Associate Fellow at Oxford Said Business School and a Partner at the consultancy Thompson Harrison.Gavin can be reached through his company's website: ⁠https://www.thompsonharrison.com/⁠If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Ben Davison.Ben is British boxing coach.At just 29 years of age, he is an outlier in the world of Boxing coaches, who have often toil away for decades before experiencing the type of success Ben has enjoyed.In 2017 he joined up with Tyson Fury and helped him return to the ring and set out on the journey that would ultimately see him claim the WBC Heavyweight championship.Ben has gone on to work with other world champions including Billy Joe Saunders the undisputed world champions Josh Taylor, Devin Haney, and Leigh Wood.Some of the highlights from the interview include:How his ability to view each flight as if it is a blank canvas, more than makes up for his lack of experience as an actual boxer.How he tries to look beyond the movement of the fighters to understand their decision making.How he drives himself to match the commitment that that drives the physical, emotional and mental preparation of his fighters.And the importance of managing your ego so that you don’t take unnecessary risk in the ring.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike is a renowned basketball coach who is has led teams in US College, the NBA and in Australia.He started as a College Assistant in 1980 before becoming the Head Coach of Cal Lutheran in 1989. In 1994 he moved to Australia and led the Adelaide 36ers in the |National League before returning to the USA in 1997 to lead Metro State. That team went on to win National Championships in 2000 and 2002. In 2006 he went to the NBA for the first time as an Assistant at Denver, before returning to University of Arizona as Head Coach. In 2011 he was chosen by Michal Jordan to lead the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA. Then in 2020, Mike returned to the NBA as an Assistant Coach with Milwaukee Bucks and was with them then they defeated the Phoenix Suns to win their first NBA Championship in 2021.In this terrific interview some of the key highlights were:•The importance of a leader balancing inclusivity with also moving to a position of clarity where they can see broadly and make decisions for the benefit of the group.•His belief that the word perfection is dangerous because it is so volatile, and that the quest for perfect practice just makes people miserable.•How vulnerability is endearing to the people you lead.•And the wonderful quote he shares, that a master teacher knows the outcome before she or he starts, the good teacher kind of knows the outcome.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For today’s podcast we have caught up with Australian cricket coach John Buchanan to get his views on the first 2 of the Ashes Tests.If you would like to learn more, visit our website: https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/ where we have exclusive content that can be searched by sport, coach or topic area, for example culture, communication or mental skills. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is on the topic of Championship Habits, and we are joined for the discussion by Allister McCaw, who has just written a terrific new book called Habits that Make a Champion.Allister is that rare person who excels across disciplines and industries. In addition to being an author who has sold over 300,000 books, his podcast ranks in the top 1% in the world, and for the last 25 years he has also consulted and worked with Olympic Gold Medalists, Grand Slam Champions, Fortune 500 companies, NCAA Colleges, and Professional sports teams. And you will hear him mention some of the these in this terrific interview.Allister's book can be found here: Habits that Make a Champion.And his twitter feed: Allistair McCawIf you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is focuses on the topic of Legacy.We are joined for the conversation by James Kerr the author of the book, Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life. James’ book is one of the most referenced by our interview guests, it has over 4000 5 star review on Amazon UK alone. He is a consultant to some of the world’s top sporting and business organisations. And in this interview, he takes us inside his work with these groups and how they go about unlocking high performance.Some of his ideas that resonated deeply with us were:His belief that people will rise to a challenge if it's their challenge, and the quite amazing story he shares to illustrate this about Leicester winning the FA cup in England.His view that the story you tell yourself becomes the story that others end up telling about you. And how you can use to set up a team culture.And How the culture at the All Blacks New Zealand Rugby team is about stabbing people in the belly not the back.This is the type of fireside chat that stays with you for a long, long time afterwards.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Andrea Anastasi.Andrea played volleyball for Italy 141 times, and was part of the team that won the 1990 World Championship. He transitioned in to coaching in 1994, and in 1999 led the Italian team to gold medals at 2 European Championships, the World League, as well as a Bronze at the 2000 Olympics. In 2007 he took over the Spanish National team and famously led them to the 2007 European Championship. He then moved on to coach the Polish national team and in 2011 led the team to their first ever medal in the World League.He has also coached teams to National Championships in Italy and Poland, and is presently the head coach of the Belgian National Team. Andrea is a coach with a global perspective and as you will hear in this interview speaks multiple languages that allows him to communicate with his very international teams. What I found most interesting, and unique, in this interview was the process Andrea goes through when he joins a new team in a new country.I think anyone who is moving in to a new culture in either a team or new company will find this interesting and helpful. I also enjoyed the way Andrea talks about using body language to communicate across cultures and again I think this applicable for anyone who is communicating across age or demographic groups. And finally, the importance he places on listening when it comes to effective leadership.Andrea was both a champion player and coach, and this combined with his empathetic style made for a terrific interview.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.