Our Great Coach on this episode is Rod Macqueen.

Rod is an Australian Rugby Union Coach.

Rod started coaching in the 1980’s before taking over the NSW Waratahs in 1991. From there he went on to become the inaugural coach for the Brumbies in the newly formed Super Rugby competition.

In 1997 he was appointed as the Head Coach of the Australian Wallabies, and the team goes on to win the 1999 World Cup, the Tri Nation series for the first time, the Bledisloe Cup 3 years in a row and then it culminates with being the first Australian team to win over the British & Irish Lions in 2001.

Rod is also successful business owner and in this interview talks about the similarities between sport and business when it comes to leadership, culture and strategy.

Some of the other key highlights of our discussion include:

• The journey of the Australian team towards winning the World Cup, and how he laid out the path to that victory by focusing the on 3 key elements of the journey; the beginning , the journey and the destiny.
• His views on the fine line between arrogance and confidence.
• How he used business plans to outline the vision for this teams, and a key part of that plan was the coaching succession plan to replace him.
• And The importance of empowering the players to make decisions, so that as the coach can look forward and try to see what is going to happen next.

This was a terrific conversation with Rod, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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In this episode of The Great Coaches Podcast, Paul explores the connection between leadership, coaching and learning through the wisdom of some of the world’s leading sports coaches. The conversation shows that great coaches are not defined by what they already know, but by their curiosity, humility and willingness to keep improving. Drawing on stories from boxing, basketball, rugby, hockey, swimming, cycling, gymnastics and other high-performance environments, this episode highlights how leaders create cultures where feedback is welcomed, mistakes become lessons and discomfort is treated as a sign of growth.

·        Why leadership and learning are inseparable.

·        How great coaches use reflection, feedback and honest conversations to improve.

·        The role of curiosity in building a growth mindset.

·        Why learning often happens outside your comfort zone.

·        How leaders can create environments where people learn through action, challenge and support.

·        Philip Sutcliffe Snr on why great coaches keep learning every day.

·        Jasmin Repesa on learning quickly and not repeating the same mistakes.

·        Bill Sweetenham on investing in your past to see your future.

·        Helene Wilson on action learning, feedback and critical conversations.

·        Danny Kerry and Andy Friend on curiosity as a defining trait of great coaches.

·        Brenda Brown, Joanne P. McCallie, Valorie Kondos Field and Cori Close on lifelong learning and growth mindset.

·        Hugh McCutcheon, Neil Craig and Glenn Pocknall on learning through challenge, discomfort and diverse teams.

·        Justin Langer on keeping a novice’s mindset throughout a coaching career.

·        Great coaches are lifelong learners. They continually assess their own gaps, seek feedback and stay open to new ideas.

·        Learning requires reflection. The best leaders review their past honestly, identify what worked and what did not, then adjust their approach.

·        Curiosity keeps ego in check. A curious leader can hold strong convictions while still asking, “How could we do this better?”

·        Discomfort is part of growth. Elite learning environments challenge people, expose weaknesses and turn adversity into development.

·        Learning is a team activity. Coaches grow faster when surrounded by people with different experiences, honest voices and shared commitment to improvement.

·        “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”

·        “You have to invest in your past to see your future.”

·        “If you’re not evolving, then you’re not getting better.”

·        “Everything that happens to me today is an opportunity to learn and grow.”

·        “I hope on the last day of my coaching career, I still consider myself as a novice coach.”

·        Leadership development

·        Coaching high-performance teams

·        Building a learning culture

·        Growth mindset and self-reflection

·        Turning feedback, mistakes and adversity into improvement

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Kevin Sharp: Building Trust, Self-Belief, and Resilience in Cricket Coaching

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it.. On the Great Coaches podcast, batting coach and former head coach Kevin Sharp discusses his background and formative travel experiences in Australia and South Africa, including living with Rick Charlesworth, which helped build resilience. Sharp explains what great coaches do differently—emotional intelligence, communication, culture-building, listening, and giving players ownership—grounded in trust and relationships. He describes “cradle to grave” coaching through youth development, illustrated by mentoring Joe Root from age 12. Sharp shares a self-talk method he used with Anthony McGrath to replace negative thoughts and reflects on his own confidence struggles and the value of seeking support. He recounts Worcestershire’s 2018 T20 title, emphasizing empowerment, leadership from Moeen Ali, and making tough selection decisions, and comments on unorthodox batting styles like Steve Smith’s.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Episode theme: Leadership and coaching through the lens of high-performance sport.

In this episode of The Great Coaches Podcast, we explore what great sporting coaches can teach us about leadership, culture and the responsibility of helping people become better. Drawing on insights from coaches across football, rugby, cricket, basketball, softball, cycling, gymnastics and netball, this episode examines how values shape behaviour, how trust creates the conditions for performance, and why the best leaders do more than set standards — they live them.

·        Why leadership starts with knowing your own values.

·        How behaviours make values visible to the people you lead.

·        Why team values must be co-created, not imposed by the leader.

·        The role of trust, camaraderie and joy in sustaining high performance.

·        How lessons from sport can transfer to families, workplaces and communities.

·        Values are the starting point. Great coaches understand themselves first, then use that self-awareness to guide how they lead others.

·        Culture is built through behaviour. Teams notice what leaders do every day, especially when pressure rises or shortcuts are available.

·        Trust comes before growth. People are more willing to be challenged, coached and developed when they believe the leader genuinely cares about them.

·        Leadership is shared. The strongest team values emerge when the group helps define what it wants to stand for.

·        Joy matters. Excellence requires effort, but joy helps people stay connected to the purpose and pride of the work.

This episode includes reflections from Lisa Fallon, Damian McGrath, Tanya Oxtoby, Sue Enquist, Simon Jones, Trevor Gleeson, Thomas Frank, Andy Friend, Conor O’Shea, Justin Langer, Jackie Carson Smith, Tim Walsh, Mirel Radoi, Peter Moores, Jan Stirling, Olaf Lange, Pokey Chatman, Cori Close, Julia Price, Brenda Kirkpatrick Brown, Valorie Kondos Field and Lisa Alexander.

·        The difference between stated values and lived values.

·        How leaders create standards without removing individuality.

·        The link between hard work, humility, togetherness and performance.

·        Why respect, passion, growth mindset, integrity and joy appear so often in great teams.

If this episode gives you one idea for your own dinner table, locker room or boardroom table, please share it with someone you lead or coach. You can find more interviews and leadership lessons at thegreatcoachespodcast.com.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Our Great Coach on this episode is Sue Enquist.

Sue played softball at UCLA from 1975 to 1978. She was a part of the team that won the 1978 Women's College World Series and became UCLA's first All-American softball player.

In 1980 she transitioned into coaching and retired with a career winning percentage of 83. As a coach her teams won 10 national championships, and her produced 65 All-Americans and 15 Olympians.

She was also a coach for 1996 Olympic Gold medal winning team.

In 2008 she was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame

Sue is a coach who believes in the type of transformational leadership where, in her words, you are more collaborative, truthful and positive in developing skills. She believes that when people feel safe they will go for it when it comes to courage, and that your role as a coach is to be the eyes of the athletes development, and feed them with what she is seeing in their progress.

She is also highly articulate, passionate and a firm believer in the importance of curiosity as a leader to ensure that your program is always changing and developing. She also explains that High performing teams have high standards, expectations, accountability and efficient failure recovery routines.

Other key parts of the interview were:

• Her view on the importance of a next event mindset, in keeping failure small relative to your integrity and character.
• Her advice on managing our weak voice that comes up from our subconscious, and building on our strong voice.
• And How, as a white women of privilege, she feels that she must advocate for people who didn’t have the access to excellence that she did.

This was a thought provoking conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as I did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Todays episode is on the topic of Culture, and it features audio quotes from 20 Great Coaches that we have interviewed on the podcast.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Our Great Coach on this episode is Indian National Badminton Coach, Pullela Gopichand.

As a player Gopichand won his first National Badminton Championship title in 1996, and went on to win the title five times in a row, until 2000.

In 1999 he won the Toulouse open championship in France and the Scottish open championship. And then in 2001 he won the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships.

He started coaching in 2004, and in 2008 founded the Gopichand Badminton Academy.

In the last 120 years, India has won 35 Olympic medals; Gopichand has coached 3 of these from the Academy he set up.

He also coached players to win 4 World Championship medals, including 1 Gold and 15 Super series titles.

Gopi is a coach with a deep appreciation of the role that mindfulness, passion and belief can play in shaping individual performance.

He believes that your mental strength comes from the efforts you put in to being physically strong , and that this physical strength comes from your training, recovery, nutrition and overall lifestyle decisions.

He is also driven to create change in the world around him through, sharing his learning on what is required to be a world champion with whoever is willing to put in the work and make the required sacrifices.

Some of the other key parts of this interview were:

• His belief that science, not the athlete should drive the athletic system in India. And he describes this system as being coach-led, sport science driven and athlete centric.
• The importance of athletes managing their life outside of their sport, so that their mindset develops in a holistic way.
• And The importance of having people around you who don’t just tell you good things, but rather the truth that you have to hear.

It took a long time to reach Gopi for this interview, and I am so glad I preserved. His approach to life and leadership resonated with me strongly, and I hope you enjoy this interview as much I did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Todays episode is on the topic of Resilience and is brought to you by the world record holding Australian cricket coach John Buchanan.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Bill Sweetenham on Great Coaching: No Compromise, Advantage, and Coaching the Mind

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it.. On the Great Coaches podcast, Paul interviews swim coach Bill Sweetenham from Australia about what separates great coaches, drawing on lessons from figures like Angelo Dundee and Doc Counsilman: honesty, trust, achievement, vision, fast thinking, risk-taking, inquiry, and working only with “good, right and best” people. Sweetenham recounts defining experiences including the 1976 Montreal Olympics with Stephen Holland, his Churchill Fellowship study in the US, and how failures and compromises teach enduring lessons. He stresses coaching the mind before training the body, measuring success by the least successful athlete, and using self-accountability tools like a ruler to rate efficiency. He discusses building self-belief through adversity, asking better questions, improvement-before-change, and ends by challenging coaches to individualize training based on varied Olympic 200m freestyle pathways.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Todays episode is brought to you by the world record holding Australian cricket coach John Buchanan.

And it is on the theme of authenticity , which I experience as the desire to be my true, genuine self; but at the same time, in a way that is consistent with the role I have to fulfill and the values of the group that I am part of.

It’s a tension that I often reflect on when I have decide how to communicate and engage with other people in the organization or team.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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