Performance Intelligence

Most leaders know how to ramp up for performance. Far fewer know how to switch off. Operating at full speed all day without deliberately down-regulating keeps the brain and body in a prolonged stress state - impairing decision-making, recovery and next-day performance.
Andrew May (Mental Skills Coach to the Wallabies) explains why the ability to shift gears is a critical leadership skill, particularly for those operating under constant cognitive load.
He also shares a simple breathing technique that can lower your heart rate and begin calming the nervous system in under 30 seconds.
Want to hear to the full episode? Head to #151 in our podcast library.

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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at [email protected] today with your story and contact details.
Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/
Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/
Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast
If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

A leadership team with top-tier talent, strong strategy, and capital behind it still misses targets. Engagement scores drift. Execution stalls. On paper, nothing is wrong. In reality, the environment is misaligned.
That gap between capability and consistent performance is where culture either compounds results or quietly erodes them.
Aaron Walsh, Head of Culture, Leadership and Mental Performance at the Rajasthan Royals and former Mental Skills coach with the Chiefs, has spent his career working inside high performance systems where results are unforgiving and scrutiny is constant.

Why is culture still treated as a “soft” variable despite overwhelming evidence that it shapes behaviour, decision-making and performance under pressure?
1:45 – Defining culture and what happens when reality doesn’t match the wall.
 9:05 – Aaron’s work with the Chiefs and Mike Cron on building a successful culture.
 15:45 – Connecting teams to the community and the last 10% performance gains from culture.
 19:55 – Michael Gervais, the Seattle Seahawks, and bringing team culture to corporates like IAG.
 27:55 – Immediate actions to improve culture and fostering psychological safety for innovation.
 33:10 – Leadership, culture, and why your energy impacts corporate performance.
 36:50 – Andrew’s morning routine and the quality vs quantity time debate.
 41:05 – Measuring culture beyond annual check-ins and its impact.
 47:15 – Modelling desired behaviours and Aaron’s 5-year vision.
 54:35 – When systems fail, talent isn’t enough and why some teams may not need a mental skills coach.
 59:55 – Spotting cultural clues on day one and lessons from sports to corporate mental skills.
Listen to the previous episode with Aaron here: https://performanceintelligence.transistor.fm/episodes/143-aaron-walsh

Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/
Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at [email protected] today with your story and contact details.
Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/
Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/
Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast
If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

Most people want the title of CEO but very few want the weight that comes with it. When you’re at the head of Australia’s largest bank, Commbank, there’s no hiding. No delegation of ultimate responsibility. Sometimes that means sitting alone at night reading a 600-page document because if your name is on it...you own it.
In this Bite Size, Matt Comyn shares what leadership actually feels like at that level. The pressure. The self-doubt. The constant balancing act when expectations — external and internal — start to tip. And the mental discipline he uses to steady himself before small cracks become big ones.
If you lead a team, carry responsibility, or aspire to — this is a rare look at what it really demands.

Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/
Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at [email protected] today with your story and contact details.
Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/
Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/
Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast
If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

You don’t drift into longevity. You build it...or you erode it. Most people think living longer is about genetics or luck. The data says otherwise. Where you live matters. But what you do daily matters more.

Mental Skills Coach, Andrew May, and Longevity Rsearcher Dr Tom Buckley break down what actually determines how long and how well you live.
From blue zones to biological age, from the pivotal impact of your 40s to the supplements Dr Tom genuinely backs, this is a sharp look at the habits that add years or quietly take them away. If you care about staying sharp, capable and competitive for decades to come — this one matters.
1:30 What is longevity and premature mortality?
6:15 The idea of blue zones around the world and how genetics can impact your lifespan.
17:00 Why what you do in your 40s can have such a massive impact on the rest of your life and how you’re still able to turn it around even if you were unhealthy beforehand.
22:30 Some of the long term effects drugs can have on your brain and methods to add years back on to your life.
29:00 How the 6 MatchFit levers fit into longevity and which supplements will help your long term health.
35:30 The main supplements Dr Tom gets his clients to take.
40:00 What is biological age vs chronological age, and why is having a low biological age so important?
45:00 How what you eat and drink can add or take years off your life.
51:00 Why doing moderate exercise more often is better than always doing high intensity and getting better sleep is a balance between quality and quantity of sleep.
55:30 Where Dr Tom sees the science of longevity going in the future.
Read the study here: https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)66280-X/fulltext
Listen to the podcast about saunas: https://performanceintelligence.transistor.fm/episodes/25-the-science-of-sauna-and-deliberate-heat-exposure-and-associated-benefits-dr-tom-buckley
You can find Dr Tom at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-buckley-06a76b98/

Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/
Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at [email protected] today with your story and contact details.
Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/
Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/
Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast
If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

What if calm isn’t something you’re born with — but something you can train?
When the pressure hits, most people try to think their way through it. But breathwork expert Nam Baldwin argues that high performance starts in the body. Calm is not a vague mindset or a lucky personality trait. It’s a physical and neurological state — and it’s the foundation that elite performers rely on when everything is on the line.
From Olympic sport to high-stakes business moments, the ability to deliberately shift your state can be the difference between choking and delivering.
Nam unpacks why calm is a precursor to clarity, focus and execution — and shares simple, practical techniques to quickly reset your nervous system when you need to steady yourself fast.
If you’ve ever wanted to control your state instead of being controlled by it, this conversation shows you how.
Read Nam's LinkedIn post: https://shorturl.at/1OX81
Read the article with Jess Fox: https://shorturl.at/hJKtG
Visit Nam's website: https://www.nambaldwin.com/
Visit Hupo's website: https://hupo.com.au/

Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/
Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at [email protected] today with your story and contact details.
Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/
Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/
Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcast
If you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.