High Performance & Teamwork

Penny Mallory

The ex-rally champion’s career has taken in stunt driving and Top Gear. She’s also faced her own fears in a boxing ring, run marathons and climbed Kilimanjaro. Reflecting on her own experience of conquering adverse conditions, Penny considers the nature of high performance, the mindsets that hold people back and transformational leadership.

Baroness (Tanni) Grey-Thompson

Britain’s best known Paralympian, Tanni amassed eleven gold medals in five consecutive Games. She also won six London Marathons and achieved a total of thirty four world records. Since retiring from competitive sport Tanni has taken an active role in the Lords, particularly on campaigns and legislation around disability. She believes that disabled people still face barriers that need to be removed, and calls for more genuine engagement rather than political rhetoric: “Public perceptions are changing.”

Sir Clive Woodward

Back in 2003 the nation held its collective breath as Clive’s men fulfilled their promise and clinched the Rugby World Cup. He has now helped elite athletes achieve unprecedented success and has launched a new app to capture knowledge on any subject. In presentations and workshops Clive demonstrates the power of collaborative leadership – and how to create a winning mindset. He also unpicks the DNA of a champion, which goes way beyond talent.

Colin Jackson

Colin was ranked among the top ten hurdlers in the world for nearly two decades – retaining the 110m record for thirteen years. He has since picked up his spikes to train young athletes. Away from the race track he’s become a polished presenter, and one of the driving forces behind Sport Relief. Colin speaks about the winning formula, the mental visualisation techniques and the unwavering dedication needed to stay at the top of your game.

Monty Halls

A former Royal Marine, Monty formed his own expedition company and led a group of divers to rediscover a sunken city beside the coast of India, suspected to be the cradle of civilisation. On television, he has undertaken Great Escapes, served as The Fisherman’s Apprentice, and relocated his life in My Family and the Galapagos. He draws together his array of incredible experiences to talk leadership, motivation, purpose and teamwork.

Dame Kelly Holmes

With accolates and medals at every level of athletics, Kelly made history as the first British woman to win two Gold medals at the same games at the Athens Olympics. This incredible achievement was revealed to be even greater when Kelly later discussed the personal and psychological pressures she experienced. Now a broadcaster and author, she remains one of the country's most popular sporting figures, a mental and physical health advocate who explores what achievement, teamwork, preparation and values really look like.

Jake Humphrey

Jake’s profile soared when he hosted the BBC’s Formula One coverage, and he went on to be one of the lead presenters at London 2012. He now co-hosts the High Performance podcast with Damian Hughes. 

Tori James

Inspiring others to test themselves and achieve great things, Tori speaks of polar bears, minus forty temperatures and having climbed higher than any other Welsh woman. Speaking from the heart, she taps into the inner reserves of determination and resilience within us all.

Jamil Qureshi

Jamil is an internationally acclaimed performance coach who specialises in maximising the talent of individuals and teams. He’s helped sportspeople like David Coulthard and Darren Clarke enhance their performance and has helped six sportspeople to reach number one rankings in their fields. Believing that in order to do differently we must first think differently, Jamil considers how to create mindsets and attitudes that truly drive performance in business and sport, and how to challenge beliefs and shift perceptions.

Marc Priestley

Marc spent ten years as a mechanic on the McLaren Formula One pit crew. Looking at every aspect of F1, he explains the communication, teamwork, pressure and strategy to secure marginal gains. Alongside the carefully synchronised teamwork and the precisely engineered equipment, with each car generating over 10Mb of data per lap, analysts look ever more closely at competitors’ decisions in an effort to optimise their own team performance to gain hundredths of seconds of advantage. 

Nicolas Hamilton

Nicolas was told as a child he’d never walk due to his cerebral palsy and would spend his life reliant in a wheelchair. Not one to be told he can’t do things, with determination and gruelling training he not only walked unaided, but he started to realise his dream: to be a racing driver. Now a regular in the British Touring Car Championship, his story and ‘anything is possible’ attitude inspires everyone that hears it.

Kate & Helen Richardson-Walsh

The nail-biting finale to the Rio 2016 Olympic hockey final provided one of the most memorable moments of the Games for British fans. For the scorer of the winning penalty (Helen) and the long-serving team captain (Kate) it was the pinnacle of two international careers stretching over 15 years. With lessons in overcoming setbacks, building a winning culture, teamwork and leadership, the first same-sex married couple to win gold in the same team also reveal how the team changed, life in the Olympic Village, and their views on inclusion and diversity.

Major Tim Peake

From 400km above the Earth, Britain’s first ESA astronaut became a household name. A former military test pilot, Tim shared his experiences and incredible photos on social media, and spoke to over 1.5million schoolchildren across Europe about the power of science.

Matt Lindley

After a decade with the RAF Matt moved to commercial aviation as a 747 pilot. He looks at the ‘black box’ culture of airlines that seek to understand mistakes rather than apportion blame, and the leadership culture that engenders. He also speaks about his time with the Air Force, being one of the first openly gay pilots in the military, and what the experience taught him about leaders and how the personal can affect professional performance.

Professor Suzie Imber

Associate Professor of planetary science, Suzie has climbed some of the world’s highest and most challenging mountains, programmed supercomputers, helped develop space tourist training programmes, and won the BBC’s search for a future astronaut. Covering everything from satellites to teamwork, the future of science to dealing with risk, she looks at the lessons from all aspects of her work.

Ollie Ollerton

Ollie is a former UK Special Forces operative, whose military learnings have brought him success in a variety of fields, from TV to business. One of the founding Directing Staff on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, his charisma on the show has won him a legion of fans, and he has become a successful entrepreneur.

Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton

One of the most senior women in the fire service, Sabrina combines experience in making tough decisions in pressurised, stressful situations with studying the behavioural neuroscience of decision making. As well as insights into leadership and risk, her own personal story - homeless at 15, a firefighter at 18, combining frontline service with studying for a PhD in Psychology - is a lesson in resilience, determination and achievement.

Scotty Mills

As Britain's highest-ranking black Royal Marine, Scotty passes on his wisdom to some of the world's most elite performers, both as a team-leadership coach and as a motivational speaker. He was a driving force behind the success of the England football team at the 2018 World Cup and continues to work in the world of elite sport and business to develop innovative leadership, team cohesion and peak performance.

Jill Scott

In an illustrious eighteen-year playing career with England, Manchester City, Everton, Sunderland, and Aston Villa, Jill became one of the country's most decorated players, and in 2022 added the European Championship to her list of achievements. Now seen on everything from Sky's A League of Their Own to I'm a Celebrity... she reflects on resilience, teamwork, and transferring your skills from one role to the next.

Guenther Steiner

Guenther began his professional life in rallying, initially joining the Mazda Rally Team Europe as a mechanic. His career progressed to the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula 1, where he served as Team Principal of the Haas F1 Team. His appearances on the Netflix series Drive to Survive has made him a star, and his book Surviving to Drive reveals the highs, lows, pressures and demands experienced behind the scenes of the sport.