Looking Back: My Top 10 Insights

Join Paul as he reviews the interviews that most resonated with him.

Author

Paul Barnett
November 28, 2024

Welcome back to the Great Coaches newsletter.

It’s hard to believe that we’re already at the end of November, and that there are just a few weeks left to go before 2024 comes to a close. This has been a big year for sports, with the Paris Olympics and Paralympics dominating headlines for the entirety of the summer (or winter, for those of us in the southern hemisphere) and a number of high-profile comings and goings in the realms of coaching and management.

This has also been a great year for the podcast, with a number of fantastic guests joining us for interviews and in-depth topic discussions. We’ve even made changes to our newsletter, social media, and membership offerings, with more great things to come in 2025.

As always, thank you for all of your support, reviews and interactions this year. It’s thanks to our listeners, members and subscribers that we’re able to do what we do and inspire people all around the world to develop their own leadership potential.

It has been a fantastic year, and we hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have.

The Moments That Resonated With Me

The end of the year is often a time of reflection. It’s a time when companies publish their Q4 reports and celebrate achievements, and many of us spend time catching up with friends and family that we haven’t seen in a while (or since this time last year, perhaps).

This has also been a time of reflection for me. As the 2024 season draws to a close I’ve been reviewing some of the Great Coaches interviews I’ve recorded over the past 4 years, and thinking about the quotes and insights that stayed with me afterwards. I ended up scribbling a few of them down, and this week I want to share them with you in the form of a short podcast episode.

Depending on your own leadership background and experiences, some of the audio snippets I’ve included in this episode may not be all that surprising. However, coming from the corporate world, I found that they really challenged my thinking and - in some instances - led to me altering my behaviour.

The quotes I’ve chosen cover ten different leadership topics, including influence, philosophy, self-doubt and selflessness. I’ve also thrown in my own perspectives and experiences, including a little story about what inspired me to start the Great Coaches podcast in the first place (which involves more dancing than you would probably expect).

I really hope that you enjoy listening to the episode, and that the clips I’ve chosen resonate with you like they have with me.

By the way, if you’re a regular listener to the podcast and there’s a particular interview or insight that has stood out for you, please do let me know — I’m going to gather them and create a listener version of this podcast format next season.

Listen to the episode now: Apple | Spotify

Behind This Episode

Paul Barnett

I am an Australian, who for a long time worked as an expat in Europe and Asia. I grew up with a deep passion for Australian Rules Football, and these days also enjoy watching Australia play cricket live whenever I can. My work has taken me all over the world and given me the chance to see some amazing sports live; the Olympics in Beijing, the baseball in New York, the Rugby in Rome, Soccer in the Czech Republic and Ice Hockey in Switzerland.

The coaches that resonate most with me are those from the combat sports like Boxing or Kickboxing; I find the way that they deal with fear is fascinating and inspiring. As the father of 2 daughters, I also enjoy listening to our many female coaches talk about empowerment and the steps that they have taken to succeed in their careers.

Mental Strength With Vern Gambetta

This week’s podcast focused on some of the insights that have most resonated with me, but how about the ones that resonated with you?

If you’re subscribed to our channel on Youtube, then you’ll know that we often post short clips from our interviews on there in order to make them more accessible and to allow you to share them more easily with your colleagues, friends and family.

The most popular of our Youtube shorts is this one from our interview with Great Coach Vern Gambetta. In it, he explains why he focuses on building an athlete’s ‘mental strength’, rather than their ‘mental toughness’.

If you like the clips and sound bites we share on social media, then you'll want to head over to our website and grab a Great Coaches membership in order to explore our complete archive of topic-based insights and bundles.

The Great Coaches Membership

If you want to keep enjoying Great Coaches content during our season break, then why not purchase a Great Coaches annual membership?

For just the price of a (decent) cup of coffee, our members enjoy access to:

  • Over 1,200 insights taken from our interviews with more than 200 Great Coaches.

  • 30+ special episodes offering a deeper look at the topics and issues that you face as a coach or leader.

  • 30+ insight bundles, put together to help you access the tips and advice that you need on the topics you most care about.

  • All of our existing and upcoming content.

A Great Coaches annual membership is just $4.50 USD per year.

Find out more about our membership and join the team now using the button below.

Do You Know A Great Coach?

As the year comes to a close, we’re taking some time off to prepare for the 2025 season of the podcast.

We began the Great Coaches podcast as a pandemic hobby and over the space of 4 years it has grown to be ranked in the top 2% of all global podcasts, so it appears that other people like hearing from coaches just as much as we do. However, we are an independent podcast, which means that we really rely on word of mouth and referrals to keep us going.

Coaches are usually not people who embrace the limelight, and they often prefer to push others forward, which makes it a bit difficult to connect with them. That’s why we need your help!

If you know a Great Coach who you think we should interview for the podcast, please reach out and let us know. After all, if you find them inspiring, then we (and our listeners) probably will, too.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Elevate Your Leadership

We believe that there is no algorithm for leadership, but there is a way to align your values, vision, and behaviour to elevate your leadership style.

Our coaching is rooted in our experience as CEOs, parents, and partners.

Drop us a note today if elevating your leadership is something you are interested in.

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