In this week’s episode John & Rachael discuss the phenomenal event that is the Vendéeglobe 2020; what leaders can learn from the longest, loneliest, most demanding race in the world, and how it’s inspired John to take on a physical challenge of his own - to run 5km every day for 70 days. They discuss the concept of finding inspiration in isolation. Of what it’s like to lead yourself and others in times when one might feel lonely or having your autonomy taken away in lockdown. How we all need to find new ways to challenge ourselves to increase our feelings of competence, autonomy and relatedness (Self-determination theory) to sustain positive well-being. John’s Leadership Essentials: 

As part of John's Vendéesaxton, inspired by the Vendéglobe we’ve also got a competition for you our podcast listeners to win two free coaching sessions, including a personalised values & anti- values assessment with a qualified executive coach, for five lucky winners to help you get 2021 off to the best start. Enter here
 You can follow John’s 70 day journey on Instagram here  Check out John’s sport inspired Leadership Essentials here  

In this weeks episode Rachael & John interview Drew Povey; his love for leadership, infectious energy and effective communication style encourages learning in all of us. 
Drew’s Leadership Essentials
1. Leaders have got to be learners2. Leaders have to take responsibility3. Leaders cannot care enough
Blog

• Leadership language in a remote world

Books & Articles

Further Reading 
Throughout the podcast Drew shares what he’s learned from other people, here’s a selection from the show that might interest you:
Students

Extended Reading and References for the curious:

In this weeks episode our Coaches tackle the thorny subject of Undiscussables; they take a curious look at why conversations that really need to happen, don't, and how leaders should go about it?

Our Leadership Essentials

The Facilitator Approach

If you are interested in learning about how a facilitator would approach this; you can listen to an example in our fictional organisation where an undiscussable issue is causing our CEO a real headache. Looking at this issue with questions posed by the Facilitator and the steps he takes our team through, show how it is possible to make everyone feel comfortable about solving the problem.

What do you do when your world falls apart? You make a decision to believe in yourself. Fascinating and inspiring interview with:

Kurt Ewald Lindley (@coachdeveloper) is founder of bemorelnd helping support lasting change and squeeze more from what's already there. He is also Captain of #LearningScientistMag a platform for a community of invested individuals talking all things people development.

Kurt's Leadership Essentials:

Kurt tells his story where after a devastating life event, he regards life as a choice, and how we respond to it. It's not all about winning, and beating others; there's always a loser and that could be you. People keep looking for the right answer and sometimes there isn't one, so why keep looking?

In this weeks episode Rachael and John discuss why goal setting is generally poor, outcomes disappointing leaving people feeling flat.

Research shows that goal focussed people live more accomplished, motivated and successful lives - the trick seems to have something to do with how they are set, and the type of conversations we have.

Our Leadership Essentials:

More Detail, Templates, & Tips

The Coaching Approach:

George discovers that his goal setting approach has delivered far reaching unintended consequences for his leadership team and its having a detrimental effect in his personal life too.

When it comes to networking there's nobody quite as prolific as Keith Madeley, aka Mr. Yorkshire

When your supposed to be "positive" all the time, you start to feel that we are either not facing up to the truth, or some of us just can't handle it.

If only we got our story straight; imagine the possibilities....

In this weeks episode Rachael & John discuss what happened when Rachael set herself the challenge of running the Virtual London Marathon with minimal training. What motivated Rachael to do this? How did she prepare? What happened? And what developing mental toughness has to do with this and leadership?

If you were inspired by this podcast please sponsor my friend Sarah. All money goes to Scope and kids like beautiful Stanley here.

Rachaels Leadership Essentials (1:09:40)

1. Have a Clear Purpose
2. Look into what #MentalToughness means and how you can improve your mental toughness
3. Never underestimate the power of support in any peak performance

There's lots of useful reminders of how to go about understanding your #MentalToughness throughout this podcast. Here are some of the tools Rachael references.

Professor Peter Clough's 4 C’s model of Mental Toughness

If you want to read up on Holmes and Collins (2001)  PETTLEP model, this article is a good place to start

PETTLEP stands for:

Physical
Environment
Task
Time
Learning
Emotion
Perspective

Find out your mental toughness score: MTQ48

Here are a few podcasts and apps you might enjoy and find interesting  recommended by Rachael:  Lebron James

Rich Roll:
https://bit.ly/3nwxE0c

https://bit.ly/3nrW7nn

In this weeks podcast John & Rachael tackle the number one topic that people bring to coaching - Confidence. Through the lens “that you are enough” and what you tell yourself sticks, they share a few tips to help us think about it differently and reset our inner thoughts.

The Leadership Essentials

In The Coaching Approach the pressure is on and John has a crisis of confidence. With his coach they discuss what he is actually spending his time thinking about; on reflection John is able to use the leadership essentials to re-frame his thinking about the type of leader he can become.