The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Our Great Coach on this episode is Simon Jones.Simon is a cycling coach who started working with British cycling in the mid 1990’s.In 1998 he was appointed the British National Track Endurance Coach and then in 2003 he was promoted to the Head Coach role of British Cycling. During this period he coached Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish. And in 2004, 2005 and 2007 the team came top of the medal tally at the Track Cycling World Championships.In 2007 he moved to the Western Australian Institute of Sport in coaching roles for racing sports.This then led him to a coaching and innovation role with Team Sky under Sir David Brailsford in 2014, and 2 victories in the Tour De France, in 2015 and 2016.And from there to the top role at Australian Cycling as the Performance Director from 2017 to 2021.Simon puts athletes at the very centre of his coaching approach. He believes that attention to detail and a focus on, in his words, planning not the plan, help the cyclist unlock their potential and adjust accordingly in a complex world.He believes in the human ability to synthesize information, summarize, find patterns and adjust and in this this interview, recorded before the Tokyo Olympic Games, you will hear him talk about:His description of working with Sir David Brailsford at team sky, and how they applied a focus on marginal gains to win the tour de France.How on race day you have to be mindful of not having a negative impact as a coach, and so you need to stand back and give the athlete space.And his view that legacy is for your ego, and so he doesn’t focus on it, but instead tries to just do his job and enjoy the role.This was an enjoyable interview with a coach who believes in empowerment and I hope you enjoy it as much as Jim and I 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.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Jon Rudd.Jon started coaching swimmers in 1989 and is presently the National Performance Director for Swim Ireland.Along the way he has coached on international teams for seven different nations - Great Britain, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Lithuania, Turkey & Kenya at World and Continental Championships events.He is also the first and only swimming coach worldwide to achieve the International Coaching ‘Grand Slam’; which coaching at least one athlete to all 14 major international gold medals at both senior and junior levels.He has also helped over 30 different athletes break 100 British and English Senior, Junior & Youth records.Jon is one of those rare breed of coaches who is able to bring both the science and art of high performance into his philosophy in equal measure. He is passionate about success, and yet pragmatic enough to know that, in his words,coach with integrity knows that they have a duty to protect and honor an athlete's future in the sport.Some of the key highlights from our discussion included:His philosophy that the journey is always more honorable than the outcome of the journey.How athletes have to allow all pieces of their jigsaw to be put on the table before you can help them.And The F1 car analogy he uses to describe the difference with high performance athletes, and how they are human beings with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, and not just simply human doings.This was a wonderful conversation, that had me smiling all the way through 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.

On this episode 9 Great Coaches talk about Listening and how they use it build trust and connect with their 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.

Our Great Coach on this episode is John WoodenCoach Wooden was an American basketball coach who led the UCLA Bruins to 10 NCAA Championships, including a record 7 titles in a row.Over a 29 year coaching career, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games, and he was voted coach of the year on 7 occasions. As a player he was names a collegiate All American on 3 occassions and was the first person to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and coach.He is one of the most revered coaches in history, and is by far the coach mentioned most by the Great Coaches we have interviewed. John Wooden wrote 13 books on coaching and leadership; but it is his opus from 2005, the Pyramid of Success through which he has become internationally recognized. In that book he lays out his key principles to leadership and success in life.Unfortunately Coach Wooden passed away in 2010 at the age of 99. However he left so much rich material behind that we are going to recreate a posthumous interview with him.Much of the footage of him is copyrighted and so not able to be reproduced without a lot of cost and bureaucracy , so I have ordered his words around key coaching and leadership themes hired an actor to read those words. And that is what you will be listening to today.I used multiple books to find the words you will hear:Coach Wooden's Pyramid of SuccessWooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the CourtWooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning OrganizationThe Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and LeadershipIf 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 episode is on the topic of Self Doubt and how the Great Coaches help their athletes and themselves overcome it.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 James Wade.James is a retired American basketball player and now Coach.He played for 13 years as a professional in France, Spain, Czech Republic and Belgium. After retiring he stepped into coaching eventually working as an Assistant in Russia and in the WNBA with Minnesota and San Antonio.He became head coach of the Chicago Sky in the WNBA in 2018, and went on to lead them to their first championship in 2021. He was also voted the 2019 WNBA coach of the year.James is a coach with a strong sense of purpose; from humble beginnings his sense of curiosity has taken him all over the world and ignited his drive to learn, evolve and in his words, “be a role model for the black or minority kid that feels different.”He is authentic in the way he communicates and connects with people, and this allows him to find the right balance between applying the necessary pressure to help people perform; while also being mindful of their overall wellbeing.James and I spoke before Christmas 2021, he was back in France where he lives, and the time and space away from the season in the USA gave him time to reflect, and added to the depth of the discussion.Some of this parts of our chat that stayed with me afterwards wereHis twin focus on the values of accountability and communication, and he uses this to understand each player as a human.The role that sacrifice has played in his life, and how he uses it priorities collective over individual happiness.And the need to identify things that are important to winning, building standards around those things, and not settling when they are not met, but at the same time not fighting for every little detail.This was a terrific conversation; fueled by a little Christmas spirit, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.And just before we go to the interview, If you're a first time listener, you can check out our library of interviews with other great coaches at our website; the greatcoachespodcast.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.

This episode is on the topic of Trust and how the Great Coaches view it as the currency that makes the team work.  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 thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.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 Helene Wilson.Helene is a New Zealand Netball coach.She started coaching in her teens and progressed to coaching the New Zealand Secondary Schools team to wins over Australia and leading the Northern Zone under 23s to a national title.She went on to work High Performance Sport NZ and was involved in the Rugby 7’s and Hockey teams. And then in 2017 she was appointed coach of the Northern Mystics and in 2021 the team goes on to win the National Premiership.In 2022 she was then appointed to a role at High Performance Sport NZ to help grow female coaches and leaders across all sports.Helene has terrific energy, and some hard fought wisdom that she shares on this episode.Just a few of the many highlights areThe importance of mentors to help you reflect and process the information you are receivingAnd, that if you don't have a process for self-reflecting, then you're not going to grow your awareness around what you're doing as a coachHow a coach doesn't need to be able to do what they're coaching, but they need to understand all the different parts and the dynamics of putting a performance togetherAnd that Great Coaches are not afraid to admit if they've made mistakes, as they're not afraid to speak the truthHelene is an inspiring leader, making a difference in peoples lives and I hope you enjoy this 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.

This episode is on the topic of Care and how the Great Coaches use it in their approach to Leadership, and it features audio quotes from 13 Great Coaches.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 Damien Hardwick.Damien is an Australian rules football coach and former player.As a player, he played 207 games for Essendon and Port Adelaide, winning premierships with each club in 2000 and 2004 respectively.He was appointed to his first head coach role in 2010 with Richmond; and led them to premierships in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He is now the longest tenured coach in the clubs 136 year history.In 2017 he voted Coach of the Year by his peers. And is also a member of a small and elite group of people who have both played in and coached an AFL premiership.Damien’s journey as a coach has been documented in books and in documentary’s, and in this interview he takes us through the key inflection points that led to him changing his philosophy, and then ultimately leading his team to 3 premierships.It’s a terrific story, there are so many highlights and here are just a few that stayed with afterwards:His descriptions of the effort that went into building the championship environment that eventually led to 3 premierships.How it was a leadership course on Authenticity at Harvard that led him to change his style, and ultimately unlock improved performance in the team.And the use of the triple H framework: hero, hardship and highlight to encourage his team to become more open and vulnerable with each other; and how this deeper level of connection translated into improved 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.