The All Blacks' Secret: Why Performance Needs Care

The All Blacks' Secret: Why Performance Needs Care

⚠️ Please note: this conversation talks about depression and mental health. If you or someone you know is struggling, free help is available through Lifeline - call 0508 TAUTOKO, that's 0508 828 865. Sir John Kirwan is one of New Zealand's greatest All Blacks — but, while he lived the life of a champion, his mental health suffered. He's since become one of the country's greatest wellbeing advocates - speaking openly about his own depression, the night on tour when he wanted to jump out of a window, and rebuilding his entire life from scratch. In this conversation with Kaila Colbin, JK talks about what depression actually felt like from the inside, why he had to treat himself like he was dead before he could start again, and the system he built - and now teaches - to make sure he never goes back there. This isn't a rugby episode - though there are some great stories. It's a conversation about what it takes to perform at the highest level of anything - and why care isn't the soft option. In this episode: * Why JK says balance is bullsh*t - and what to do instead * The night he wanted to end his life, and what his mum said that changed everything * How he put his life into boxes and rebuilt it from the ground up * The All Blacks' performance-care philosophy - and why he believes it's why they finally won the World Cup in 2011 * The six daily pillars he uses to protect his mental health * Why the care conversation and the performance conversation are the same conversation * What a Catholic priest told him before his wedding that became some of the best advice he's ever received * Why the badge of honour around working yourself to exhaustion is destroying people * The "to-done" list - and why it matters more than your to-do list * What it means to manage your imbalance instead of chasing balance 📚 JK's Books All Blacks Don't Cry: A Story of Hope - https://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/All-Blacks-Dont-Cry-John-Kirwan/9781776950492 [https://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/All-Blacks-Dont-Cry-John-Kirwan/9781776950492] Stand By Me: Helping Your Teen Through Tough Times - https://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Stand-By-Me-John-Kirwan/9780143570639 [https://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Stand-By-Me-John-Kirwan/9780143570639] – A huge thanks to Celebrity Speakers for supporting this episode. If you want to book Sir John Kirwan for a keynote and leave your audience hungry for more, visit celebrityspeakers.co.nz. Hunger & Heart is brought to you by the Crusaders Leadership Programme™. Whether you're coaching under-5s or a professional team, we all want the same thing: to build cultures of trust, get the best out of our people, and grow players into leaders. The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ lets you get up close and personal with some of the greatest rugby legends of all time — people like Sir Wayne Smith, Sam Whitelock, and Kieran Read. You'll connect with a global group of ambitious, caring coaches from a range of codes and backgrounds, and most importantly, you'll gain skills and techniques to drive impact and outcomes for your team. The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ is a two-week high-intensity virtual experience. It is delivered exclusively online, accessible from anywhere.  Hunger and heart Listeners get 10% off the full price of the program. Use the code HUNGER at checkout. Find out more: crusadersleadership.com [http://crusadersleadership.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Dame Farah Palmer: What 3 World Cups Taught Me About Leadership

Dame Farah Palmer wasn't the most talented athlete in the room. She was nearly invisible at her first university orientation week. And then… someone from the rugby club noticed her. In this conversation, Kaila Colbin sits down with one of New Zealand's most decorated sportswomen: three-time Black Ferns World Cup captain, Dame Companion, first woman elected to the New Zealand Rugby board, and one of the architects of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 in Aotearoa. We get to the origin story most haven’t heard: the absent father, the eating disorder, the scholarship her mum found for her, and what it actually means to lead when you're not sure you're the right person. Please note: this conversation contains discussion about eating disorders. If you or someone you know is struggling, free help is available through EDANZ — call 0800 2 EDANZ (0800 233 269). This episode covers: * Growing up in Piopio and the sliding-doors moment at Otago University * Being shoulder-tapped for rugby at 16 and what it did for her relationship with her body * Being asked to captain the Black Ferns - and hiding behind the door afterwards * The "BTB" framework: Better Than Before and what it did for team culture * What she calls her “fourth World Cup” and why it means more than the three on the field 📖 Book mentioned: Who Moved My Cheese - https://www.unitybooks.co.nz/products/who-moved-my-cheese [https://www.unitybooks.co.nz/products/who-moved-my-cheese] – Hunger & Heart is brought to you by the Crusaders Leadership Programme™. Whether you're coaching under-5s or a professional team, we all want the same thing: to build cultures of trust, get the best out of our people, and grow players into leaders. The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ lets you get up close and personal with some of the greatest rugby legends of all time — people like Sir Wayne Smith, Sam Whitelock, and Kieran Read.  You'll connect with a global group of ambitious, caring coaches from a range of codes and backgrounds, and most importantly, you'll gain skills and techniques to drive impact and outcomes for your team.   The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ is a two-week high-intensity virtual experience.  It is delivered exclusively online, accessible from anywhere.  Hunger and heart Listeners get 10% off the full price of the program. Use the code HUNGER at checkout. Find out more: crusadersleadership.com [http://crusadersleadership.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Maggie Cogger-Orr: The Loneliest Job on the Field - Lessons from a World-Class Rugby Referee

What does it take to hold professional athletes to the highest standards - without ever raising your voice? Maggie Cogger-Orr is one of New Zealand's top rugby referees and the current Referee of the Year. Originally from Canada, she grew up playing gridiron football before falling in love with rugby - and after two ACL injuries ended her playing ambitions, she went all-in on refereeing. She's now officiating at the top level of the men's and women's game. In this conversation, Maggie unpacks the "know me, be me, stay me" framework NZ's top referees use to perform under pressure, and why accountability has nothing to do with anger. She shares the early mistakes that taught her how to de-escalate, how she processes being shouted at in front of thousands of people, and what every leader can learn from the loneliest job on the field. – Hunger & Heart is brought to you by the Crusaders Leadership Programme™. Whether you're coaching under-5s or a professional team, we all want the same thing: to build cultures of trust, get the best out of our people, and grow players into leaders. The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ lets you get up close and personal with some of the greatest rugby legends of all time — people like Sir Wayne Smith, Sam Whitelock, and Kieran Read.  You'll connect with a global group of ambitious, caring coaches from a range of codes and backgrounds, and most importantly, you'll gain skills and techniques to drive impact and outcomes for your team.   The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ is a two-week high-intensity virtual experience.  It is delivered exclusively online, accessible from anywhere.  Hunger and heart Listeners get 10% off the full price of the program. Use the code HUNGER at checkout. Find out more: crusadersleadership.com [http://crusadersleadership.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Rob Hamill: My Brother Was Captured and Executed by the Khmer Rouge

Rob Hamill is one of New Zealand's most storied and decorated rowers - a silver at the World Championships in 1994, the winner of the first ever Atlantic Rowing Race in '97, and a man who has lived a life most people couldn't imagine. But beneath the athletic achievements is a story that shaped everything. When Rob was 14, his older brother Kerry went missing while sailing through Southeast Asia on his OE. Sixteen months of silence followed. His parents wrote letter after letter to ports across Asia, hoping for news that never came. When it finally did, it arrived on the front page of a newspaper: Kerry had been blown off course into Cambodian waters, captured by the Khmer Rouge, tortured for months at the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison, and executed. In this conversation, we get into grief, resilience, forgiveness, and what it means to carry loss through a life lived at full throttle. Rob shares the extraordinary details of Kerry's forced confession — and the extraordinary messages his brother managed to hide inside it. He talks about rowing across the Atlantic and discovering, alone in the middle of the ocean, that he had never truly grieved. He talks about testifying at the War Crimes Tribunal in Cambodia thirty years later. About losing his other brother, John, in the aftermath. And about why, in 2018, he and his family set sail to circle the globe — finishing the journey Kerry never got to complete. Please note: this episode talks about suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, free help is available through Lifeline, call 0508 TAUTOKO, that’s 0508 828 865. Links mentioned in this episode: 🎤 Rob Hamill's TEDx Talk — On Forgiveness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q87a7KNq2YQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q87a7KNq2YQ] 🎤 Matt Brown — The Barbershop Where Men Go to Heal | TEDxChristchurch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UhP3OZ9ZCE [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UhP3OZ9ZCE] – A huge thanks to Celebrity Speakers for supporting this episode. If you want to book Rob for a keynote and leave your audience hungry for more, visit celebrityspeakers.co.nz [http://celebrityspeakers.co.nz]. Hunger & Heart is brought to you by the Crusaders Leadership Programme™. Whether you're coaching under-5s or a professional team, we all want the same thing: to build cultures of trust, get the best out of our people, and grow players into leaders. The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ lets you get up close and personal with some of the greatest rugby legends of all time — people like Sir Wayne Smith, Sam Whitelock, and Kieran Read.  You'll connect with a global group of ambitious, caring coaches from a range of codes and backgrounds, and most importantly, you'll gain skills and techniques to drive impact and outcomes for your team.   The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ is a two-week high-intensity virtual experience.  It is delivered exclusively online, accessible from anywhere.  Hunger and heart Listeners get 10% off the full price of the program. Use the code HUNGER at checkout. Find out more: crusadersleadership.com [http://crusadersleadership.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Blakey Johnston Surfed For 40 Hours Non-Stop - The Response Was Incredible

He lost his dad to suicide, surfed for 40 hours straight and built one of Australia's most powerful mental health movements — one wave at a time. Blake Johnston is a World Record holder, mental health advocate, Director of Cronulla Surfing Academy, and the man behind the world's largest paddle out. But before any of that, he was a kid from Cronulla who loved the ocean more than anything — and had no idea how much he'd one day need it. In this episode, Blake shares the full story: growing up with ADHD in a house of many brothers, chasing a pro surfing career that didn't quite go the distance, meeting and marrying his partner Lauren, and then — in a single phone call on the way home from a surf retreat — having his world shattered when he lost his dad to suicide. What followed was a decade of rebuilding. And then, in an act that defied what most people would consider humanly possible, he paddled out into five-to-six foot surf at 1 AM, and didn't come back in for 40 hours and 7 minutes. 707 waves. A world record.  This conversation covers grief, purpose, resilience, the ocean, community, parenthood, and mental health. Please note: this episode talks about depression and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, free help is available through Lifeline, call 0508 TAUTOKO, that’s 0508 828 865. To learn more: Get a link to Blakey’s website: https://www.swellbeing.com.au/ [https://www.swellbeing.com.au/] A link to his book, Swellbeing: https://www.swellbeing.com.au/product/swellbeing/ [https://www.swellbeing.com.au/product/swellbeing/] And a link to the documentary (trailer and where to watch in Aus): https://inpiecestogetherfilm.com/ [https://inpiecestogetherfilm.com/] – Hunger & Heart is brought to you by the Crusaders Leadership Programme™. Whether you're coaching under-5s or a professional team, we all want the same thing: to build cultures of trust, get the best out of our people, and grow players into leaders. The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ lets you get up close and personal with some of the greatest rugby legends of all time — people like Sir Wayne Smith, Sam Whitelock, and Kieran Read.  You'll connect with a global group of ambitious, caring coaches from a range of codes and backgrounds, and most importantly, you'll gain skills and techniques to drive impact and outcomes for your team.   The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ is a two-week high-intensity virtual experience.  It is delivered exclusively online, accessible from anywhere.  Hunger and heart Listeners get 10% off the full price of the program. Use the code HUNGER at checkout. Find out more: crusadersleadership.com [http://crusadersleadership.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.