The High Performance Podcast

Nick Fry bought an underperforming Formula 1 team for £1 and went on to win the World Championship. But before the historic 2009 fairy tale with Brawn GP, Nick and his wife had to face the ultimate risk: agreeing that if they lost everything, they would be perfectly content living on tinned tuna for the rest of their lives.In this episode, the former CEO of Brawn and Mercedes strips away the glamour of the paddock to share a masterclass in high-stakes leadership, belief, and crisis management. He reveals how financial pressure became a performance driver and how solving one problem at a time laid the foundation for Mercedes’ dominance.Nick also shares his thoughts on collective performance over individual ego, why hard work beats talent, and the key decisions that shaped Brawn’s rise to the top of Formula 1.This is a must-listen for anyone facing insurmountable odds, closing with a simple message from a man who lived it: “If you're gonna do it, just go for it. Don’t mess around.”Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep6-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.Eight Sleep 👉If you want to discover deeper sleep. Use code HPP to get £360 off your Pod 5 Ultra here: https://highpfrmc.com/eightsleep_auAG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packs Do Health 👉 Get ahead of your health, don't react to it. Head to https://highpfrmc.com/dohealth-hpp-au to sign up nowGo Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started!Postcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au

Ben Stokes has just announced his retirement from international cricket. And the person who can best explain what that decision truly costs — and what Stokes has meant as a captain and a human being — is Stuart Broad.Stuart retired in 2023 on his own terms: last ball, The Oval, England versus Australia. In this conversation, he tells the full story of the night he walked down the hotel corridor and knocked on Stokesy's door to tell him it was over. What happened in that room, and how he felt when he woke up the next morning, is something every leader will recognise.But this conversation goes much deeper than retirement. Stuart opens up about the T20 World Cup in Durban — the day six sixes were hit off one over, and how the humiliation changed everything. He explains the mental frameworks he quietly built over the following 16 years: warrior mode, assassin mode, the daily note-making practice that started as a cricket habit and became a life habit. And he makes a case that the game is not 80% mental — it's closer to 90.A brilliant episode on performance, legacy, and knowing when to walk away.Thanks to our partners: Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep5-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply. AG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packsDo Health 👉 Get ahead of your health, don't react to it. Head to https://highpfrmc.com/dohealth-hpp-au to sign up nowBetter Help 👉 Join Jake in Saying It Louder with 10% off Betterhelp Therapy. Click here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-betterhelp-au Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started!Postcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au

Jake and Damian go deep on one of the most universal struggles in high performance: why so many of us find it almost impossible to say no, and what it's actually costing us when we can't.Drawing on conversations with promoter Barry Hearn, who walked away from a £30 million deal because he didn't like the people behind it, comedian Katherine Ryan, who voluntarily gave up a career-defining TV slot so other women could have their chance, and leading psychologist Gabor Maté, who traces the roots of people-pleasing all the way back to childhood, Jake and Damian explore why saying yes to everyone else might mean saying no to yourself.They cover the science of sociotropy, the difference between "I can't" and "I don't", and why the guilt you feel when you say no is usually a sign you've got your values exactly right.Plus, the audience response to Liam Lawson's recent episode has been extraordinary. Jake and Damian reflect on why it's struck such a nerve.Listen to the full episodes featured:Barry Hearn https://pod.fo/e/157c60Katherine Ryan https://pod.fo/e/1df492Gabor Maté https://pod.fo/e/273d65Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep5-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply. AG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packsDo Health 👉 Get ahead of your health, don't react to it. Head to https://highpfrmc.com/dohealth-hpp-au to sign up nowBetter Help 👉 Join Jake in Saying It Louder with 10% off Betterhelp Therapy. Click here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-betterhelp-au Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started!Postcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au

Professor Geir Jordet flips everything you think you know about high-stakes performance on its head, revealing that a penalty shootout is won or lost long before the foot ever hits the ball.In this episode, the world’s leading football psychologist breaks down the meticulous psychological warfare of the 2022 World Cup Final and explains how England transformed from the world’s worst shootout team into the absolute best through structural changes like the "buddy system." He exposes the hidden mechanics of pressure, from Harry Kane’s unpredictable dual technique and Erling Haaland’s surprising admission of fear, to why overthinking for twelve seconds cost Marcus Rashford at the Euros. Jordet also debunks major football myths, unpacking the subtle manipulation tactics used by players like Emiliano Martínez and explaining why trying to fake a smile under immense pressure will backfire. This episode offers a sophisticated masterclass in process-over-outcome thinking, delivering powerful lessons on anxiety, team-wide psychological safety, and how to master your mind when the eyes of the world are on you.Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep5-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply. AG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packsDo Health 👉 Get ahead of your health, don't react to it. Head to https://highpfrmc.com/dohealth-hpp-au to sign up nowBetter Help 👉 Join Jake in Saying It Louder with 10% off Betterhelp Therapy. Click here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-betterhelp-au Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started!Postcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au

Russ Cook, better known as the Hardest Geezer, became famous for running the length of Africa. 352 days. 10,000 miles. The first person ever to do it. But before all of that, he was a teenager scrubbing a Waitrose toilet at 4am, opening a cupboard to find a single tin of new potatoes, and hiding a gambling debt from his girlfriend.In this conversation, Jake goes back to before Africa - to the years of directionlessness, the arrogance that masked insecurity, the run home from a nightclub in Brighton, and the chance encounter with a cyclist in Kenya that changed everything.They also get into the question that sits beneath all of it: is Russ running towards something great, or away from something painful? And now he's a new father - how does that shift what he's willing to risk?Plus: why he won't take the Leeds Ironman lightly despite barely managing three lengths of a pool.This episode is brought to you by Bulldog Skincare. Shop their grooming range, from face wash to bamboo razors, at Boots 👉 https://highpfrmc.com/HPP_Bulldog_brandedep

Boris Becker burned out at 25. Former British No1 Jo Konta carried her family's sacrifice onto court every match and Irish tennise pr Conor Niland described a tennis player's self-worth as entirely tied to winning and losing — nothing else. Three players, the same problem: identity wrapped around results, the sport becoming something to survive.This week, in the run-up to Wimbledon, Jake and Damian go back into the archive to hear from all three — then hand over to leading performance coach, Ben Crowe, who has spent 30 years helping the world's best athletes solve exactly that problem.Ben has worked with athletes Ash Barty and Steph Gilmore coached NBA teams and the Australian Cricket Team, and comes personally recommended by Andre Agassi. You'll hear the full story of Ash Barty's French Open semifinal — 5-0 up and tightening, 3-0 down and laughing — and what shifted in her mind to turn it around. Plus Ben's central idea: the opposite of play is not work. It's fear. And most people, most of the time, are in the fear state without knowing it.Where the Light Gets In by Ben Crowe is available now.Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep4-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.AG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packsBetter Help 👉 Join Jake in Saying It Louder with 10% off Betterhelp Therapy. Click here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-betterhelp-auPostcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au

Racing Bulls Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson has lived through the highest stakes and the ruthless politics of motorsport.In this episode, Liam opens up about the reality of his Red Bull exit, revealing how he was blindsided, unfairly judged and left carrying the blame for a radical car setup experiment. He also shares where his self belief comes from, from finishing last in go karting to ignoring the people who said Formula 1 was impossible.Liam also reveals the unexpected habit that helps him handle the noise of race weekend, taking a guitar to every Grand Prix to switch off and reset. This is a raw and honest conversation about pressure, resilience and protecting who you are in one of the most unforgiving sports in the world.Official website of Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One Team involved in the most exciting car championship in the world. Discover what's new: https://www.visacashapprb.com/int-en/teamRevolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep4-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.AG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packsBetter Help 👉 Join Jake in Saying It Louder with 10% off Betterhelp Therapy. Click here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-betterhelp-auPostcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au

Sir Gareth Southgate is England's most successful manager since 1966. Two finals, four tournaments and by the end, fans were throwing beer at him in the stadium.Today, as England embark on another World Cup journey, we revisit one of the most candid leadership conversations we've ever recorded. Gareth explains why he knew it was time to leave before the final was even played, what he said to his players before England's penalty shootouts, and how it took him 52 years to silence the voice in his head — the same voice that froze him in 1996.He also gets into the unglamorous reality of leading a high-profile team: how to protect players from outside noise when you can't protect yourself from it, why he banned himself from speaking first in staff meetings, and what it actually felt like to walk through the door as England manager and realise culture, not tactics, was the problem.Thanks to our partners: Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep3-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.Do Health 👉 Get ahead of your health, don't react to it. Head to https://highpfrmc.com/dohealth-hpp-au to sign up now Better Help 👉 Join Jake in Saying It Louder with 10% off Betterhelp Therapy. Click here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-betterhelp-au Postcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au AG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packs

The UK has announced a ban on under-16s using social media. Jake and Damian's reaction is immediate: the ban is right, but it cannot do the job alone. In this episode they go back into the archive to hear from the people who saw this coming.Jonathan Haidt on the phone-based childhood we built without realising what we were dismantling. Johann Hari on the 10,000 engineers paid to undermine your self-control. Alex Greenwood on the body image spiral that started at 15. And the guys talk Liam Lawson, whose episode drops Monday, on what happens when your phone explodes and the world turns on you overnight.Jake shares the Ofcom data that should stop every parent in their tracks and Damian reads a message from Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood, the grassroots movement that helped make today's law happen.Listen to the full episodes:Jonathan Haidt https://pod.fo/e/2a4563Johann Hari https://pod.fo/e/267393 Alex Greenwood https://pod.fo/e/30cbd0Thanks to our partners:Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep3-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.Do Health 👉 Get ahead of your health, don't react to it. Head to https://highpfrmc.com/dohealth-hpp-au to sign up now Better Help 👉 Join Jake in Saying It Louder with 10% off Betterhelp Therapy. Click here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-betterhelp-au Postcode Lottery 👉 Discover how Postcode Lottery players are Powering Hope Together. Click here to find out more: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-postcode-au AG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packs