infinite pie thinking

Tom Sears is a senior sports industry leader with over 20 years’ global experience in senior roles with National Governing Bodies, provincial associations, professional clubs and government funded agencies. His experience includes Chief Executive and leadership positions worldwide and this background gives him a unique insight into the sector and the requirements for both executive and non-executive positions in this rapidly growing and influential industry. 

 In 2017 he established leading sports industry executive search and leadership development specialists Kinsey Sears and in 2020 he founded the Professional Body of Sports Leadership.

 During his career Tom has led major sports organisations through successful restructure and growth, developed new products and markets, negotiated major commercial contracts and international broadcast rights and experienced elite level competition at several World Cups, international, regional and domestic tournaments.

 He has extensive experience of leadership development and recruitment in the sector and has successfully worked with a huge range of sports organisations internationally including leadership teams and Boards in Australasia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe as well as the UK.

 Whether you run a business, lead a team or aspire to, or you are keen to see what organisations look for in their leadership, there is all of that and more in this conversation. So take a listen and let me know what you think.

Hi, I'm Al Fawcett and this is Infinite Pie Thinking.

So what can you expect from infinite pie thinking? Well, we share stories and lessons from people who have been there and done that. We explore  the infinite performance improvement experiences that  each of them have gone through and what you may be able to take from. I hope it inspires, informs, educates and motivates you to take time to see where you want to and can improve your performance. Whether it is goal setting, self awareness and evaluation, decision making, team building, succession planning, or the importance of taking action, in these conversations, I speak with world champions, elite athletes and coaches, psychologists, award winning entrepreneurs and business leaders, entertainers, and creatives about their past, their present and their future, and what they do to ensure that they continue to get better.

Of course if you  are working on your own goals and  performance improvement and want to explore how our coaching could help, you can reach out to me over at infinitepie.co.uk.

In the meantime, keep doing stuff that matters, with people who count. 

Darius Boyd is a man who set out with the childhood dream to play one game for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. After making his debut for the club at the age of 18, and winning a premiership in his first season, he went on to spend 15 years playing at the top level of the game.  Darius achieved almost every accolade that rugby league could offer, playing and winning honours with his clubs, State and Country before retiring after the 2020 season. 

You will hear Darius share how as an elite athlete, he learned about the importance of teamwork; the power of great coaches and coaching;  and surrounding yourself with quality people and quality information, on and off the field. Rest assured that his  journey in sports was much more than that. In 2014, Darius attracted national media attention when he walked away from the game to seek help for his mental health. He returned the following year to restart his career, earning the title of best player for the Queensland Maroons in 2016. Darius now applies the lessons that he has learned and experienced and the strategies both lived and studied to help others achieve the best from their teams through a focus on positive mental health. 

From goal setting to the importance of hard work; the value a coach and mentor can have; learning from experience;  feeling valued and feeling heard; your role in creating the right environment to inspire and support you; how leadership comes in many styles and approaches; how caring about the individual is the foundation of building a successful team; as well as helping those around to you to get better, to be better and to do better, were just some of the things I took away from this conversation.

They say there is no ‘I’ in team, but Darius Boyd has a slightly different spin on it, and you can head over to theiinteam.com.au to find out a lot more. I would also recommend that you check out his book “Battling the Blues” if you get the chance. I also suggest you read the original post that Darius posted on LinkedIn that inspired me to reach out to him in the first place. You can find it here - Five Reasons For Maroons Origins Success

So a big thank you to Darius and to you for taking some time to check it out and give this a listen. If you enjoyed it, let me know what you took from it and I would love it if you shared it with someone else that you feel will get something from it. 

Of course if you  are working on your own goals and  performance improvement and want to explore how our coaching could help, you can reach out to me over at infinitepie.co.uk.

In the meantime, keep doing stuff that matters, with people who count. 

Zak Brown is the CEO of McLaren Racing. It’s a role that gives him the overall responsibility for the McLaren Racing organisation, including the strategic direction, operational performance, marketing and commercial development of the McLaren Formula 1 and IndyCar programmes.

Zak’s road to becoming a leader in the racing industry started as a professional driver, racing in the USA and Europe. It was in 1995 that Zak then focused on the business side, founding the agency JMI, which grew to become the largest motorsport marketing agency in the world and was acquired by Chime Communications PLC in 2013 as part of its sports marketing division, CSM. Zac was appointed the company's Chief Executive Officer before joining McLaren.

With a huge history in F1, a legacy of success, a fantastic fan base, and one of the most popular driver line ups, I was keen to understand when you join and lead a brand like McLaren, what do you do and where do you start? 

Whether you lead a team or a member of a team, whether that team is large or small, personal or professional, there are key elements that create its identity and can influence its performance.

Jeremy Holt BA (Hons) MSc CPschol specialises in team performance and high performing teams. Jeremy is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist with 30 years’ experience of consultancy, coaching and training and has a degree in Social Psychology and an MSc in Occupational Psychology. He also founded the Centre for Team Excellence more than 20 years ago and it helps to train and coach teams and leaders to improve performance, resilience and satisfaction by applying an in-depth understanding of the psychology of team dynamics. In 2013 he also began a collaboration with Sussex University to research the psychology of team performance, which has resulted in his TRIBE model based on an extensive body of research evidence.

Jeremy has worked with world leading organisations in variety of industries including corporate,  the public sector, sports and the military such as the finance and banking; pharmaceutical; Formula 1; English cricket; International rugby; the British Army; Royal Navy; Royal Marines; Royal Airforce and various security services amongst others. He provides leadership development and leading high performance teams training focused on improving the performance of teams and leaders.

So, today we are going to tap into this a little bit and explore what it means to 

• be a high performing team, 
• create an identity, 
• the importance of engagement
• the need to feel part of something and why. 

If you want to know more about and talk with Jeremy Holt on High Performing Team Identity, then head over to the website for the Centre for team Excellence at www.cfte.co.uk

Jeremy Blain is passionate about Learning and Development. Jeremy is also passionate about how to apply it. Through both his research and experience, Jeremy helps leaders and managers to define strategies to implement digital and human transformations for the modern workplace.

Jeremy is the Chief executive of PerformanceWorks International (PWI), a company that helps organisations, executive boards, leaders and teams succeed in the digital climate amidst disruption, opportunity and uncertainty. Jeremy combines his leadership know-how as an international CEO and executive board officer in the UK and Asia with his experience as a learning and human capital professional of over 20 years.

In his new book "The Inner CEO: unleashing leaders at all levels", Jeremy provides a practical, how-to book on how to bring in a true age of empowerment within our organisations. It shares the context, best practice examples, interviews, new models and comes complete with a 90-day starter roadmap – at both organisation and individual level focused .

After researching and writing 30 industry white papers, Jeremy wrote the book as he felt there was a gap for those looking to understand how to unleash the Inner CEO within our people and create the conditions where everyone has the opportunity to contribute beyond their job role, more strategically across the broader organisation.

To learn more about Jeremy Blain and his work -

Jeremy Blain on LinkedIn
Jeremy Blain on Twitter
PerformanceWorks.global

and to check out his book -

Inner CEO via Amazon UK
Inner CEO via Amazon USA

Today I am speaking with Emily Chang and I highly recommend that you get a pen and paper ready as Emily has an amazing outlook on both business and life in general.

Emily has more than 20 years‘ experience, holding senior executive positions focused on Customer Experience, Business Strategy, Cross-Cultural Team Leadership, Change Management as well as Brand Building.

After spending 11 years at P&G, Emily moved Apple to establish the face of the brand in China, and was promoted to Head of Retail Marketing, Asia. 

Emily then joined the Intercontinental Hotels Group -  IHG Greater China - as Chief Commercial Officer to lead Organisational Renewal, create a High Performing Organisation, and shape the Sales & Marketing Strategy.  With a core focus invested in people & culture development, there was an  increase Employee Satisfaction of nearly 40%, and a material improvement in Guest Satisfaction.

Emily moved to Starbucks in 2017 to look after the  branded customer experience, first as Chief Marketing Officer of China, then as Senior Vice President Marketing based in Seattle.

Now Emily is back in Shanghai as CEO China for the McCann Worldgroup, and we discuss her current focus and approach to leading the business.

Now, If that wasn’t enough, Emily has also gone on to write a book sharing her own experience and those of others based on her concept of The Spare Room.  Emily believes that we all must lead with authenticity and purpose, understanding that it’s tough to lead a socially responsible business if we aren’t socially purposeful leaders.

The title of the book comes from the fact that her family's spare bedroom has become a way to serve the community in which she lives, where over the last two decades, she and her family have cared for sixteen hurt or vulnerable children and young people. A fact that they have come to see as their Social Legacy.

I truly appreciate Emily's openness and authenticity as she highlighted the importance of feedback, working as a team, listening to the people around you, and finding that intersection of what offends you and what you have to offer. It really hit me, as we discussed this concept, how often I see and experience conversations in which people, including myself, can be happy to point out what we see or feel is wrong, but not explore what we can bring to the party to work on being the change we are hoping for. Of course, as we discuss, this is not about being perfect. Far from it. It's about observing what's going on around you. It is about working out how you can be part of a solution, about taking action, and about creating change. It's about making a difference. 

I'm sure that you agree that I could have taken this conversation in so many directions and explored each of different elements further, as whole episodes in themselves, which I believe is a great testament to who Emily is. So, if you want to know more about Emily Chang and how she is making a difference, then you can follow her on LinkedIn and you can also head to social-legacy.com where there are some cool videos of her talks, great blogposts and of course information about her new book The Spare Room.

I took a lot from this conversation and it's made me think about what I do, how I help and where I can make a difference. I'd love to hear what you took from it. 

And don’t forget, If you want to hear more great stories from remarkable people, or find out more about our coaching, consultancy or new audio services and how they can help you to improve your performance and make a difference  both individually and organisationally, then head over to infinitepie.co.uk and get in touch.

Today's conversation is with Paul Trainor founder of Positive Synergy limited, a consultancy that works with individuals and organisations within sports business and education to help improve performance.

Paul shares his background, role models and mentors and his personal experience, including signing on for his boyhood rugby league club, the Salford Red Devils, before realising that his future lay elsewhere.  Turning to education and teaching, Paul held senior leadership roles in 4 different schools across the North West of England. Whilst still involved in the education, Paul provides support to the sector via his consultancy Positive Synergy limited. 
Paul Trainor  works to support performance development of both individuals and the organisations as a whole, focusing in on areas such as mental toughness, ownership and responsibility, building a winning and success mindset and mentality, and characteristics, beliefs and behaviours in excellence.

Oh and you will also hear how he has now come full circle and back at the Salford Red Devils but this time as a Director.

If you want to know more about Paul Trainor you can find him on Linkedin or via Twitter.

And don’t forget, If you want to hear more great stories from remarkable people, or find out more about our coaching, consultancy or new audio services and how they can help you to improve your performance both individually and organisationally, then head over to infinitepie.co.uk and get in touch or arrange a quick discovery call to discuss and explore it further.

You can also follow us on -

LinkedIn - Al Fawcett or Infinite Pie
Twitter - @infinitepie

It is always great to hear from you.

Doc Ruben Perczek is a High Performance Strategist who specialises in supporting his clients to create success and make a sustainable impact through the development of top talent. He describes the people he and his team serve as "co-creators of change" and "conscious high performers." "Co-creators" because they know that sustainable positive change in high performance occurs through shared collaboration to find solutions that generate success, and "conscious" because they are aware that the path to success in high performance requires a constant openness to learning. 

This desire to help others followed his own involvement and achievements in sports. 5 national championships, and a ranking in the world youth top 5 before his 15th birthday, Doc Ruben competed on the professional tennis circuit as a member of the Colombian Davis Cup team. His training in high-performance sports led him to discover his purpose. He looked to focus on and explore how to uncap the highest potential of high performers in sports and public life.

As a result he decided to train academically to increase his impact. His work at the University of California at Irvine led him to specialise at the Stanford School of Medicine where he began to develop his own methodology which he went on to eventually define as  "The 7 Roots of Potential". Based on framework and his strategic discipline and approach, he helps public leaders and professional sports institutions. His focus and intention is top evolve high performing cultures, guiding the alignment within leadership teams and the development of their top talent, without killing spirit and passion along the way.

In the last 20 years, Dr. Ruben Perczek has worked to support and develop high performance cultures and leaders in organisations across various sectors and industries, including the sports and public service industries. His experience as a strategic advisor includes his work with The Oxford Leadership Academy, Governments of Canada and Mexico,  Shambhala Institute of Authentic Leadership, International Forum for Environmental Sustainability - Government of Iceland, adidas NA and LATAM, The Office of the Mayor in Miami, Florida, ShopRite, Department of Athletics at the University of Miami, and head coaches and professional athletes in diverse Olympic and professional sports.

In this conversation we discuss what we mean by high performance, the difference between problem solving and possibility discovery, the idea of getting back to a blank slate and the concept of being ok with not knowing. We talk about the fact that we don’t have to always feel like we have all the answers. That if we move from constantly problem solving and looking to provide the answers and solutions, and move towards discovering possibilities and starting to ask more questions, and exploring more opportunities, then we can achieve great things. 

Why not head over to docruben.com and you can find out more about Dr Ruben Perczek Ph.D and his work. 

Of course if you want to hear more great stories from remarkable people, or find out more about our coaching, consultancy or new audio services and how they can help you to improve your performance both individually and organizationally, then head over to infinitepie.co.uk. Get in touch or arrange a quick discovery call to discuss and explore it further. 

It will be great to hear from you.

In this episode I am speaking with Endurance Adventurer, Sean Conway. Sean has set out and achieved some incredible challenges, and of course along the way has seen his fair share of set backs as well. 

His adventures include (amongst many others)

• running from Conwy Castle in North Wales to Castle Conway in West Ireland; 
• an across Europe cycle ride - a 3890 mile route from Portugal to Russia, that he achieved in 24 days, 18 hours and 39 minutes;
• a 4200 mile triathlon around the coast of Britain, attempting the feat completely self supported and setting a world record by completing it in 85 days; 
• kayaking down the Thames for 7 days, starting Boxing Dox, 
• setting a world record by sailing the length of Britain, completing the 700 miles in 83 hours and 53 minutes;
• a Round world cycling challenge

During the conversation you will hear the motivation behind the adventures, how Sean went from chasing the money to chasing his goals, and the core principle of having no "Plan B".  He shares his insights and perspective on personal responsibility and self awareness. The importance on really taking time to reflect, and to know and understand yourself. Optimising your performance can come through listening to your body, but of course, I also believe it is important to review your thinking.

If you want to follow or find out more about Sean, then you can follow him on instagram using @seanconwayadventure or you can head to his website seanconway.com where you can learn more about what he has done, what is doing or find his books and other information. 

I also mentioned during my conversation with Sean that I capture stories for future generations.  This has been something we have added to what we offer at infinite pie, in addition to coaching, consultancy and providing facilitated audio narrative services for businesses and business leaders. If you would be interested in talking through any of these, then head over to infinitepie.co.uk and get in touch or arrange a quick discovery call to discuss and explore it further. 

It will be great to hear from you.

Today I am speaking with author and co-writer, Mark Eglinton. 

Mark has written many books including 

• Blindsided with Rugby World Cup Winner (and previous guest on this show) Michael Lynagh, 
• Heavy Duty - Days and Night in Judas Priest - with musician K.K. Downing  
• Reboot: My Life My time - with professional Footballer, Michael Owen. 

In this conversation, you will hear about the lessons that Mark learned early on in his career as he tried to shortcut the system through the family business. Mark shares how he quickly learned what he was good at and what he wasn’t, and more importantly,  not to waste time trying to do the stuff he wasn’t good at. 

He shares how his experience as a caddie on the Old Course at St Andrews, was a great testing ground for developing relationships, asking great questions and getting to know people. And of course we will explore and discuss topics like effective collaboration, overcoming procrastination, creating structure and approach, getting to know your subject, finding the voice and doing the work. 

There is advice all the way through this conversation.