Bernhard Peters: Connection Over Expertise

Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.

Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.

We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.

Building Emotional Resilience with Bernhard Peters

Our Great Coach this week is Bernhard Peters, a performance powerhouse who has worked with clubs across multiple sports. Listeners will hear us speak about Bernhard’s impressive career (beginning with youth teams in the 1980s and building up to his most recent work with American Major League start-up St Louis FC), as well as the many valuable leadership lessons that he has learned along the way.

Take, for example, one of the mistakes that Bernhard made early in his career: focusing too much on the team, rather than building a true understanding of the individual. It’s an experience that most leaders will have had at some point — the right balance between ‘team-centric’ and ‘player-centric’ approaches can be quite hotly contested and difficult to achieve.

This focus on the individual carries over to another insight that Bernhard shares during our interview, as he stresses that “the most important thing is the personal, emotional connection between coach and player”, a connection that he feels is “more important than your expertise”. Personal emotional relationships, he believes, are key to building a strong team.

Finally, I’d like to quickly reference what Bernhard says on the topic of emotional resilience, as it’s something that often comes up in our interviews and special lessons as a trait that many modern leaders can struggle to encourage and develop. He speaks about the importance of handling both success and defeats, and I think it will be very helpful to a lot of you who find this a particular sticking point in your leadership.

This was a great episode to record, and I hope you’ll get a lot from it.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

This Week’s Guest

Bernhard Peters is a German Field Hockey coach.

Bernhard’s career began in the early 1980s, coaching youth teams. Over time his reputation began to build, leading to an opportunity to lead German national youth teams to European Championships.

In the year 2000, Bernhard took over the German national men’s side, leading them to world championships in both 2002 and 2006.

After his success in field hockey, Bernhard moved into soccer with a number of off-field leadership roles. His first position was with Hoffenheim in German soccer’s third tier, playing a part in the transformation of the club that would lead them all the way to the top German league in 2008.

In the years since, Bernhard has gone on to build a successful career helping clubs to transform themselves into high-performing organisations. Most recently, he worked with St Louis FC, a start-up club in the American Major League.

On Chasing Wrong Outcomes

In each issue of the Great Coaches newsletter we share a different short lesson on leadership, inspired by the insights and ideas shared by our podcast guests.

This week, we’re reflecting on this great little clip from Hall of Fame coach and professor Dr Troy Urdahl, who reminds us all to think about the outcomes we aim for in our leadership and work.

We’ve previously spoken about mission statements and goal-setting, and we also frequently talk about success and how to achieve it. For some, success is defined by a score on the scoreboard, or by trophies on display. Yet, as our closing questions about legacies often reveal, many of our Great Coaches guests actually consider human relationships, changed lives and lasting impressions to be far more important.

Take some time today to reflect on the outcomes you're chasing. Do they align with your values and the legacy that you one day hope to leave?

If you’re looking to further develop your own leadership skills and ability, then make sure to head over to our website. For an annual cost of just $4.50 USD, Great Coaches members can access more than 1,800 clips, 30 special lessons, and more great content designed to help them become better, more effective leaders.

Special Episode: On Winning Team Cultures

Did you catch our recent special episode On Winning Team Cultures?

This brilliant discussion featured two Great Coaches who have a lot of personal experience when it comes to building thriving cultures: basketball coach Mike Dunlap and football (soccer)’s Gareth Taylor.

Both guests shared their own insights into what it takes to build a winning team, while also delving into examples from the careers of other influential leaders and coaches. From the valuable skill of “making impactful decisions at a second’s notice” to the topic of stoicism and what makes it the right approach in certain situations, this was a greatly insightful and enjoyable discussion that will hold value for leaders of all backgrounds and experience levels.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

What Does It Really Take?

Our listeners often tell us that they enjoy gaining a ‘behind the scenes’ look at their favourite sports and teams, hearing Great Coaches speak about the steps, training and processes that lead to success on the pitch or in the arena.

If that’s you, then you’ll definitely enjoy this video from the Gold Coast SUNS, following head coach Damien Hardwick and exploring what it’s like to coach an AFL team.

You’ll see Damien’s morning routine, his rituals, and the way he interacts with (and motivates) his players — perhaps you’ll gain some ideas to try out with your own team, as well.

PS - If you’d like to hear more from Damien Hardwick, you can listen to our episode with him here: Apple | Spotify

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