RowingChat with Michael D'Eredita who is currently the High Performance Director of the Portugese rowing team. Michael has a background in cognitive psychology as well as a lifelong passion for rowing. He helped found a Finnish University rowing programme and now commutes to Portugal for his work.

Timestamps to the interview:

0.00 Background in rowing

03:00 Link between rowing and organizational behaviour

07:00 Types of leadership style in a rowing club; politics in a rowing club

13:00 Starting a rowing program from scratch

15:00 What does a "difference maker" do? Be transformational before you are transactional

20:00 Start discussions with the metrics of success

22:00 Being the Portugese national team high performance Director - the job started in Finland

25:00 What does a High Performance director do?

28:00 Try to centre around the athletes so their experience is continuous

34:00 Centralised training system based around Luis Teixeira the President of the Federation http://www.worldrowing.com/athletes/athlete/33141/teixeira-luis

37:00 Does decentralised training work?

41:00 Can a coach "change" the people she coaches?

48:00 The uniqueness of rowing and collective experience

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