In this exciting episode, I am thrilled to welcome Aldo Kane to the podcast!

Aldo is a world-record holding adventurer, former Royal Marine sniper and TV presenter known for pushing the boundaries of human endurance and exploration.

With a career spanning two decades, Aldo has led diverse teams and tackled some of the planet's most challenging environments, from scaling remote peaks to abseiling into active volcanoes.

Join us as we dive into Aldo's incredible journey. We'll explore how he builds resilience, hear behind-the-scenes stories from his TV shows, and gain insights into the leadership skills required to lead through volatile, unpredictable environments. From the boardroom to Everest.

Whether you're an adventure enthusiast or simply curious about what it takes to successfully lead in the unpredictable world of business, this episode promises to deliver practical action points for doing just that.

You can expect to understand;

- How to maintain composure and effective decision making under pressure

- How to build outstanding mental resilience

- How to rapidly build high-performing teams

- How to successfully lead through these volatile, unpredictable times

If you enjoyed the episode then please like, share and subscribe so others can do the same.

Thanks as always for listening, and I hope you enjoy the episode.

00:00 Intro

00:52 Aldo’s background

03:26 Overcoming Challenging Experiences and Lessons for Leaders

09:16 Maintaining Composure and Making Effective Decisions Under Pressure

29:38 Developing Mental Resilience and Making Deliberate Choices

39:59 Building Resilience and Maintaining Balance

40:52 Embracing the Unknown and Relinquishing Control

42:11 The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

43:27 Empowering Team Members and Making Quick Decisions

51:27 Resilience and the Power of Positive Storytelling

01:06:06 The Impact of Negativity and the Importance of Trust

01:12:11 Having Courageous Conversations to Address Negative Behaviour

01:15:50 Empathy and Adaptability in Leadership

01:21:39 Embracing Failure as a Path to Growth

01:25:29 Resilience: Enduring Uncomfortable Situations

01:36:24 Inspiring Others and Being a Servant Leader

01:39:37 Developing Empathy and Adaptability as Leadership Skills

01:40:48 The Power of Silence: Mental Health and Self-Reflection

Welcome back, and today we chat with highly respected human performance expert Andy Walshe.

Through his work as Red Bull Head of High Performance and now CEO of The Liminal Collective, Andy has helped individuals and teams to push beyond the boundaries of what's possible for the last several decades.

In this episode, you will learn;

- The most important trait for rapid personal development

- How to innovate quicker than the competition

- Common traits of the best leaders

- How to find your authentic leadership style

- How to rapidly hire the right people

- And why human virtues are quickly becoming the most important quality for success

As always, thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

01:05 Andy Intro

02:54 Making The Best Better

06:12 Greatest Drivers Of Personal Development

07:45 Greatest Drivers Of Team Development

11:28 Creating A Unifying Purpose

16:06 A Common Trait Of The Best Leaders

17:47 Developing Your Own Leadership Style

19:59 Advice For Founders

20:14 What Andy's Done A 180 On

32:29 The Human-Machine Paradox

41:43 Developing Virtues As A Leader

45:21 Word Association

48:38 Summary & takeaways

Today we welcome ST, otherwise known as Simon Thomas, a high-performance consultant from New Zealand.

In this episode he shares his experiences and learnings from working with the world's most successful rugby club, the Crusaders, and his time with the Māori All Blacks.

In this episode, we discuss what ancient Māori wisdom has taught him, how to create a story that unites your people, how to ensure you have the right people on the bus in the first place, and how to create a culture where people put the organisation’s success before their own self-interest.

If you enjoyed this episode, please like, rate, subscribe and share it with others.

Thanks for listening and enjoy.

00:00 Intro

01:34 The Power of Purpose in High Performance

6:01 The Impact of Storytelling on Team Culture

17:22 3 Steps To Align Your People

26:22 Scaling Connection & Belonging

31:11 The Maori All Blacks Culture

44:01 How To Identify The Right People

50:29 Staying Aligned To Your Strengths & Values

53:20 Whole-Person Approach

1:00:00 Connecting People Remotely

01:07:15 How To Retain Your Best People

01:15:06 First Steps In A New Environment

01:22:59 Word Association

1:27:31 Summary & Takeaways

Hi everyone and welcome back.

In this episode, I discuss all things storytelling, creativity and inspiration with Ben Potvin, ex Creative Director for Cirque Du Soleil and now Chief Creative Officer at The Liminal Collective.

As business leaders, it's often our ability to influence and connect people that underpins our company's success. Whether it's selling to clients or building a high-performance workforce.

In this episode, you can expect to understand;

- How to build a culture of innovation

- How to inspire and align your people

- How to create deep levels of connection at work

- And how to sustainably, outcompete your competitors

As always, if you enjoyed this episode and want to be the first to hear when new episodes drop, please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.

Most importantly, thank you for watching and listening. This podcast was created for you and I hope you enjoy the episode.

00:00 Podcast Intro

00:35 Introduction and Background

06:55 Creativity: Exploration and Curiosity

25:36 AI and Creativity: Enhancing Ideas

34:33 Creating a Safe Space for Self-Reflection and Sharing

42:04 Collaborating Based on Strengths and Weaknesses

47:24 Reflecting on Values and Identity for Personal and Team Growth

58:40 Creating Deep Connections and Meaning within Teams

01:11:16 Embracing Diversity for Personal Growth and Creativity

01:23:38 Making Time for In-Person Interactions and Authentic Conversations

01:29:35 Word Association

01:31:53 Summary & Takeaways

Hi everyone.

Join us this week as we dive deep with Dr. Preston Cline, co-founder of the Mission Critical Team Institute (MCTI).

With a background that intertwines academic rigour with real-world experience, Dr. Cline is at the forefront of developing high-stakes teams operating at the edge of human performance.

In this episode, we unpack the science and psychology behind mission critical teams, those groups for whom failure could mean the difference between life and death.

From Navy SEALs to surgical units, discover how these teams prepare for the unpredictable, manage risk, and make decisions under extreme pressure.

Dr. Cline shares insights from his extensive research and fieldwork, offering lessons on leadership, teamwork, and resilience that apply far beyond the battlefield or the operating room.

Whether you're leading a team, part of one, or simply fascinated by human performance under pressure, this conversation will change the way you think about teamwork in critical missions."

From this episode you can expect to understand;

- The system used by the Navy Seals to develop their people

- How to avoid promoting the wrong leaders

- Why psychological 'safety' isn't what we're actually after

- And what humans really require for sustainable success

As always, if you enjoyed this episode and want to be the first to hear when new episodes drop, please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.

Most importantly, thank you for watching and listening. This podcast was created for you and I hope you enjoy the episode.

00:00 Episode intro

00:35 Introduction and background

01:04 Preston's journey and research focus

03:22 Lessons from mission critical teams for ambitious companies

06:31 Achieving resilience and thriving in uncertainty

08:37 The risk or safety paradox

20:09 Creating a universal language and the role of guides

25:49 The DR5 model for optimizing performance

29:01 Pattern recognition and conditioning in training and performance

31:18 The power of a shared language for effective intervention

34:45 Finding balance and richness in life with the 'third thing'

41:17 The role of eldership in guiding and supporting younger generations

52:05 Creating authentic community and connection in organizations

57:15 Word association

59:30 Summary & takeaways

Hi everyone and welcome back.

I'm excited for you to listen to our episode with Brad today.

Personally, he was the first coach I worked with during my time in New Zealand and he has gone on to do wonderful things since then.

This episode is packed full of nuggets and insights, so expect to understand;

- How to create lived, not 'part time', values

- How to achieve sustainable success

- The 3 steps you can take to get the best out of your team

- And, how to effectively lead through a storm

As always, if you enjoyed this episode and want to be the first to hear when new episodes drop, please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.

Most importantly, thank you for watching and listening. This podcast was created for you and I hope you enjoy the episode.

0:00 Episode intro

0:36 Going from a lawyer to coaching the All Blacks

08:25 What makes the All Blacks world-class

09:07 How to create a legacy of sustained success

10:13 How to succeed under pressure

13:14 How to maximise your company’s training time

14:28 The 3 steps process for getting the most out of your

team

15:46 The importance of psychological safety and

vulnerability

17:25 Leveraging diversity for innovative solutions

18:43 Lived vs ‘part-time’ values

22:44 Why the best teams are full of custodians

27:55 How to lead through a storm

30:48 Embracing scrutiny & high expectations

32:38 Understanding your culture

37:01 The first step he takes when joining a new team

37:37 Seeking other perspectives to build your toolbox

44:55 How to switch gears and recover hard

48:00 What the best in the world all do

51:01 How the All Blacks select team members

55:29 How to onboard new hires

1:02:21 Brad’s coaching and leadership philosophy

1:09:05 The highs and lows of leadership

1:09:57 Word association

1:11:40 Summary & takeaways

Following a career spanning three Olympic games with Team GB, and several leadership roles within collegiate and professional US sport, Duncan French became the inaugural Vice President of Performance for the UFC when they founded the world-famous UFC Performance Institute in 2017.

Since then, the team has grown into a global, multi-cultural entity, with recent performance institutes opened in Mexico City and Shanghai. The team are now recognised as a world-leading authority on human performance, with Duncan leading the charge.

You can expect to understand;

• How to build an innovative culture that breaks status quo

• How to create an environment that breeds high performance

• How to identify the right qualities for an industry-leading team

• And how to create a culture that's admired by some of the world's best teams

PS. we experienced a few sound issues during the first 5 minutes, but it’s smooth sailing after that - and packed full of insight we hope you agree.

00:00 Intro

00:59 Diversity and depth of experience

04:09 Science and art in building world-class teams

09:37 Successfully challenging status quo

14:00 Riding the rollercoaster of success & failure

16:38 How Duncan reverse engineers success

24:18 Creating an industry-leading team & culture

35:26 How Duncan identifies the right people

44:07 Connecting a global, multi-cultural team

50:47 The 3 things people need to thrive

53:05 Reframing COVID as an opportunity

58:20 Prospect theory & leaning into risk

1:03:02 How to innovate with minimal time

1:07:30 The cost of leadership and loneliness

1:11:05 Stepping into roles you’re not ready for

1:14:35 Developing a network of peers

1:17:00 The advice he’d give to himself and others

1:21:50 How Duncan’s evolved as a leader

1:23:00 Word association

1:25:01 Three takeaways & action points

Welcome back. Our guest today is Dr Ben Rosenblatt.

Ben has coached athletes to every Olympic Games since 2008, worked in Olympic gold medal winning teams and for the last seven years, led England football’s physical performance department as part of Gareth Southgate’s backroom team.

Most recently, he founded his own company, 292 performance, who provide high-performance support to high-performing individuals.

In this episode, we discuss;

- The 5 necessities for a high-performing team

- How Gareth Southgate’s leadership team successfully engineered culture change

- His most memorable moments with the England Football team

- Why, in his opinion, identity eats culture for breakfast

You can expect to understand;

- How to deeply motivate your people

- How to successfully lead culture change

- How to use failure as a competitive advantage

- And how to create sustainable, high performance

As always, if you enjoyed the episode and want to be the first to hear when new episodes drop, please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.

Most importantly, thank you for watching and listening. This podcast was created for you, and I hope you enjoy the episode.

(00:00) Podcast intro

(00:51) Guest intro

(01:42) Ben’s story

(04:30) What attracted him

(05:33) His ‘why’

(06:28) Art vs science

(10:06) Advice for new leaders

(16:37) Winning Olympic gold

(19:03) Importance of celebrating success

(19:36) Integrating your vision, values and behaviours

(21:08) Decentralised leadership & ownership

(24:42) Importance of living your values

(27:10) Owen Eastwood’s book ‘Belonging’

(27:30) Storytelling over slogans

(29:07) Identity eats culture for breakfast

(29:52) Pink inflatable unicorns & EAST

(34:00) Gamifying development

(34:43) 5 necessities for high performing teams

(39:00) Understanding your team’s needs

(40:46) Best moments with England

(43:03) Importance of small wins

(46:00) First step in turning the ship around

(48:28) Importance of awareness and desire for change

(50:03) What underpins team’s actions

(51:00) Successfully challenging status quo

(54:44) The COM-B model of behaviour change

(58:00) The issue with culture

(58:50) The culture change trade-off

(1:00:12) Aligning your mission & values with your identity

(1:04:20) Detaching yourself from the outcome

(1:07:16) Traits of the world’s best athletes

(1:09:17) Mindfulness for sustainable success

(1:13:20) Opportunity vs threat mindset

(1:16:00) Traits of the world’s best leaders

(1:16:58) Hiring vs developing mindset

(1:21:23) Word association

(1:23:45) Summary & insights

(1:36:58) 3 key takeaways

In part of two of my conversation with ex-colleague and UK special forces sergeant major Gaz Banford, Gaz shares his wisdom on how to create a resilient, high trust culture within your organisation.

He breaks down the crucial components underpinning resilient, high trust teams and intelligent ways for overcoming the constraints experienced in corporate environments.

He also shares what it takes to lead a resilient, high trust team and the common challenges you’re likely to experience in building one.

Last but not least, Gaz breaks down the myth that companies can’t develop a level of connection, trust and belonging on par with Special Forces teams, despite a lack of life or death scenarios and far less time together.

You can expect to understand;

- How to build and lead resilient, high trust teams

- How to sustainably maintain high standards

- How to effectively manage and even benefit from conflict

- And how to develop a deep level of connection, trust and belonging within your team

As always, if you enjoyed the episode and want to be the first to hear when new episodes drop, please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.

Most importantly, thank you as always for watching and listening. This podcast was created for you, and I hope you enjoy the episode.

(0:00) Podcast intro

(0:50) Guest intro

(02:16) How special forces teams build connection and trust

(03:24) The difference between military & corporate setups

(04:00) Your screening process as the first trust-builder

(05:05) James Clear’s 4 burners

(08:53) The importance of clear goals, time management &

communication

(13:45) How to maintain or rebuild trust

(16:16) His greatest test of leadership

(18:39) Understanding your team

(19:59) Challenges of hybrid/remote teams

(21:00) Can companies develop trust to the same extent

(22:08) How to develop deep levels of connection & trust

(24:00) The importance of over-communicating

(26:25) Word association

(28:13) Episode summary & takeaways

(32:14) 3 action points

(33:07) Coming up next

In today’s episode I welcome a former-colleague and UK Special Forces sergeant major Gary ‘Gaz’ Banford to the podcast.

During a career spanning more than two decades, Gaz led teams within one of the most elite special forces units in the world, the Special Boat Service, and later led the recruitment arm of UK Special Forces.

Gaz is now the Founder and CEO of Duratas, where he coaches senior leaders to be more authentic and resilient.

Through the stories and wisdom gained, Gaz and I discuss the special forces’ approach to attracting and hiring the right people, where the side effect of a poor hire could be a matter of life or death.

Gaz breaks down the misconceptions surrounding what the ‘right person’ is and instead explains the crucial qualities you should be screening for to identify the best people to take your team to the next level.

You can expect to understand;

- How to identify the ‘right’ people for your team and company

- How to specifically attract these people

- How to screen candidates for the most crucial qualities

- And how to build a team which take your company to the next level

As always, if you enjoyed the episode and want to be the first to hear when new episodes drop, please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.

Most importantly, thank you for watching and listening. This podcast was created for you, and I hope you enjoy the episode.

(0:00) Podcast intro

(0:50) Guest intro

(02:22) Gaz’s story

(05:25) The difference between SBS & SAS

(08:06) The power of healthy competition

(09:50) The UK Special Forces hiring process

(11:50) What inspired Gaz to sign up

(14:31) The stages of UKSF Selection

(16:13) How to attract & find the right people

(22:42) The importance of authenticity in recruitment

(24:42) Hiring for values & character vs skills

(30:41) How to adopt values-based hiring

(33:13) Hiring for potential vs experience

(36:52) The importance of alignment to the mission

(37:44) Communicating the role with authenticity

(40:20) Episode summary & takeaways

(45:56) 3 action points

(47:46) Coming up next

Welcome back. In today’s episode and part two of my chat with Scott, we discuss the similarities between high pressure boardrooms and preparing for the Tour de France.

Scott breaks down the misconceptions around the phrase ‘marginal gains’, what it takes to repeatedly perform at the highest level under pressure and how to rediscover your innate, child-like curiosity within.

You can expect to understand;

- How to adapt and evolve quicker than the competition

- How to create a deep sense of connection in your company

- And how to repeatedly perform at your best

As always, if you enjoy the episode and want to be the first to hear when new episodes drop, please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast. Thanks for listening and enjoy.

(0:00) Podcast intro

(0:50) Guest intro

(01:39) Chasing the Tour De France

(2:25) Demystifying marginal gains

(04:47) The keys to high performance organisations

(05:13) Is ‘winning’ enough?

(07:26) Sustainable high performance

(08:36) The importance of change

(10:41) Creating connection & belonging

(12:39) Healthy high performance

(14:55) A ‘whole person’ approach

(18:34) The shared responsibility of recovery

(20:50) Understanding your own needs

(21:20) Structuring rest & recovery

(22:14) Creating a culture which values recovery

(25:39) Word association

(26:54) Episode takeaways

(28:53) 3 action points (screenshot)

(30:27) Coming up next

Over the last 20 years, Scott has led human performance departments across some of the most elite sports organisations in the world.

He was Head of Research and Innovation for Team GB over 5 Olympic cycles, led England Rugby’s Player Development Pathway, headed up Team Sky’s Performance Hub with the job title ‘Imagineer’ in the Tour De France & now, as Director of Sport at Millfield, is building a team responsible for inspiring a generation at the leading sports school in the country.

Over the last two decades, Scott’s roles in research and innovation required him to look outside the traditional confines of sport. And much like this podcast, involved him bringing together some of the greatest thinkers across sport, science, business and the arts to discover new breakthroughs and explore human potential from different perspectives.

He holds a PhD in Sport Science, has published 36 research papers, but most importantly, he manages to maintain the same child-like curiosity and energy for innovation and unlocking talent as he did 20 years ago.

In today’s episode we discuss innovation and it’s precursors; curiosity and creativity.

Scott explains his journey, the startup-like atmosphere when he joined Team Sky and what he attributes his high level of curiosity.

We talk about how in the infinite game of business, where you can’t win or lose but simply get ahead or fall behind, the goal is actually to out-innovate the competition.

And Scott explains the 2-3 most crucial components for companies and teams to achieve this.

You can expect to understand;

- The essential components for innovation

- How to do it better than your competition

- How to reframe risk for next-level innovation

- The inner-workings of British Cycling’s famous ‘secret-squirrel club’

As always, if you enjoyed this episode please like, rate, subscribe, leave a review and share it with others. Thanks for listening and enjoy.

(0:00) Podcast intro

(0:50) Guest intro

(3:01) Scott’s journey

(6:03) What led Scott down this path?

(9:17) The risk-curiosity relationship

(10:59) Depth vs diversity of experience

(12:16) British Cycling’s ‘secret squirrel club’

(13:50) Scott Barry Kauffman’s research on creativity (video = • Scott Barry Kaufman: The Messy Minds ... ) (paper = https://scottbarrykaufman.com///wp-co...)

(14:39) Build a diverse toolbox

(15:57) Conducting an orchestra

(17:07) Mid-episode summary

(17:38) Startup mentality

(18:49) Sweet-spot alignment

(19:25) The importance of constraints

(20:12) The only sustainable competitive advantage

(20:41) The Red Queen Effect

(21:20) How to measure innovation?

(23:38) The resources-innovation paradox

(25:40) 3 measures of an individual’s innovation potential

(27:49) 3 measures of an organisation’s innovation potential

(30:41) 2 biggest learnings from 5 Olympics

(35:49) Episode takeaways

(38:03) 3 action points (screenshot)

(38:58) Coming up next

Hi everyone, I’m excited to officially welcome you to the Elite Team Talks podcast. I’m Henry Cheetham, your host and the founder of Elite Human Solutions.

Firstly, thanks for joining us, and today, I’ll be sharing the story of how the Elite Team Talks podcast came to be.

To provide you with a more interesting experience over the next ten minutes, here’s an illustration of our origin story.

If you are excited to hear from the best teams in the world, make sure to like and subscribe to the podcast to be the first to hear when new episodes drop.

So without further ado, here is our origin story. I hope you enjoy.

(00:00) Podcast intro

(00:50) Episode intro

(01:27) Our origin story

(11:25) Episode outro

(11:35) Coming up next