The Talent Equation Podcast

"The coaching police knocked at my door — and I'm glad they did" - a conversation with Simon Harling

I had a conversation I've been looking forward to for a long time — Simon Harling, author o'f Good Coach, Bad Coach', joins me to explore what it actually means to examine your own coaching practice with honesty, humility, and a willingness to sit with the uncomfortable stuff. Simon's journey started in sports science, moved through fitness coaching into professional football and strength and conditioning, and eventually arrived at a reckoning. He was brilliant with athletes who arrived with intent and clarity — people who just needed directing. But with everyone else? Not so much. That gap forced the question that became a book. What I love about this conversation is that Simon isn't here to tell you what good coaching looks like. He's here to hand you the lens and let you look for yourself. Three key takeaways: 1.  You can't coach people who don't feel stable and secure. Before we talk about instructional design, ecological dynamics or any model of practice, Simon argues we have to address whether a coach feels safe enough to make genuine choices. If they're compromised — financially, emotionally, environmentally — everything else is noise. 2. The tension is the work. Whether it's performance versus development, money versus impact, or fear versus hope, the answer isn't to pick a side. It's to name the tension, sit with both poles, and design from there. That's Simon's definition of leadership — and it maps neatly onto ecological thinking. 3. The student picks the teacher. The moment Simon genuinely became a learner wasn't when he got his master's or his accreditations — it was when he became open, curious, and willing. That shift changes everything about how you engage with development, and it applies to athletes and coaches alike. Simon's book is available in paperback, ebook, and audio, and you can connect with him at simonharling.blog. If this conversation sparked something for you, come and continue it with a community of practitioners who are asking the same kinds of questions. Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers — head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

From caged Tigers...to hunter killers - a conversation with Barry Jones

In this conversation, I speak with Barry Jones, an ice hockey coach based in Australia who works with the Perth Inferno Women's team. Barry shares his remarkable journey from working with people with disabilities to enbracing the principles of ecological dynamics and aplying them with an eleite level team where his team has just 45 minutes per week to train whilst competing interstate.  Three Key Takeaways: 1. Autonomy carries emotional weight: Barry discovered that when athletes transition from being controlled to becoming autonomous decision-makers, they begin to wear failure personally. This emotional shift requires coaches to understand the psychological safety needed when athletes are learning to become independent thinkers, particularly with athletes who may have been conditioned to wait for coach direction. 2. 'Environmental sports' shape how games are played: Barry introduces the concept of "environmental sports"—the idea that sports reflect the cultural and sporting environment they're played in. Ice hockey in Australia is influenced by AFL, basketball, and cricket, creating a different flavour of the game compared to Canada or the US. Understanding these sociocultural constraints is crucial for effective coaching. 3. If you're comfortable, you're not learning: Barry's coaching philosophy centres on creating productive discomfort through battle games with time constraints. Rather than flow drills where players rehearse scripted movements, every training task places athletes in decision-making situations that mirror game pressures. This approach demands that both athletes and coaches feel uncomfortable in their learning. Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers to dive deeper into conversations like this and connect with practitioners exploring constraints-led approaches in their own contexts. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and click the 'join a learning group' button. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

"Memory is a verb, not a noun" - The Ecological Explorers Christmas Lecture feat Andrew Wilson

In this special 300th episode of the podcast my good friend Andrew Wilson from Leeds Beckett University delivers a ;Christmas Lecture for members of the Ecological Explorers Club and The Guild of Ecological Explorers. In the lecture he navigates a fascinating discussion about how ecological psychology reconceptualises memory. Rather than viewing memory as stored representations in the brain, Andrew introduces a radical embodied approach where remembering is an active process of reassembling ourselves into the dynamical systems we once were. Drawing on Robin Wilford and Mike Anderson's recent paper on radical embodied memory, he challenges us to think about memory not as a noun but as a verb - not as something we have, but as something we do. Three Key Takeaways: Memory isn't stored, it's reconstructed: The traditional view of encoding, storage, and retrieval misses the point. What remains stable over time isn't a representation tucked away in your brain, but your capacity to become the kind of brain-body-environment system that can manifest that behaviour again. You don't retrieve a memory - you reassemble yourself into something capable of doing what you did before. The entire system remembers, not just the brain: Skilled behaviour emerges from the coupling of brain, body, and environment working together as a dynamical system. When you learn to hit a softball or walk on ice, you're not just changing your brain - you're reorganising your entire perception-action system. This is why muscle memory is misleading language; the remembering happens in the whole assembled system, not in isolated parts. Learning changes what you are, not what you know: Every experience reshapes you as a dynamical system, adding new capabilities to your state space. When you learn a new skill, you become an entirely different kind of system - one that can now do this new thing as well as all your previous capabilities. This explains why confidence knocks can be so disruptive: they don't block access to a stored memory, they reshape your dynamic in ways that make you literally unable to reassemble into the system that could perform that skill. Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers to explore these ideas further and connect with a community of practitioners thinking differently about coaching and development. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'join a learning group' button. Link to Andrew's Blog post on the paper https://psychsciencenotes.blogspot.com/2025/11/radical-embodied-memory-wilford.html Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

Dog Walk Diary - How to help coaches avoid ‘picking the ripe bananas’

In this Dog Walk Diary episode, I explore a powerful metaphor about bananas and talent selection to unpack why traditional coach education falls short, and argue that we need to think ecologically about the environments coaches operate within rather than just pumping them full of content. Three Key Takeaways: 1.The knowing-doing gap isn’t about lack of education – We can’t expect coach education alone to change behaviour when coaches operate within systems that constrain them through competitive pressures, selection policies, and performance metrics that reward short-term outcomes over long-term development. 2.Competition systems drive coaching behaviour more than content does – When policies prioritise win rates and early selection, coaches naturally choose “ripe bananas” over “green ones” because the environment punishes developmental thinking. We need to redesign the ecological niche coaches inhabit, not just their knowledge base. 3.Sport needs a philosophical conversation before a technical one – Organisations must first answer whether they’re serving participation or performance, recognise it’s a false dichotomy, and then align their policies, resources, and competitive structures to support both—creating the “broccoli burger” that’s both appealing and nutritious. If you’re interested in exploring these ideas further and connecting with other practitioners who think differently about coaching and development, join The Guild of Ecological Explorers by heading to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and clicking the ‘join a learning group’ button. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation

"Leadership is a practice...not a position" - a conversation with Hayley Lever

In this episode, I sit down with Hayley Lever, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Moving, to explore what authentic leadership really looks like when you're trying to create systemic change. Hayley has been one of the biggest influences on how I think about leadership, culture, and the power of creating environments where people can truly thrive. We dive deep into Hayley's newly published book on leadership, 'Leading from the Balcony', discussing everything from the courage it takes to question cultural norms, to the daily act of resistance required when you're committed to doing things differently. This conversation is raw, honest, and packed with practical wisdom about what it really takes to lead with integrity in a complex world.  My three takeaways: - Leadership is a practice, not a position – True leadership happens in the micro moments of everyday interactions, not just in boardrooms or through positional power. Everyone has the capacity to lead when we create the conditions that unlock that potential. - Positive disruption requires courage and support – Creating meaningful change means challenging entrenched processes and cultural norms, but you can't do it alone. The environment around you—whether that's your chair, your board, your funders, or your team—either enables or constrains your ability to lead authentically. - Accountability and care go hand in hand – Creating a thriving culture isn't about making everything easy; it's about being candid, caring, and challenging. It means having difficult conversations with honesty whilst making people feel valued and supported. And crucially, it means being vulnerable enough to admit when you'll fall short. If you're interested in exploring these ideas further and connecting with others who are passionate about systems leadership, complexity or ecological approaches to human advancement, join The Guild of Ecological Explorers by heading to http://www.thetalentequation.c... [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and clicking the 'join a learning group' button. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk [http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk] and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation