Talent gets you through the door. It does not keep you in the room, and it has almost nothing to do with what you become.

Kieren Jack is proof. The last pick in the AFL rookie draft, too small and too slow on paper, he outworked every reason he should not have made it. Kieren played 256 games for the Sydney Swans, co-captained the club, won the 2012 premiership and earned a place in its Hall of Fame. Then he did the harder thing. He walked away at the top and started again, building a whole new career in business where his name meant nothing.

What carries across is the useful part. How do you keep performing when you are running on empty? What actually holds a team together when pressure hits? Why do the people who get knocked down and underestimated often end up the most dangerous?

Recorded live, in a room that was never meant to be a podcast. No script, no second takes. You've got a seat that wasn't on sale.

Whatever you are trying to build, you'll leave this one thinking differently about how you get there.

0:00 Pick 138, a famous surname, and why talent only opens the door
1:50 How the Swans built a dynasty on character, not talent
5:10 Missing the draft, choosing his own sport, and finding his identity
9:20 The 2012 flag, and what that team had that he's never seen again
17:40 Take the baton: the motto that outlived the players who made it
19:15 A season as co-captain, played on empty, in a dressing gown
22:05 When a private family conflict went public before his 200th game
28:10 Twins, no sleep, and what sport does and doesn't teach you about parenting
33:45 Why he studied an MBA mid-career, and why leaving the game made him better
37:00 A $120m deal in four months, and what footy gave him no MBA could
41:05 Joining the West Coast rebuild and flipping the member thank-you
44:55 Premiership to wooden spoon: what went wrong and what a rebuild takes
48:25 Q&A: carrying elite habits into everyday life when structure disappears
49:55 Q&A: what good culture really looks like, and who actually builds it
53:20 Q&A: leading young, learning empathy, and what he'd do differently at 20

You can find Kieren at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieren-jack-b09b2396/
Or at his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kjack_15/?hl=en

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

Ever lost your composure right when you needed it most? In a high-pressure moment, when everyone's watching and one wrong move costs you, most people freeze. This reporter learned to do the opposite.

Seasoned news reporter, Ali Piotrowski breaks down the one skill that kept her sharp through war zones, Middle East conflict, and the chaos outside Trump's indictments: calm. Not the kind you're born with. The kind you train.

She explains why composure became her edge, and why it can be yours too.

If you work in a fast-moving, high-pressure environment, this one's worth a few minutes of your time.

You can find Ali at her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonpiotrowski/
Or at her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alipiotrowski/

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

The kind of person who's been helping others perform better for 40 years doesn't usually admit they're struggling. Craig Harper did.

His dad is in the hospital. The drive is five hours return. The calls from clients still come. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, one of Australia's most recognised performance coaches said something he'd never said publicly before.

That he's lonely.

This conversation is for anyone who gives more than they get. Who holds it together at work and unravels at home. Who knows exactly what to tell others and struggles to apply it to themselves.

Craig doesn't have a tidy answer here. But he does have hard-won perspective on where your energy actually goes, who you let close enough to tell the truth to, and what it takes to keep showing up when life gets genuinely heavy.

Honest, uncomfortable, and worth your time.

0:00 — Who motivates the motivator? Craig Harper on why this is the question helpers never get asked.

1:30 — "I'm feeling pretty shit, to be honest, mate." How this conversation started.

2:07 — Craig says publicly for the first time: "Sometimes I feel really lonely."

5:34 — Mum and dad at 87. What's actually been going on behind the curtain.

10:28 — Energy out, not in. How Craig thinks about his performance threshold when life gets heavy.

12:10 — When doing a podcast feels like calm instead of work. Craig explains the difference.

16:45 — Who do you belong to? Craig on connection, loneliness, and what actually fills the cup.

17:09 — Vin from school. Why Craig's best mate is the one who tells him he's full of it.

18:49 — The inner circle test: if the 4–5 people around you are 80% the same in five years, you'll probably be okay.

23:35 — The friend who shouldn't have survived. Craig's story about the person who inspired him more than anyone he's coached.

28:17 — Something Craig says here is going to land differently for anyone who's always been the strong one.

30:09 — Why willpower doesn't work. What Craig uses instead when the drive back from his parents feels heavy.

33:50 — "Am I acting in love?" The one question Craig asks himself to pull himself back.

37:05 — One size fits one. Why the advice that works for everyone else might be the wrong advice for you.

40:26 — Who actually inspires Craig Harper? His answer is not who you'd expect.

43:07 — Two body signals that tell Craig he's running on empty before he consciously knows it.

47:19 — The send-off. Andrew to Craig, and why it matters.

You can find Craig at his website:https://craigharper.net/
Follw him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiganthonyharper/
Listen to The You Project:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-you-project/id1342430567

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

Could eight daily habits, locked in by 40, really add more than two decades to your life? The research says yes. And the habit at the top of the list is the one most senior leaders quietly deprioritise.

If you want a clear, no fluff framework for long-term health and the small daily decisions that compound into decades, start here. You'll walk away knowing exactly where to focus, and what to stop wasting money on.

Watch the longer episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaOmJ25Q-GI
Contact Dr Tom: https://au.linkedin.com/in/tom-buckley-06a76b98
Read the study here: https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)66280-X/fulltext

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

How do you build a team where people will run through a wall for each other? Not metaphorically. Literally.

James Slipper, the most capped Wallaby of all time. Nic White, the third most capped scrum half in Australian rugby history. Two men who've spent more time with each other than with their families, who've argued hard on the training paddock and sat next to each other every Tuesday team dinner for over a decade.

Their answer isn't team building. It isn't trust falls. It isn't a values poster on the wall.

Slips opens up on his 2018 rock bottom and the rebuild that gave him the longest career of any Wallaby in history. Nic on the chip on his shoulder that ran most of his career, the sepsis that nearly took him out after he hung up the boots, and the word he never used until now: fragile.

Two careers. One friendship. A blueprint for the leaders who are tired of culture being a buzzword.

03:00 — How it started: Nic's first run-in with Slips on the field

05:10 — The relationship that goes deeper than friendship and why that matters for performance

07:30 — "If we brought corporates to watch a Wallabies camp, they'd go... do you guys even like each other?"

10:00 — The Tuesday night team dinner test and why everyone scanned the room for Slips

13:25 — Nic's career in one line: never really felt wanted. 77 test caps later, here's what kept him going

17:55 — The "f*** you" fuel: where it came from, and how long it ran on it

22:10 — When the chip on the shoulder finally became something else and the moment Nic stopped playing for himself

28:35 — Slips on stumbling into a career and what reinvention actually looks like

39:20 — Post-career surgery, sepsis, and the moment the invincible mindset ran out of road

43:05 — "Fragile." Not a word you expect from Nic White. What changed.

49:10 — The next generation: why today's players want to know the why, not just the what

49:45 — Disagree and commit: how high-performing teams hold both honesty and alignment at once

Follow Nic on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/white_nic/?hl=en
Follow Slips on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesslipper/?hl=en

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

You've got more data on your body than any generation before you. Heart rate variability, readiness scores, recovery metrics. But are you actually recovering better?

Dr Shona Halson is one of the world's leading recovery scientists. She's worked with Olympic athletes, elite sport, and high performers at every level. Her verdict on wearables is more nuanced than the marketing suggests, and more useful than most of the scores on your wrist.

This one will change how you look at your morning metrics.

You can find Shona at her LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/shona-halson-627b74268

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

You know what you should be doing. More sleep. Better recovery. Less time running on empty. You have known it for years. So has every burned-out doctor, executive, and elite athlete Andrew May has ever worked with. The problem is not knowledge. It is the gap between knowing and doing. And most people are misdiagnosing the reason for that gap entirely.

Andrew May is a Mental Skills and Leadership Coach who has worked with ASX executives, elite sporting teams (Wallabies), and the Australian Defence Force.

Andrew gets honest about his own near-burnout at 40, what it took to turn it around, and why even the most informed, high-functioning people are still getting recovery wrong.

From there, it gets practical. What strategic recovery actually looks like inside a high-demand schedule. Why most people calling it burnout are actually chronically under-recovered. The exercise prescription that builds real performance capacity without flogging yourself. And how to finally close the gap between what you know and what you do.

This one is for doctors. It is also for anyone who has been running hard for too long and suspects the wheels are starting to wobble.

00:00 Burnout rates in medicine are above 80%, yet doctors know more about the body than almost anyone. Why the gap?

05:14 Andrew's own near-burnout at 40: marriage breakdown, external validation, and the mate from Dubbo who cracked it open.

10:44 Most people calling it burnout are actually chronically under-recovered. Andrew explains the difference.

13:04 What strategic recovery looks like in practice, including how Andrew applies it with the Australian Defence Force.

20:25 Why physical activity is not recovery, and the exercise prescription that actually builds performance capacity.

26:02 Sleep deprivation degrades judgment, memory and decision-making. Andrew challenges the eight-hour myth.

28:47 A simple plate-based nutrition framework, intermittent fasting for men over 40, and why women need a different approach.

34:14 How to close the gap between knowing and doing: self-reflection, barrier mapping, and building real accountability.

40:10 Key messages, close, and why how you show up changes how everyone around you performs.

This episode was originally published on the Healthed podcast with Dr David Lim. You can find the original interview here.

Visit the Healthed website: https://www.healthed.com.au/

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

Backstage. Heart hammering. Sweat beading. Every mental tool in the toolkit, breathing, self-talk, all of it, failed Dr Michael Gervais in real time.

Michael is one of the world's leading performance psychologists and was moments away from presenting to the international body of sports psychologists. The researcher whose theory he was challenging was sitting in the front row. And he was falling apart.

What pulled him back had nothing to do with technique. It was accidental. Mundane, even. And it became the foundation of a 27-year daily practice that he still runs today.

Presence is not a personality trait. It is not something you either have or you don't. It is a trainable skill, and most of us have never once trained it deliberately.

This conversation will change how you think about pressure, performance, and what it actually means to show up when the moment counts.

You can find Dr Michael at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaelgervais/
Listen to the Finding Mastery Podcast: https://findingmastery.com/
You can find JC at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-clarke-1152a065/?originalSubdomain=au

Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/

Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.

Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast

If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.