Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

The Four Cs with Dell McGee

This week we were joined by American Football Coach Dell McGee, who shared with us the concept of the ‘4 Cs’ which define the culture of his team at Georgia State: Connection, Commitment, Competitiveness , and Composure. He also speaks about the power of vulnerability, and the necessary role it plays in shaping that vital commitment pillar.

We also discuss purpose, and how a clear understanding of it acts as a unifying force across the team, driving effort. Dell also explains how this understanding of the purpose helps coaching staff to motivate their athletes, leading them to push the right buttons.

Finally, I think there’s a lot to be learned from what Dell says about navigating 'hostile times’; he stresses the importance of getting neither too high nor too low — a great reminder to all of us to focus on the way we react, respond, and display our emotions.

Make sure to catch the full interview now, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Questions For Reflection

• What are the pillars which define your team’s culture?

• What are the purposes that drive the people in your team?

• How well are you able to regulate emotional ups and downs during tough times?

This Week’s Guest

Dell McGee | Copyright: Georgia State

Dell McGee is an American Football Coach.

As a player, Dell played for the college powerhouse that is Auburn before embarking on a professional career that included stints with the Arizona Cardinals and the Detroit Lions. Upon his retirement, he started coaching as an assistant at the High School level, eventually becoming a High School Head Coach and leading his team to win the 2007 state championship.

From there, Dell moved into coaching University teams, eventually going on to join the Georgia Bulldogs as their Run Game Coordinator and Running Backs Coach under Kirby Smart.

After eight years with the Bulldogs (helping them to national championships in 2021 and 2022), Dell was announced as the Head Coach of Georgia State in 2024.

On Great Teamwork

We also released another special episode last week, ‘On Great Teamwork’.

Running a successful team where people work together efficiently and effectively is something that a lot of leaders find daunting, so for this episode we were joined by two Great Coaches — Lisa Alexander and John Kessel — to explore how they managed it, and to identify the practices and ideas that can help all of us to encourage great teamwork.

One highlight from the conversation was hearing Lisa describe her experience of building teamwork through a focus on the mechanics and dynamics of the people involved. This, she tells us, is underpinned with good conversations which lead to improved connection and — ultimately — a sense of shared team identity, which she describes as “Sisters in Arms”.

Another highlight was John’s comments on trying to catch people ‘being good’. John is someone who has experience in both the athletic and corporate worlds, and from that experience he has realised that this emphasis on promoting and identifying good work is considerably lacking in the typical workplace.

This was a fantastic discussion, and I hope that it will help you with your own team going forward.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

New Club Success

This great article looks at the story of San Diego FC, Major League Soccer’s newest club.

Despite being the fresh faces on the pitch, San Diego FC have been making waves within the MLS Western Conference, and this is largely due to their origins as a part of the Right to Dream project — an initiative that brings together players from all backgrounds and genders to help them reach their playing dreams.

A fantastic short read that will no doubt be of interest to those of you looking to hit the ground running with new teams or groups.

San Diego FC: How new MLS franchise are creating history

San Diego FC may be a new MLS franchise, but they are making history built on the principles of the Right to Dream project.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cqx3zvdywn9o

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Communicating Honestly with Jamilon Mülders

This week’s guest, Jamilon Mülders, is a successful player-turned-coach who has experienced several World Cup and Olympic triumphs during his career. For our latest interview, he joined us to discuss the insights and lessons that he has learned along the way, including the value of honest communication, and how it can only flourish if common ground has first been established.

On the topic of communication, he also stressed how tough messages can be negatively perceived, and encouraged listeners to replace emotion with fact when sharing feedback or other points which recipients may not want to hear.

We also discussed the idea of leadership as ‘servitude’. Jamilon considers many of the Great Coaches he has met and seen to have been “servants to the group”; these leaders don’t just tell people what to do, but instead start from the position of establishing and providing what their athletes need.

Finally, we also talked about the importance of remaining human-centric with our attentions, and not being blinded by the allure of medals or winning at any cost. Jamilon believes this focus on people can lead to aha moments for athletes, which can persist long after they have retired.

This was a great conversation with a man who has both experienced and delivered successful coaching, and it was fantastic to hear his insights on some topics that will no doubt be very relevant to many of you. I hope you enjoy listening to it!

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Questions For Reflection

• What routines do you have in place to deliver tough messages?

• To what extent do you agree with the idea of being a servant to the group as the leader?

• Has there been times when you have been ‘blind-spotted’ by a goal?

This Week’s Guest

Jamilon Mülders | Copyright: Hockey.nl

Jamilon Mülders is a German Field Hockey coach and former player.

During his playing career, Jamilon was part of the team that won the 2002 World Cup. Upon retirement he transitioned into coaching and progressed through youth teams, ultimately going on to lead national youth teams.

Jamilon was working as an assistant under Markus Weise when the German women’s team won the gold medal, and he then went on to coach the Chinese women’s national team for some time before returning to lead the German women’s national team to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics.

Currently, he is the coach of the Dutch women’s national team.

On Facilitating Communication

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

In this week’s podcast, Great Coach Jamilon Mülders speaks on honest communication and how the delivery of messages can lead to misunderstandings or negative perceptions.

He also stresses the need for common ground to be established before honest communication can occur.

So, as a leader, how can you ensure that your team or work environment is suitable for honest conversations that will help your athletes or team members to accept and act on feedback or comments?

• Ensure that your environment is one where everyone feels comfortable and psychologically safe. Avoid raised voices, attracting an audience, or using a tone that could be seen as belittling.

• As a leader, be open and honest about your own limitations, mistakes, and challenges. Help those around you to understand that there’s nothing shameful about having things to work on.

• Facilitate ongoing communication with your athletes or team members, so that they get used to receiving feedback and comments — not just at times when tensions run high.

• Avoid ominous situations. If you need to speak to someone honestly about a mistake or issue, give them a heads up beforehand, allowing them time to prepare for the conversation.

In this great clip from our recent interview with Gilbert Enoka, he shares his thoughts on using honest language during communication, and the benefits it can bring.

Looking for more inspiration? Our workshops and events deliver the insights of the Great Coaches straight to your team. They’re also tailored to the topics and issues that most impact you and your organisation, helping to boost engagement and encourage your team members to develop and build on the skills necessary for success.

For more information, get in touch today: paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

Madden’s Game

I want to share this great episode of the 30 for 30 Podcasts with you, centring on an interesting story about John Madden.

You may already know that John Madden was an American football coach and sports commentator, but what you might not know is that he was also involved in video games.

This great podcast episode shares the story of Madden’s connection with Electronic Arts and the resulting Madden NFL game series — a bestseller now in its 26th edition.

MADDEN'S GAME

Podcast Episode · 30 for 30 Podcasts · S2 E4 · 43m

podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/30-for-30-podcasts/id1244784611?i=1000396184815

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Building People With Ron Adams

With over five decades of coaching experience under his belt, there’s not much that this week’s guest hasn’t seen. Ron Adams is a basketball coach who has worked with some of the NBA’s biggest teams, as well as several university teams and a pro team in Belgium. Over the years, he’s picked up some fantastic insights into what it takes to lead a successful team, and he brought all of that knowledge and experience to this week’s interview.

Listeners will hear Ron speak about the importance — and difficulty — of discernment; he believes that discerning properly is one of the hardest things that a Head Coach can do, and as a result he has carved a career out of helping them see truth. Experience has taught him that everyone needs a coach — something that he believes can become an invaluable growth experience.

We also talk about the values of the Golden State Warriors, and their three core tenets: joy, mindfulness, and competition. These values have had an eye-opening impact on Ron, who has seen them not only improve performance, but also allow team culture to bend, rather than break.

Ron’s career has also taught him a lot about understanding the needs of your audience, especially when it comes to addressing their doubts. This is something that many of you will have to do in your own positions, and his words on framing messages in a way that helps others to believe more in theirselves and their own abilities will no doubt resonate.

In fact, people-building is something that Ron’s own philosophy really centres on. He combines his observation skills and his own background growing up in an agricultural setting to help him with this, and he’s a firm believer that a coach’s greatest resource is the team sitting in front of them. By melding the viewpoints of his team members with what he considers to be important, Ron always seeks to end up with a plan that benefits both the individual and the team — a fantastic skill that leaders and coaches across the worlds of both sports and business can utilise.

Finally, I’d like to highlight Ron’s words on filial love, and how he builds a foundation for it through trust and accountability. He speaks about the need to “dress truth up” in order for it to be acknowledged, and stresses the merit of establishing a degree of loyalty and affection as a way of binding teams together. It’s a great idea to consider, and will no doubt be of value to those of you seeking to strengthen the bonds that exist (or perhaps lack) within your own team environments.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Questions For Reflection

• What support do you have to help you discern well?

• What role does joy play in your organisation?

• To what extent does fealty exist within your team?

• How do you involve your team in setting group priorities?

This Week’s Guest

Ron Adams | Copyright: Wikipedia

Ron Adams is a basketball coach from California, USA. His coaching career began in 1969 as an Assistant with Fresno Pacific College, followed by several years of honing his craft with various universities and a stint in Belgium.

As of 1992, Ron has worked in the NBA, acting as an Assistant for San Antonio, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Boston, and now Golden State. Altogether, his teams have reached the postseason 17 times, including four finals and four championships during his time with Golden State.

On Building Families

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

This week’s guest, basketball coach Ron Adams, spoke on the topic of filial love and creating bonds within his teams. This is something that can be incredibly difficult to do; while many companies and teams refer to themselves as “a family”, there’s a lot more to the process than holding team-bonding events and encouraging mutual care.

In this great clip from one of our past interviews with another basketball coach, Mike Thibault, he reminds us all that familial connections are the result of daily action. That every single shared experience — whether that be training, travelling, or anything else — presents an opportunity for building bonds and forming unity.

Families aren’t just groups of people who like each other, or people connected by blood or title. Families are built on trust, love, and shared difficulties. Families weather storms together, support each other when one person is struggling, and treat one person’s victory as a success for the entire group. If you’re looking to build a ‘family’ out of your team, then you’ll need to employ a lot more than ice breakers and pair work during practices.

Make sure to listen to this week’s podcast to find out how Ron Adams achieves it.

Looking for more inspiration? Our workshops and events deliver the insights of the Great Coaches straight to your team. They’re also tailored to the topics and issues that most impact you and your organisation, helping to boost engagement and encourage your team members to develop and build on the skills necessary for success.

For more information, get in touch today: paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

Steve Kerr on Leadership

If you have some time this weekend after listening to our podcast, then I highly recommend watching this great video from ESPN on Youtube.

Steve Kerr is the Head Coach of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors — the team this week’s guest Ron Adams coaches as an Assistant — and in this great video he joins the team’s manager, Bob Myers, to discuss coaching, fearlessness, and the impact of his job on his family life.

It’s a great interview, and a brilliant accompaniment to our own podcast episode with Ron; another perspective on what it takes to coach a successful team.

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Reflecting On Next Steps With Shane Jurgensen

This week’s interview with cricket’s Shane Jurgensen was recorded at a time when he was reflecting on the path his life should take going forward, and this context was very much at play when we spoke about the “battle of boring”: the constant grind to develop skills foundations and get better. It’s a battle that many of us will be familiar with; the relentless execution of the routines - which make up the processes - which come together in the delivery of our performance in the workplace.

As we spoke, Shane’s leadership ‘super-powers’ really started to make themselves evident: from the way he injects small moments of connection and grounding for the people he works with, to the way he tries to help others get better by encouraging question-asking and ice breakers, it’s Shane’s selflessness — built above his technical cricket coaching knowledge — that truly defines him and his leadership. Perhaps these are the skills that could be used to help him (and many of us) to chart a new direction in life?

Listeners will also hear Shane share a story about team captain Kane Williamson, who helped him to become a better coach, and discussing how tenure length within a group creates a level of dispersed leadership, resulting in improved performance. It’s a fantastic opportunity to hear from a successful coach who — like so many of you — is going through a true period of reflection and seeking to determine his next steps. It’s also an opportunity to consider just how applicable your own leadership skills may be in other areas.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Questions For Reflection

• What routines do you use to open your team meetings, and how can they be used to deepen selflessness within the group?

• What is the level of dispersed leadership across your team?

• Review your own development plans: how many of them focus on improving base capabilities, as opposed to growing and developing new ones?

This Week’s Guest

Shane Jurgensen | Copyright: The Cricket Library

Shane Jurgensen is a former cricketer who played for Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and Sussex in the UK.

In his early 20s - while still playing - Shane began coaching, eventually becoming a bowling coach for New Zealand in 2008. From there he has gone on to have successful high-performance coaching roles with New Zealand cricket and the national teams of Bangladesh, Fiji, and Scotland.

During his second stint with New Zealand, Shane acted as the bowling coach and head coach, and was part of the team that won the inaugural World Test Championship in 2019.

In 2023, Shane led the Wellington Firebirds to the Plunket Shield in New Zealand.

On Old Skills and New Applications

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

This week’s episode was recorded at a time when guest Shane Jurgensen was really reflecting upon his career and the path his life should take. And while some of you are perhaps at the start of your career and eager to begin taking the very first steps down your path, I’m sure many of you can relate to that feeling of wondering ‘am I in the right place right now? Is this the road I’m meant to be on?’.

For those of you who may be standing at the crossroads right now, it’s a great time to reflect on just how transferrable your existing skills and experience can be. In this clip from our past interview with Great Coach Luke Beveridge, he speaks about how past government jobs helped him to approach some of the tasks and responsibilities that he found himself tackling as a coach: a brilliant example of skill transference in action.

Looking for more inspiration? Our workshops and events deliver the insights of the Great Coaches straight to your team. They’re also tailored to the topics and issues that most impact you and your organisation, helping to boost engagement and encourage your team members to develop and build on the skills necessary for success.

For more information, get in touch today: paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

Moments That Change Everything

You may not be a fan of American Football, but chances are that you’ll have heard of the Kansas City Chiefs (even if it’s just because you have a fan of a certain famous pop star in your family). The team have appeared in the NFL Super Bowl final five times since 2020, and several of their players have found fame as MVPs and pop-culture icons.

But the team wasn’t always so successful, as this article from Fan Recap explores.

This is the brilliant story of how Head Coach Andy Reid has transformed the team from bottom of the league to a Super Bowl powerhouse. A fantastic journey that has been going on behind the scenes since 2012, starting with the moment that Reid found himself being fired from his previous team.

A good read that reminds us that sometimes set backs are just steps on the path to something great.

Chiefs Reached Rock Bottom Before One Call Sparked a Stunning Turnaround | Fanrecap.com

The Chiefs’ transformation from bottom-dwellers to dynasty didn’t start with Patrick Mahomes launching sidearm lasers or confetti raining down after Super Bowl wins. It started...

fanrecap.com/kansas-city-chiefs/chiefs-reached-rock-bottom-before-one-call-sparked-a-stunning-turnaround--h2VkK

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Rediscovering Identities With Scott Roth

This week’s interview with basketball’s Scott Roth is a great one; so much so that it’s difficult to condense all of the great insights that he shared into one small section of this newsletter.

Take, for example Scott’s words on managing outside influences, which he says can “drag dirty feet through your mind”, and why he believes that allowing the influence of social media into your mind can prevent you from being vulnerable enough to ‘dare greatly’.

There’s also the way that he talks about his evolution as a leader, going from someone who was never satisfied no matter the result, to someone who has come to see himself in more of a mentor’s capacity than that of a coach. It’s an interesting perspective, and one that I’m sure all of us could do with reflecting on: in your own leadership approach, what role does mentoring play?

Finally, I’ll draw your attention to the way in which Scott has sought to connect his team to the identity that shaped it. In order to teach his new players and club what it means to be Tasmanian, he sent them to work at an apple orchard and set up a bloodlines group with people that have shaped Tasmanian basketball.

As you listen to the interview, I imagine that a few of you will find yourselves thinking about what routines you could implement to connect your own team to its foundations and origins.

In fact, I think there will be a lot of different things you’ll find yourself reflecting on, and I hope you enjoy the episode.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

This Week’s Guest

Scott Roth | Copyright: Tasmanian JackJumpers

Scott Roth is a former basketball player who played in over 160 NBA games for the Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, and Minnesota Timberwolves. His career also took him Spain, Turkey, and Greece.

As a coach, Scott has led a number of teams across the world, including in Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Australia. He has coached NBA-G League teams as well as acting as an assistant coach for the national teams of both China and Turkey.

In 2021, Scott was appointed as the Head Coach of the NBA’s expansion team, the Tasmanian JackJumpers. In his first year with the team he led them to a Grand Final, and in year three he saw them through to the Championship.

On Adding To Legacy

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

In this week’s interview, you’ll hear basketball’s Scott Roth speak about the ways that he sought to connect his team members with their Tasmanian identity. We often hear our guests speak about building cultures and creating a shared team identity, so this idea of going back to the origins and learning from the past provides a different perspective.

For those of you leading organisations with a long-established history or background, there’s a lot to be gained by reminding both yourself and your team members of the values and achievements that have gotten you to where you are today.

One person who knows all about this is Sir Graham Henry, former head coach of the All Blacks. His interview with us was a great insight into what it takes to lead a team with a legacy behind it, and you can hear him speak about adding to that legacy in this clip below.

Looking for more inspiration? Our workshops and events deliver the insights of the Great Coaches straight to your team. They’re also tailored to the topics and issues that most impact you and your organisation, helping to boost engagement and encourage your team members to develop and build on the skills necessary for success.

For more information, get in touch today: paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

Practice Is Everything

This week I want to share a video with you, this time from the Seattle Seahawks.

It’s a glimpse into their training, with coach Pete Carroll narrating and explaining the ideas and processes behind the routines and practices the team goes through.

Very informative and a good short watch!

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Staying Balanced With Chantal Vallée

It’s sometimes said that there’s a big difference between ‘theoretical’ and ‘practical’ knowledge, but basketball coach Chantal Vallée seems to seamlessly blend both. Having completed a master’s thesis on coaching leadership, she then took on the challenge of turning one of Canada’s worst performing university basketball teams into a team capable of winning five back-to-back championships.

In this week’s interview, Chantal joined us to talk about some of the fantastic things she has learned throughout her journey, such as the way that metaphor and visualisation can be used to bring life to goals, reducing nervous system stress and replacing it with renewed focus.

She also spoke about the need for flexibility in the way leadership traits are deployed, stressing that ‘balance’ may actually result in a lack of ability to connect with the different personalities that exist within your team — a fascinating insight that we perhaps haven’t really touched on before in our interviews.

Finally, I want to bring attention to what Chantal has to say on the importance of vision, which she identifies as a common denominator amongst Great Coaches. It’s this vision that is used to create a mental representation of the team’s future; by working backwards from that representation, leaders can create a plan that can be broken down to hit key performance indicators.

This was a brilliant interview that examined a number of ideas from unexpected perspectives, and I know that you’ll all take something useful from it.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Dare To Win

In this week’s podcast, you’ll hear us speaking to Chantal Vallée about her new book: Dare To Win. The book was released earlier this year, and is a fantastic amalgamation of Chantal’s education and practical leadership experience. You can find the book now on Amazon:

Dare To Win: The Blueprint to Building and Leading High Performance and Championship Teams

Chantal N. Vallée

a.co/d/2MpPlTs

This Week’s Guest

Chantal Vallée | Copyright: Windsor Lancers

Chantal Vallée completed a masters thesis in coaching leadership before putting her knowledge into action by taking over one of the worst basketball programs at any Canadian university: the University of Windsor Lancers.

Over a period of 6 gruelling years, Chantal took the team “from worst to first”, leading them to win 5 consecutive Canadian National Championships.

Her new book, ‘Dare to Win’, is a fantastic insight into everything she has learned throughout the journey.

On Visionaries

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

For this week’s interview, we were joined by Chantal Vallée who spoke about a common denominator that she has identified amongst the Great Coaches: vision.

Great leaders don’t just have an ‘idea’ of where they’re heading — they’ve spent time picturing the end goal, decided what they’re working towards, and then calculated the steps it will take for them to get there. There’s no algorithm or perfect plan for success, of course, but Great Coaches typically have visions that help guide them every step of the way.

This week, make some time to consider and establish your own vision for the future. Whether it’s reaching a certain profit goal or winning a specific championship, your end goal should be something challenging-yet-achievable. Once you have that, you’ll be able to work backwards and work out the way to reach it — make sure to listen to our podcast with Chantal to understand how that can be done.

You can also hear a bit about how visionaries become Great Coaches in this clip from our past lesson ‘On Serial Winning Coaches’.

Looking for more inspiration? Our workshops and events deliver the insights of the Great Coaches straight to your team. They’re also tailored to the topics and issues that most impact you and your organisation, helping to boost engagement and encourage your team members to develop and build on the skills necessary for success.

For more information, get in touch today: paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

Becoming Unstoppable With Gilbert Enoka

As you will hopefully be aware, we released an additional podcast episode last week with mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka.

Gilbert has worked with some truly top teams over the years — from Chelsea FC to the New Zealand Silver Ferns — but most notably with the All Blacks, New Zealand’s world-famous rugby team.

Gilbert has been with the All Blacks for over 300 matches, watching them win back-to-back Rugby World Cups, 21 consecutive Bledisloe Cups, 3 Grand Slams, 8 Tri-Nations, and 9 Rugby Championships.

As you might expect, it was a fantastic interview and a great opportunity to delve into the successes of his career.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

On Athlete-Coach Partnerships

We’ve spoken with (and about) Bill Sweetenham before for our podcast. He’s a man with an amazing presence — the type that can have a whole room hanging on his every word — and he’s somewhat of a legend in both swimming and sports coaching as a whole.

For this paper, Bill joined forces with psychologist Dr Bruce Lawrie to investigate the partnership between athletes and coaches. It’s a brilliant read, and one that will no doubt appeal to those of you who enjoyed our recent episodes delving into how psychology can be put into practice within your leadership.

The Athlete-Coach Partnership from Coach & Psychologist Perspective – By Bill Sweetenham and Dr Bruce Lawrie

From the SOS Archive - In January 2021, State of Swimming presented an original paper by coach and athlete mentor and leadership oracle Bill Sweetenham in partnership with leading psychologist Dr. Bruce Lawrie. Their work is timeless, ever-relevant...

state-of-swimming.ghost.io/the-athlete-coach-partnership-from-coach-psychologist-perspective-by-bill-sweetenham-and-dr-bruce-lawrie

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

On Sports Psychology With Professor Adam Nicholls

For this week’s interview, I was joined by Professor Adam R. Nicholls from the UK’s University of Hull. Professor Adam has carried out some fantastic research in the areas of stress, appraisal and coping amongst athletes, and has met a number of elite-level athletes along the way. 

Much of our interview focuses on Adam’s terrific book, “Psychology in Sports Coaching: Theory and Practice”, which serves as a brilliant guide for anyone looking to incorporate psychology into their coaching approach and practice. 

Adam shared his description of the difference between mastery and performance climates, and how they each impact the motivation and culture within a team. He also made a great case for reframing the search for perfection to a search for excellence, placing a focus on what you have to do in order to be excellent. 

Another great topic that came up was that of negative self-talk. Adam has identified a link between negative self-talk and its detrimental impact on performance and confidence, and shares insight into how coaches can intervene to help athletes transform their self-talk. 

This was a really brilliant conversation, and a chance to delve into the mind of someone who has spent a considerable amount of time and energy really researching the psychology of elite sports and coaching. I’m sure you’ll really enjoy listening to it. 

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

This Week’s Guest

Adam Nicholls | Copyright: LinkedIn / Adam Nicholls

Professor Adam R. Nicholls is based in the Department of Sport, Health, and Exercise Science at the University of Hull in the UK. His research is primarily related to studies of stress, appraisal and coping amongst athletes. 

Adam has published three books and more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, with his research bringing him into contact with elite-level Rugby Union and Rugby League players, as well as major-winning golfers. From these experiences, he says that he has “learned a great deal about what it takes to perform under pressure”. 

Adam also posts some terrific content on Linked In, which is where Great Coach John Buchanan first brought him to my attention.

On Science-Backed Approaches

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

In this week’s interview, I spoke with Professor Adam R. Nicholls about the ways in which psychology can be utilised within leadership and coaching practices. It was a great opportunity to reflect on some of the extensive and brilliant research and studies out there helping us to better lead and understand our team members, each other, and ourselves.

Over the years of us recording this podcast, a good number of our Great Coaches guests have shared ideas and research that they credit as having positively impacted their own leadership techniques. We’ve also spoken to several guests from the fields of research and education who have dedicated years to uncovering the science behind successful coaching.

While there’s still no algorithm for leadership, there certainly seems to be a growing number of science-based techniques and practices that we can adopt.

If you know of any fantastic research that exists in the sports and leadership space, I’d love for you to share it with us — just as past guest Alf Galustian shared the football development philosophy behind his Coerver Coaching methodology, which you can learn about in this clip.

Looking for more inspiration? Our workshops and events deliver the insights of the Great Coaches straight to your team. They’re also tailored to the topics and issues that most impact you and your organisation, helping to boost engagement and encourage your team members to develop and build on the skills necessary for success.

For more information, get in touch today: paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

Court of Gold

Another great ‘behind-the-scenes’ resource for you again this week with “Court of Gold”, a Netflix documentary looking into the 2024 USA Basketball Men’s national team’s success in Paris.

If you don’t have Netflix (or it isn’t available where you are) then this article takes us through the documentary and some of the great insights and points that it contains, such as the team’s powerful, motivational chant and the sense of duty that the players feel in the build up to their games.

Court of Gold

An Unprecedented Look at the Paris Olympics Basketball Tournament

www.usab.com/news/2025/02/court-of-gold-on-netflix-offers-an-unprecedented-look-at-the-paris-olympics-basketball-tournament

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Defining Great Coaching With Colm Nally

Irish-born Colm Nally isn’t just a successful Gaelic Football coach — he’s also an author of three books and the face behind a Youtube channel with over 1 million views. And, as you might expect, he’s a confident and wise speaker, with plenty of experience and insight to share.

At the start of this week’s interview, we asked Colm how he would define Great Coaches. His answer, that they “don’t stand out just for their knowledge, but also for how they lead and connect and develop others,” is one that could describe many of our guests here on the podcast, including himself. Colm also dwelled on the topic of passion, pointing out that Great Coaches are often passionate people who understand that sometimes their passion needs to be controlled.

Other highlights of the interview include a discussion on the best team cultures (which he credits to a continuously positive outlook), as well as Colm’s fascinating view that if you continually analyse failure then you’ll eventually get used to it — a reminder to us all to place a greater focus on developmental positives.

Finally, I’m sure many of you will take insight from Colm’s views on tailoring coaching to the age and stage of an individual, helping them to both develop and build connection (which, he believes, boosts intrinsic motivation).

Make sure to listen to the full episode this weekend, and as always I’d love to hear what you think!

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

This Week’s Guest

Colm Nally | Copyright: The Irish Times

Colm Nally is an Irish Gaelic Football coach who has coached at youth and adult levels with both club teams and at the top level with his county.

Colm’s teams have won promotion into division one and numerous intermediate titles, as well as competing in provincial All-Ireland finals.

Colm is also a designated GAA Master Coach Tutor, the author of three books on Gaelic Football training, and the owner of a Youtube channel that offers Gaelic Football coaching tips — to date, his videos have been viewed more than one million times.

On Balancing Passion

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

In this week’s podcast episode, Great Coach Colm Nally spoke about the passionate trait shared by many Great Coaches — and also dwelled on their ability to temper that passion when the situation calls for it.

Striking the balance can be difficult for many people, especially leaders. Within both the sporting and corporate worlds, passion is often viewed as a vital, positive trait. Many job descriptions claim to be looking for someone “passionate about sales/service/technology etc.” who can “work hard and play hard”, whilst many sports players are judged by whether or not their “heart is in the game”. Passion is openly sought and celebrated, so it can be difficult to understand when (and why) it may need to be tempered.

Ultimately, the answer lies in a well-known phrase: “blinded by passion”. Similar to other emotions and feelings such as fear, anger, or excitement, passion can lead us to make spur-of-the-moment, emotion-led decisions with poor long-term outcomes. In a fit of passion, we can say things that we don’t mean - good or bad - and act rashly or impulsively. What’s more, someone with passion may run the risk of ignoring advice or protocol that they feel is ‘slowing them down’ or getting in the way of success.

In this clip from a past interview with Australian rugby league coach Ricky Stuart, he speaks on the need to balance passion with clarity and warns about the idea of disingenuous passion.

Looking for more inspiration? Our workshops and events deliver the insights of the Great Coaches straight to your team. They’re also tailored to the topics and issues that most impact you and your organisation, helping to boost engagement and encourage your team members to develop and build on the skills necessary for success.

For more information, get in touch today: paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

On Communication Great Coach Colm Nally places a strong focus on building relationships and communication skills in our latest episode. If these are skills that you’d like to encourage within your team, our 2022 lesson ‘On Communication’ is a great place to start. Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Unfinished Business

I’ve got another fantastic ‘behind the scenes’ video to share with you this week, this time from the Origin Australian Diamonds during their time at the 2023 Netball World Cup in South Africa.

Our interviews with Great Coaches always provide a great insight into the realities of preparing successful teams for high-performance sporting events, but watching real footage helps to turn their words and ideas into something that you can see and replicate for yourselves.

If you know of any good videos, documentaries or clips that you think would be of benefit or inspirational for our readers and listeners, please don’t hesitate to share them with us.

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

On Grit And Wit With Kathy Delaney-Smith

Frequent listeners of our podcast may remember that Kathy Delaney-Smith has joined us before, back in 2022. They’ll also remember how terrific that interview was; the winningest coach in the history of all Ivy League sport is like a walking oracle of leadership and coaching wisdom.

Now, thankfully, Kathy is sharing that wisdom in a book that we can all read and learn from. Co-authored with one of her players, Laura Barnard (now a sought-after leadership consultant), the book is called Grit and Wit: Empowering Lives and Leaders — a title that reflects the grit it took to coach for 51 years, and the thick-skin required for what is ultimately a highly-rewarding career.

For this week’s podcast episode, Kathy joined us to talk in detail about some of the insights and ideas that you'‘ll find in the book. She shares her mantra - “perfect is boring” - and tells us how hard she had to work with her Harvard players in order to get them to understand and embrace the idea, reframing mistakes to see them as learning opportunities.

She also talks about how aging has taught her to be less judgemental, and to accept that - if you are willing to be open to it - there will often be more than one way to achieve goals or get work done.

Finally, let me leave you with one last highlight I took from our conversation: Kathy’s steadfast view that leadership can never just come from one place; rather, you must have an array of leaders at any one time who share in your energy, passion, and priorities. Does your team, department, or organisation consist of those leaders?

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Read It For Yourself

Grit and Wit: Empowering Lives and Leaders

Delaney-Smith, Kathy, Heffron, Anne, Barnard, Laura: Amazon.com.au: Books

This Week’s Guest

Kathy Delaney-Smith | Copyright: Harvard Athletics

When American basketball coach Kathy Delaney-Smith retired, she did so after four decades leading the Harvard women’s basketball team and with the astounding achievement of being the winningest coach of any Ivy League sport in history.

Kathy’s tenure with Harvard saw her lead the team to over 600 career wins, 11 Ivy League championships, and 6 NCAA tournament berths. Between the years of 1986 and 2011, all but one senior class had won at least one conference championship.

Outside of basketball, Kathy has also received numerous awards and recognition for her services to the community and for the cause of improving gender equality.

On Triggered Emotions

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

In this week’s podcast episode, Great Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith speaks about her new book and the grit, determination, and thick-skin that it took for her to achieve such a long and successful career in coaching.

No matter how you view it, facing public scrutiny is an unavoidable part of leadership (or simply achieving success, in general). At some point in your career, you will face critique (both deserved and underserved), doubt in your abilities, and potentially even attacks on your character or caliber. Sometimes these comments will come from people who have influence over your career; other times they’ll come from unrelated parties or even competitors. Regardless, in the face of such critique it’s not uncommon to start questioning your own suitability for your position, to feel disheartened, or to experience imposter syndrome.

Developing a ‘thick-skin’ isn’t always easy; some people are born with it, others have to really work on it. With that said, there are steps you can take and practices that you can employ to help you handle difficult moments. In the clip below, performance and mindset coach Mark Zimmerman speaks on not giving others ‘permission’ to trigger your emotions — a great little reflection taken from the presentations and seminars he gives to organisations and leaders.

If you’re looking to further develop your own leadership skills and ability, then make sure to head over to our website. For an annual cost of just $4.50 USD, Great Coaches members can access more than 1,800 clips, 30 special lessons, and more great content designed to help them become better, more effective leaders.

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

Catch Up With Kathy Kathy Delaney-Smith has joined us on the podcast before, back in 2022. If you missed that fantastic episode when it was first released, then you can still catch it now wherever you get your podcasts! Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Behind The Scenes At The “Harvard” Of Coaching

For football (soccer) coaches hoping to coach at the highest, most elite level, there is no qualification more important or valuable than the UEFA Pro Licence.

This great article (and accompanying podcast) follows the Football Association of Wales’ 2025 cohort as they tackle the training required for their licence, delving into some of the more surprising elements of the course. Take, for example, the three days of sleep-deprivation candidates must push through during a trip with the army: a rather intensive lesson in how external factors impact decision-making.

A very insightful look behind the scenes at a truly in-depth leadership experience.

The Welsh Way: Inside the 'Harvard of coaching' of FAW Pro Licence

BBC Sport goes behind the scenes at the coaching course which counts Thierry Henry and Mikel Arteta as graduates, and is shaping stars of the future.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c2d567xj7jeo

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Many Ways To Win With Tom Maher

When it comes to high-pressure, high-performance coaching, this week’s guest Tom Maher certainly knows his stuff. Having coached at six consecutive Olympic Games with the national teams of Australia, New Zealand, China and Great Britain, Tom has had his fair share of experience immersing himself into unfamiliar teams and helping to guide them to success.

All of this experience has led to him to establish what he calls the ‘7 themes of success’, which he describes to us during our interview:
1. Great physical space
2. Handle adversity
3. Be assertive
4. Relentless persistence
5. A great defensive team
6. Multi-skilled
7. A great ‘we’ team
While some of these themes (particularly number 5) may not seem relevant to those of you in corporate leadership, you may be surprised to discover just how applicable they actually are — make sure to give the episode a listen to learn more about how these themes build towards success.

While on the topic of success, Tom also shares some fantastic insight into the real definition ‘winning’ (and why it isn’t always related to the scoreboard). His career and experiences have taught him that there are many ways to win, and he views this realisation as an important developmental stage.

Finally, I’d like to bring attention to Tom’s thoughts on truth. Truth and honesty are traits that many of our guests stress as vital ingredients in successful team cultures, but Tom brings a slightly different perspective to his leadership: in fact, he urges his players to be careful about the questions they ask, as they may not always like the answers…

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

This Week’s Guest

Tom Maher | Copyright: Getty Images

Tom Maher is an Australian basketball coach, whose career began with him leading the Nunawading Spectres to 5 championships in the Women’s National Basketball League. From there he has gone on to win titles with Perth, Canberra and Bulleen, making him the most successful coach in the league’s history.

Tom’s other achievements include leading the Australian national team to their very first Olympic medal - a bronze at the 1996 Olympics - and then a silver medal at the following games in 2000. He has also coached the national teams of New Zealand, China and Great Britain, ultimately coaching at 6 consecutive Olympic games.

Tom was the first ever foreign coach in the WNBA, and in 2021 he was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.

On Brutal Honesty

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

In this week’s podcast episode, Great Coach Tom Maher shares that he advises his players not to ask questions that they don’t want the answers to. The implication, of course, is that they may not be ready for the brutally honest or frank response they might receive about their performance — but that doesn’t mean that difficult conversations should be avoided or that players shouldn’t receive (or seek) feedback.

As we’ve previously covered in this newsletter, honesty can be a difficult trait for some leaders to master. While some (such as Roy Masters in the clip below) will say that you cant be ‘too honest’, the delivery of feedback and critique ought to be appropriate, considered, and - importantly - constructive. Being too blunt or negative can lead to damaged relationships, confidence issues, and further hinderance to achieving performance success.

If you need to provide ‘brutally honest’ feedback or critique to a team member or athlete, here are some questions to consider before doing so:

1. Am I in the right headspace for this conversation, or am I currently experiencing heightened emotion (anger, frustration, disappointment)?
2. Is there any part of my feedback that could be viewed as a personal attack, or unnecessarily harsh?
3. Is this the right environment for delivering this conversation, or would a more private/quiet/familiar location be more suitable?
4. Is the person I’m speaking to in the right headspace for receiving this feedback? Will they be blindsided, or am I catching them at a time when they may already be experiencing negative self-talk or feelings of inadequacy?

Keeping these questions and points in mind can help difficult conversations to go more smoothly and ensure that you deliver honest feedback in the most constructive and suitable way.

If you’re looking to further develop your own leadership skills and ability, then make sure to head over to our website. For an annual cost of just $4.50 USD, Great Coaches members can access more than 1,800 clips, 30 special lessons, and more great content designed to help them become better, more effective leaders.

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

What Would Your Team Say?

To mark the beginning of the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia, I wanted to share this fascinating portrait of their coach, Andy Farrell, and his impressive career.

One interesting thing you may notice in this article is how others speak about him — others such as Johnny Sexton, who was Ireland captain under Farrell and now works as part of the Lions’ staff. Sexton speaks very highly of his coach, and appears to have a great grasp and understanding of Farrell’s approach, goals, and mindset.

If someone was to interview one of your team members or athletes, how well would they be able to describe your aims for your team, or the leadership methods that you employ in the pursuit of success?

British and Irish Lions: 'He's got such an aura' - Andy Farrell's rise to top Lions job

As he prepares to take charge for the first time, BBC Sport looks at Andy Farrell's journey to becoming British and Irish Lions head coach.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/clylwkrrz6ro

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Building Emotional Resilience with Bernhard Peters

Our Great Coach this week is Bernhard Peters, a performance powerhouse who has worked with clubs across multiple sports. Listeners will hear us speak about Bernhard’s impressive career (beginning with youth teams in the 1980s and building up to his most recent work with American Major League start-up St Louis FC), as well as the many valuable leadership lessons that he has learned along the way.

Take, for example, one of the mistakes that Bernhard made early in his career: focusing too much on the team, rather than building a true understanding of the individual. It’s an experience that most leaders will have had at some point — the right balance between ‘team-centric’ and ‘player-centric’ approaches can be quite hotly contested and difficult to achieve.

This focus on the individual carries over to another insight that Bernhard shares during our interview, as he stresses that “the most important thing is the personal, emotional connection between coach and player”, a connection that he feels is “more important than your expertise”. Personal emotional relationships, he believes, are key to building a strong team.

Finally, I’d like to quickly reference what Bernhard says on the topic of emotional resilience, as it’s something that often comes up in our interviews and special lessons as a trait that many modern leaders can struggle to encourage and develop. He speaks about the importance of handling both success and defeats, and I think it will be very helpful to a lot of you who find this a particular sticking point in your leadership.

This was a great episode to record, and I hope you’ll get a lot from it.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

This Week’s Guest

Bernhard Peters | Copyright: BPTC Sports

Bernhard Peters is a German Field Hockey coach.

Bernhard’s career began in the early 1980s, coaching youth teams. Over time his reputation began to build, leading to an opportunity to lead German national youth teams to European Championships.

In the year 2000, Bernhard took over the German national men’s side, leading them to world championships in both 2002 and 2006.

After his success in field hockey, Bernhard moved into soccer with a number of off-field leadership roles. His first position was with Hoffenheim in German soccer’s third tier, playing a part in the transformation of the club that would lead them all the way to the top German league in 2008.

In the years since, Bernhard has gone on to build a successful career helping clubs to transform themselves into high-performing organisations. Most recently, he worked with St Louis FC, a start-up club in the American Major League.

On Chasing Wrong Outcomes

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

This week, we’re reflecting on this great little clip from Hall of Fame coach and professor Dr Troy Urdahl, who reminds us all to think about the outcomes we aim for in our leadership and work.

We’ve previously spoken about mission statements and goal-setting, and we also frequently talk about success and how to achieve it. For some, success is defined by a score on the scoreboard, or by trophies on display. Yet, as our closing questions about legacies often reveal, many of our Great Coaches guests actually consider human relationships, changed lives and lasting impressions to be far more important.

Take some time today to reflect on the outcomes you're chasing. Do they align with your values and the legacy that you one day hope to leave?

If you’re looking to further develop your own leadership skills and ability, then make sure to head over to our website. For an annual cost of just $4.50 USD, Great Coaches members can access more than 1,800 clips, 30 special lessons, and more great content designed to help them become better, more effective leaders.

Special Episode: On Winning Team Cultures

Did you catch our recent special episode On Winning Team Cultures?

This brilliant discussion featured two Great Coaches who have a lot of personal experience when it comes to building thriving cultures: basketball coach Mike Dunlap and football (soccer)’s Gareth Taylor.

Both guests shared their own insights into what it takes to build a winning team, while also delving into examples from the careers of other influential leaders and coaches. From the valuable skill of “making impactful decisions at a second’s notice” to the topic of stoicism and what makes it the right approach in certain situations, this was a greatly insightful and enjoyable discussion that will hold value for leaders of all backgrounds and experience levels.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Spread It Around The Great Coaches newsletter is designed to be shared and discussed with colleagues, friends and family members.  If someone has shared this copy with you, then make sure to sign up to our mailing list so that you don’t miss the next issue!  Subscribe

What Does It Really Take?

Our listeners often tell us that they enjoy gaining a ‘behind the scenes’ look at their favourite sports and teams, hearing Great Coaches speak about the steps, training and processes that lead to success on the pitch or in the arena.

If that’s you, then you’ll definitely enjoy this video from the Gold Coast SUNS, following head coach Damien Hardwick and exploring what it’s like to coach an AFL team.

You’ll see Damien’s morning routine, his rituals, and the way he interacts with (and motivates) his players — perhaps you’ll gain some ideas to try out with your own team, as well.

PS - If you’d like to hear more from Damien Hardwick, you can listen to our episode with him here: Apple | Spotify

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/