Leaders Performance Podcast The Leaders Performance Institute

“Serial winning coaches don’t just want to get ahead – they want to stay ahead,” Professor Cliff Mallett tells the Leaders Performance Podcast.“But they know that staying ahead means having healthy relationships of mutual trust and care with the people that they work with.”Cliff and his colleague Sergio Lara-Bercial join Henry Breckenridge and John Portch for this episode to discuss their new book Learning from Serial Winning Coaches: Caring Determination.In an extended chat we delve into:* Why Serial Winning Coaches are the ‘outliers amongst outliers’ [7:00];* How coaches should approach developing ‘care’ and ‘determination’ with their athletes [31:00];* How Serial Winning Coaches can help us to inform the identification, recruitment and development of the next generation of coaches [39:30];* Why coaching is about striving, surviving and thriving [45:00].Learning from Serial Winning Coaches: Caring Determination (https://www.routledge.com/Learning-from-Serial-Winning-Coaches-Caring-Determination/Mallett-Lara-Bercial/p/book/9780367347185) is published by Routledge.Henry Breckenridge Twitter (https://twitter.com/HenryBreck) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrybreckenridge/)John Portch Twitter (https://twitter.com/JohnPortch) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-portch-696a4366/)Listen above and subscribe today on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/leaders-performance-podcast/id1124488318?mt=2), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4EKIUuWYk5SWWqRWRQfw3z?si=epSPBhLdREOwtHiGYJnvEg), Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leaders/the-leaders-performance-podcast) and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1124488318/leaders-performance-podcast), or your chosen podcast platform.

Collier Madaleno recalls the story of a defensive lineman that had put on weight during the pandemic when college football was brought to a halt.“He used that next year to really focus on nutrition,” she tells Joe and John. “[He] got down and dropped his body fat percentage by 7%, lost 45lbs [20.4kg], and he was a first-round draft pick.“He just did such a good job at buying in and it made him a faster, more explosive person. He never lost any muscle mass, which meant he was really focusing in on eating enough of just the right things so that we were able to retain that muscle and focus on losing that fat.”Collier’s pride is palpable, particularly as a native of Athens, Georgia, and long-term Bulldogs fan. “It’s so much fun to see them buy-in and then say ‘C, I feel so much better in practice’. ‘C, I didn’t know I could have this much energy’. It’s probably the most rewarding part of my job.”In this edition of The People Behind the Tech podcast, Collier lifts the lid on her work as the Director of Football Performance Nutrition at the Georgia Bulldogs, who retained the NCAA national championship in January.During the course of the conversation, we covered:How student-athletes are introduced to performance nutrition on campus [6:00];The importance of team leaders buying into her work [11:00];The question of recovery and inflammation [21:00];How Collier stays current in her work [22:30].Joe Lemire Twitter (https://twitter.com/LemireJoe) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lemirejoe/)John Portch Twitter (https://twitter.com/JohnPortch) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-portch-696a4366/)Listen above and subscribe today on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/leaders-performance-podcast/id1124488318?mt=2), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4EKIUuWYk5SWWqRWRQfw3z?si=epSPBhLdREOwtHiGYJnvEg), Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leaders/the-leaders-performance-podcast) and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1124488318/leaders-performance-podcast), or your chosen podcast platform.

The rise of Toulouse FC has been both fast and meticulously planned.Le Téfécé were Ligue 2 champions in 2022 and, last season, won the Coupe de France – their first major trophy in 66 years.Toulouse also finished 13th in their first season back in Ligue 1 – well clear of the relegation zone. Not that Damien Comolli, the club’s President since 2020, is resting on this laurels.“Everyone said ‘well done on staying up’ but we’re not interested in staying up – we never mentioned staying up – we said we want to finish as high as possible,” he tells the Leaders Performance Podcast.“There are games that we feel we should have won and could have won. We lacked this cutting edge, this winning mentality at times, we should have got more points, we should have finished higher than 13th in the table.”Damien Comolli has overseen the Toulouse’s resurgence under new owners RedBird Capital Partners, but he couldn’t have done it without his ‘truth teller’, the club’s Head of Strategy & Culture, Selinay Gürgenç Comolli, and Julien Demeaux, Toulouse’s Head of Data.Both Selinay and Julien joined Damien for this episode, which is brought to you by our Main Partners Keiser.The theme is Toulouse’s upwards trajectory and what it is going to take to help establish the club at the vanguard of European football.On today’s agenda:* Damien on the importance of having a ‘truth teller’* How he is working to prevent Toulouse being a ‘one-season-wonder’* Selinay on the importance of the club’s strategic committee* Julien on the comparative immaturity of data usage in football Henry Breckenridge Twitter (https://twitter.com/HenryBreck) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrybreckenridge/)John Portch Twitter (https://twitter.com/JohnPortch) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-portch-696a4366/)Listen above and subscribe today on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/leaders-performance-podcast/id1124488318?mt=2), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4EKIUuWYk5SWWqRWRQfw3z?si=epSPBhLdREOwtHiGYJnvEg), Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leaders/the-leaders-performance-podcast) and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1124488318/leaders-performance-podcast), or your chosen podcast platform.

“When a club as big as Racing come to you and say ‘we want you, there is no plan B, you’re our No 1 man’ then it helps persuade you”.Stuart Lancaster, the new Director of Rugby at Racing 92, agreed to join the Parisian club last September while enjoying his seventh season as Senior Coach at Leinster. It meant a fresh challenge for the man who also coached England at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.Says Lancaster: “For the first time, really, my head was turned a little bit by the opportunity to try something new in a different country, in a different competition, the Top 14, and to try and build something as successful as Leinster but in a completely different context”.He discusses his move at length in today’s episode, which is brought to you by our Main Partners Keiser. During the conversation with Henry and John, he also touches upon:* His efforts to sell change to the existing players and staff at Racing [9:40];* Why he will need to be more hands-on in year one than he has been at Leinster [19:30];* His belief in the enduring value of coaching [25:20];* His relationship with Dallas Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn [36:30].Henry Breckenridge Twitter (https://twitter.com/HenryBreck) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrybreckenridge/)John Portch Twitter (https://twitter.com/JohnPortch) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-portch-696a4366/)Listen above and subscribe today on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/leaders-performance-podcast/id1124488318?mt=2), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4EKIUuWYk5SWWqRWRQfw3z?si=epSPBhLdREOwtHiGYJnvEg), Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leaders/the-leaders-performance-podcast) and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1124488318/leaders-performance-podcast), or your chosen podcast platform.

“With technology now, we’re starting to understand movement in a way that we didn’t really understand before,” Keke Lyles tells Joe Lemire and John Portch.The Director of Performance at Uplift Labs was on the pod to discuss how the company’s AI can reduce injury risk in athletes.There is no better candidate to delve into injury prevention and mitigation than the man often credited with saving Steph Curry’s ankle.We made a whistlestop tour of his work at the Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks and, of course, the Golden State Warriors.Also on the agenda were:* How the stress of a season can affect movement quality, tissue quality, and range of motion [14:00];* The often misunderstood elements of load management [17:00];* Keke’s jump from the world of sport into the tech space [31:20];* Why he believes the next performance frontier will be in player development [34:30]. Joe Lemire Twitter (https://twitter.com/LemireJoe) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lemirejoe/)John Portch Twitter (https://twitter.com/JohnPortch) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-portch-696a4366/)Listen above and subscribe today on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/leaders-performance-podcast/id1124488318?mt=2), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4EKIUuWYk5SWWqRWRQfw3z?si=epSPBhLdREOwtHiGYJnvEg), Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leaders/the-leaders-performance-podcast) and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1124488318/leaders-performance-podcast), or your chosen podcast platform.

Mark Gannon, the CEO of UK Coaching, feels that it is about time that coaches were perceived as people too.UK Coaching is an association that connects and supports approximately 180,000 coaches from grassroots to elite level through its UK Coaching Club.“Coaching is all about the right environment,” he tells the Leaders Performance Podcast. “So we’ve got psychologists, nutritionists, that sort of athlete support personnel that we wrap around the athlete and I think what we need to start thinking about now is that coaches are people too and how do we wrap the same sort of support, differently, around the coach?“If you work for a financial organisation, you’ve got a head of culture or people or HR, and there’s certain things in place in your work environment. Well, that shouldn’t be any different in our sector, maybe in our sector there’s a bit of catching up to do.“It’s twee, but people are your greatest asset and the more that we can look after people and the more we can make the environment the right environment, the more people are going to succeed.”Ahead of UK Mental Health Awareness Week, which runs 15-19 May, Henry and John caught up with Mark, who discussed how teams and organisations can better help their coaches. He also touches upon:The notion that we all tread a fine line when it comes to our mental wellbeing [9:00];The perennial question of job security and its impact on coaches [10:30];UK Coaching’s work with partners to help identify changes of behaviour in coaches [18:00];How coaches can protect their own wellbeing [25:00].Henry Breckenridge Twitter (https://twitter.com/HenryBreck) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrybreckenridge/)John Portch Twitter (https://twitter.com/JohnPortch) | LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-portch-696a4366/)Listen above and subscribe today on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/leaders-performance-podcast/id1124488318?mt=2), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4EKIUuWYk5SWWqRWRQfw3z?si=epSPBhLdREOwtHiGYJnvEg), Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leaders/the-leaders-performance-podcast) and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1124488318/leaders-performance-podcast), or your chosen podcast platform.