Episode 4 – Greg Whyte OBE

Phil is joined by former Olympian and Sports Scientist Professor Greg Whyte! They talk about the challenges we have all faced during 2020, the importance of keeping active and how rest and recovery are as important as hard work. They give advice on how we can all cultivate and maintain a healthy level of productivity in now only ourselves, but the people around us.

Topics Discussed:

• Greg’s experience during 2020 and the challenges he faced both personally and professionally.
• The lessons that Greg has taken away from 2020.
• Greg’s realisation that a lot of people are not living a healthy lifestyle, and his aspirations to address these people and help them live in a healthy way.
• The socio-economic impact of health, and the gender gap in health.
• The difficulty of changing behaviour, and the psychology required to achieve it.
• How a bespoke, personalised approach is one of the best ways of instilling a change of behaviour in someone and giving them the confidence to make a change.
• How we are always looking for shortcuts when there are none.
• The importance of setting goals correctly, and focusing on how much time is needed so it is manageable, achievable and aligned with who you are as a person.
• The redundancy theory; the person who is supporting you should always be looking at the point when they will no longer be supporting you, and how good coaches are always considering this.
• Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and how intrinsic is more important in the long term.
• The importance of resilience and surrounding yourself with a good team is integral in achieving anything worthwhile.
• How you can cultivate humility, trust and empathy in being a leader.
• The importance of transparency and trust between higher up management and the employees in order to get good productivity out of your workers.
• How 2020 has tested businesses a lot, and the ones that responded the best are the ones that we’re focusing on welfare and ensuring their workers are doing well rather than setting targets.
• The difference between absenteeism and presenteeism, and how it is much more important to focus on making your workers present when they are at work, as opposed to getting them to work for longer periods of time.
• How exercise and maintaining an active environment can increase presenteeism and productivity.
• Examples of unhealthy working environments and the changes Phil and Greg implemented to make them healthier and more productivity.
• How 2020 shone a light on mental and physical health, and how we need to be social in order to be fulfilled and happy.
• How you need to take care of yourself before you take care of other people, otherwise you won’t be of any use to anyone.
• How taking small steps can help you make big changes in your life, and an example of what these changes could be in both a personal and professional setting.
• The importance of rest and recovery in elite performance, how it’s hard to achieve, and how it is those at the top who are the most guilty at working their employees or athletes too hard.
• Greg’s love for open water swimming, the link between it and cold water therapy, and the physical and mental benefits of it.
• Greg’s sporting hero
• Greg’s proudest moment
• Greg’s next big goal
• Greg’s top 3 tips for a healthy lifestyle
• Greg’s non-sporting hero

References:

Greg Whyte’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/profgregw/?hl=en

Greg Whyte’s YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfessorGregWhyte

Greg Whyte’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/gpwhyte

Greg Whyte’s Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ProfessorGregWhyte/

Greg Whyte’s Website – https://www.gregwhyte.com/

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