Lessons from the month with Kieran Trippier, Gary Barlow, Paul Barber and Lord Bilimoria

0:03Hi there, welcome along to Lessons from the month from the High Performance Podcast.

0:30So we love reflecting, looking back, remembering what we've learned and then discussing it. Yeah, where we curate some of the great minds that we've been looking up to meet and try and distill down some of the key messages that have had both an impact on us, but also that we feel can benefit the listener. So what we've decided to do this week is base our conversation around the 10 P's that were shared with us by the founder of Cobra Beer, Lord Bill Amoria, a fascinating guy who came on the podcast, shared his life story with us. And as part of that, he spoke about the power of the 10 P's. So let's have a listen to what Lord Bill Amoria told us.

1:07I apply the 10 P's of business. Great product at the right price. Place, it's got to be available. Promotion. You've got to promote it. People, any business about people. I'm a manufacturer, but it's all about people. Finance, spelled PH, you can't do anything without the money. Passion, don't do it. Follow your passion, not your pension. Just don't do it if you don't enjoy it. Do what you love. Principles, it's better to fail doing the right thing than to succeed doing the wrong thing. Partnership, treat everyone as your partner, your supplier, your customer, your shareholders, your advertising agency, your lawyers, your accountants, they're all your partners.

1:46And finally, there's no point if you don't make a profit. See, I really like that, Damien, because when you hear that back, you kind of, you understand that every time something happens in his life or in his business, or maybe even in his personal life with his family, he can immediately just check it against one of his 10 Ps and make sure it fits either one, a number of, or perhaps even all of them. And it's kind of a way of just keeping yourself on the right track isn't it yeah the sort of metaphor that came to mind when lord bill and murray shared it with us it's almost like an architect's blueprint so you build the foundations really solidly so when things get a bit wobbly or things don't seem like they're going to plan you've got the blueprint go back to what you know works and you know the great thing for us here on high performance is this is a man that's lived a life that's built a business empire and he's sharing the plans with us about how we could all take them and apply them in our world.

2:41Obviously we can slightly question finance with a PH, but fair enough. We'll let him, we'll let him get away with that one. Yeah, he's pushing the envelope a bit. But actually, if you haven't listened to the conversation with Lord Billimoria, he should have mentioned really as part of his 10 failure, which he would have mentioned with a PH as well, I guess. But actually that, that is a, that was again, another constant theme that came out of our conversation with him and it's just a really good reminder for people particularly people who are building things or who are doing great things or perhaps you know have naysayers around them that are pointing out all the things they're getting wrong and messing up like what did Greg Hoffman say failure is the price of ambition like you can't do great things without stumbling or coming up short at times yeah definitely and I'd as a consequence of that I'd add in an 11th P to Lord Billamory's list, which is patience.

3:32Sometimes our plans don't happen overnight. We need to let time happen and we just keep doing the right thing consistently and wait for patience to deliver its own reward. As Gary Barlow, another guest this month's weather said, have a little patience. Well, again, yeah. Well, if we move on to Gary then this month, I think that the patience of his story is brilliant because he spoke about understanding that narrative arc. No, he related it to his concerts of start high, bring people in close, and then finish on your best numbers. But that was almost a metaphor for his own life as well, wasn't it?

4:12Of going in and being successful early on and then having to be humbled almost by life. Should we listen to the clip of Gary explaining that in more detail? So if you think about coming onto a stage, those first three songs you want to hit your audience hard with those first three songs so they're absolutely jumping they can't believe it and then you work towards the lowest point of the show the bit that's its smallest where you're just you and the piano and your voice that's the bit you work towards and then you work towards the climb which is what i call you're on your way home now and that's that last 40 minutes of hit after hit after hit and then you give them the last song you know the flutter fetty goes off and and off you go and your favorite moment in that journey you know what i love all of it i love all of it and um i i you know i i'd work towards that bit in the middle because that's the bit if i'm just sat with a piano and an audience oh that's what that's what all this work's been for you know to just be able to sit there with a song a voice and an instrument in front of a big audience it's just beautiful so there he is Gary Barlow talking to us about how he puts together the perfect concert and as someone whose wife is a huge fan of Take That and Harriet came to the recording you would have noticed I've been to a number of Take That concerts and that's exactly how he operates um I mean I love the conversation with Gary and I really liked that bit about how he puts the concerts together because I think it's another great reminder for people that you don't stumble into high performance.

5:44It's easy to think, oh, Gary Barlow's got so many great hits and he's such a great musician. He just goes out on stage and plays the songs in a random order. But every little thing is thought about to the nth degree. Well, there's something that you said when we first started this podcast, Jay, that really strikes me. And I think about, especially in relation to that, when you said, imagine how lucky we are that, say Gary Barlow's had 20 years of being at the top of his game and he's learned all those lessons and he's now distilling them down for us to be able to take and apply, that we live in such really fortunate times to be able to do that.

6:18And when he told the story to us of playing at Connor's Key Working Men's Club and he's watching all these acts on the stage and he's learning the nuances, the subtleties of what the public want. And then he's taken that learning and applied it to his own benefit, but then passing it on to ours. So if there's anyone that's listening to this that thinks maybe as a teacher, how do I do a really great lesson? Start with your big hits. bring people in and then finish on a high if you're a coach same principle applies if you're working in sales he's giving you an arc that he's honed of being able to engage people's emotions and bring them with him and that's what all of us are in in our own different ways really interesting there's another thing i think we should point out when it comes to um high performance and that is people getting things wrong um you know gary spoke about the times in his life when things went wrong and the things he learned from it.

7:10So have a listen to this clip. This is about when he went to America, tried to break America, and it just simply didn't happen. The worst three minutes, I think, of my whole life, where you just want the ground to swallow you up and also realising that this is the end. There's no coming back from this. There's no second performance to launch yourself in America. This was it. This was what every artist wanted. and I got it and this is where I am with it. And I remember wandering off the stage and thinking that's the end, that is it. I'm going home. It was very telling because the whole day I'd been in New York, I'd minimum eight to 12 people around me, you know, you're great, you're going to be good tonight, you know, great, let's get to know each other, let's exchange numbers.

8:02When I walked off the stage, there was nobody. And I walked off the side of the stage into the reception at the plaza, through the doors, and walked all the way down Fifth Avenue to my hotel, and there was nobody with me, and it was raining, and it was like, that's the end of that. Now that plays perfectly into one of Lord Billamoria's 10 Ps for Life product. The minute Gary took his eye off the product, the minute he allowed someone else to convince him that doing something different was going to be better for him, it all went wrong, and it's a great reminder for us to keep whatever our product is at the heart of what we're doing, even if that's just ourselves and our work and our approach to the world.

8:42Got to stay true. Yeah, I think when we were sat in the studio with Gary, he could almost feel that, like he brought us into that moment, didn't he? How crushing it was and that sense of rising panic as he hadn't prepared properly and yet he was agreeing to do something without doing the rehearsal. I think it's a really good example of don't sacrifice your products on the altar of short-term promises, it's got to always defend that to the hilt. And we can now hear from another guest this month who really is someone who lives by so many of the 10 Ps that Lord Billamoria mentioned. Whether it is the product, the football's great, whether it is the people, he puts brilliant people together, whether it is partnerships.

9:26I think this guest spoke to us so brilliantly about partnerships. The reaction we got to this conversation was incredible. the CEO at Brighton he's actually just been named did you see he's been named Premier League CEO of the year really yeah well that's fitting isn't it and we were so impressed by what Paul Barber had to say let's hear Paul Barber speak to us about how they make sure they aren't derailed at Brighton by outside forces changing the direction of the club so actually having sort of a plan to either replace these players before you need to or a plan to replace them when you need to is all part of that succession planning whether it is on or off the pitch having a plan to deal with those situations is critical to not losing momentum and critical to not losing focus so what is the plan then because i so often football teams are reactive to things that happen here you are being proactive the number of times you said they were in the building right you don't stumble into that that is a thought about process would you mind giving us some real insights into the actual process you have in place and is it there just for the playing staff or is it there for everyone?

10:31Yeah, we try and identify probably the top 20 or 25 most vulnerable positions within the football club on and off the field. And we try and have a succession plan in place. So if we were to lose person A, what would we do? Person B, where would we go? And sometimes the beauty of that system is that you get a sense of who's in the building already and therefore that's the obvious place to go. So Dan Ashworth leaves, David Weir's in the building. Sometimes it highlights that the person that would replace the person that you are preparing to lose isn't in the building. And that's really important because where then do you look?

11:11Where's the most obvious place to replace that person? And then once you've identified outside the building who that person is, how easy is it going to be to get them? You know, would they want to come? Can you afford them? Would they want to come and could you afford them at the time that you might need them? Because you almost need them. In this system, you need them before you need them. Correct. So sometimes it's about investing on the playing side in a position that from the outside looking in doesn't look immediately apparent that you need. And then it's about having a pathway plan for that player not to become disgruntled in that interim period, which is where David Weir's experience as our loans manager was critical to how we work because it was his job to move those players that we brought into the building before we needed them out to clubs that could then develop them further for us and prepare them for coming back to us but at the same time they've got to be clubs with a culture that was similar to ours so that that player would feel comfortable, welcomed as if he hadn't just been brought in to be moved out straight away and felt disgruntled because of that and you know we've we've done that now several times where we've had players in and then out of the building and then back in the building and then ready to play now what this really comes down to is is partnerships isn't it it's making sure that you've got a great partnership with the people who are already in the business but also having those relationships with people outside i mean for him to say that the top 25 roles at brighton football club are filled yet they already know the next person that's going to fill them, including, by the way, his job as the CEO.

12:48They already know and have identified that person. It's about the partnerships. It's about personal relationships. It's about having the conversations with the people who can't be part of your business at the moment, but one day you might just need them. Yeah, and in addition to those partnerships, there's the P of principles that are key as well. Paul spoke to us about how he's really clear on the values that they hold true at Brighton and how recruitment, first of all is based on the competence to do the job for those 25 key roles but then it's about the fit can you come into this environment and role model the behaviors and the values that create alignment that mean that we have transparency and trust at all levels and there was a really interesting bit that Paul told us that I think for anyone listening to this can think about themselves and how it applies to them was when he first came in at Brighton and he told them that we're going to be Premier League ready.

13:45And then he said, but on that journey, some of you will come all the way. Some of you will come part of the way. And to be quite honest, he said, looking at some of the cynics, you won't even begin that journey. And I think that again speaks to the partnerships, Jake, that you referenced that everybody has to feel invested in it as if it's part of their world. It's something that they've got ownership rather than it's being done to them. I really enjoyed that conversation. It was a conversation of true authenticity. and I think that when you look at the kind of the crazy money that a club like Everton has spent to be in a relegation scrap this year or the sort of scattergun approach that Chelsea have taken to not even qualify for Europe this year, it is a reminder that not only are Brighton in safe hands, but in the world of football, a plan, a clear plan, a strategy, a philosophy, it beats money, you know, a plan beats a deep pocket.

14:37Well, that links us in turn to our next guest, the brilliant Kieran Trippier that we spoke to. We were lucky enough to go meet Kieran up at St James' Park when, just before they'd qualified for the Champions League, which he'll do next season. And we asked Kieran about if he had to divide up talent that money would acquire and team spirit, which one that he felt was the most significant. And his answer, unequivocally, was the power of team spirit every day. So let's listen to Kieran explain a little bit about why team spirit is so important. If you had to apportion numbers on this, I'm interested in your experience because as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking about something that stands out in all your experiences has been great team spirits.

15:25When success is achieved, that idea of a great team spirit seems to be significant. If you had to give me a figure for how significant you think it is as a competitive advantage compared to talent, what sort of number would you offer? I think it's bigger than talent. Having that team who are all on the same page, who want to pull in the right direction, who might not be as talented as your opposition, I'll take that all day over talent, 100%. You look at us this season, we've competed, gone toe-to-toe with Man City at home, which is a thrilling game. We've gone toe-toe with everyone in the league and I'll take that all day.

16:03I love that clip. And I think, you know, what we've seen this year with Newcastle, and I know people love to snipe, don't they? Like these photos that they have after every big win when they're all in the dressing room. Like they've had to explain that to people. They've had to say, oh, it's not us being arrogant, that's just us showing a togetherness. Like, how have we ended up in a world where a football club having a photo of the lads after a big win in the dressing room is something that we can criticise? Like, how have we ended up in a world where Arsenal celebrating a big win has pundits on the television criticising that they've over-celebrated?

16:32I think, I just think there's a massive disconnect at the moment with football and the world of football and the way it's being spoken about, reported about, tweeted about. It seems just broken. Yeah, and I think the bit that often doesn't get spoken about on those pictures of Newcastle that Eddie Howe told us when we were lucky enough to interview him was that those photographs are the people that haven't actually played that day. They're the backroom staff, the substitutes, the guys that weren't selected in the squad. that's the reason those photographs are done to reinforce the message that any victory is a team sport and the team isn't just the 11 out there on the field it's everybody feeling that they've contributed so much now Paul Barber to go back to one of our earlier guests explains to us how it's about those partnerships of getting everyone invested in it and you can see that Newcastle seems to be adopting very similar principles and they're also like Brighton being rewarded for them let's finish this um episode with uh another clip from kieran trippier here's kieran explaining to us when he almost quit the game and it was his mum who convinced him not to there was one time where my mum came um because again i was young i was on more money and you know i was doing silly things like going out drinking and stuff like that and there was one moment in my career where i didn't really want to play anymore and I'll never forget it.

17:56I was living in Barnsley on my own in an apartment and mum drove up and yeah, she just sat me down and just made me realise what they've sacrificed, you know. And, you know, every day, Monday to Saturday, me and my brother, because we didn't really grow up as a wealthy family, you know. My mum and dad have worked so hard to get us in the position we're in today. So I think that was the one moment in my career where I really realised, you know, how much it meant to my mum and that was definitely a turning point for me and why didn't you want to play anymore? I don't know it was just more like being alone at 18 in Barnsley I know it's not far away from Bury but yeah when you're so young and at the time I didn't really have that as you do now teams have people who support you and stuff like that and help you manage certain situations so I think that moment when my mum came really helped me Now I think that's a really nice way to finish this conversation Damien because I think the thing we have to remember about high performance or about life actually is that it is a team sport and we're talking here not just to people who are listening to this conversation because they want to try and find their own version of high performance we're actually talking to everyone because we all have impact in other people's lives you know there's nothing that we say or do that doesn't have some kind of positive or negative impact for somebody else and I think when you hear Kieran talk like that it's a really important reminder to look after other people, to convince other people that they're on the right path, to stand by them when they need it, but at the same time, to deliver a few home truths when they need to be heard.

19:30Yeah. So in other words, to be a difference maker. And we can all make a difference using the 10 principles that we've discussed in this episode, whether it's we make a difference to a product by suggesting the way we can improve it. It might be to leave a place better than you found it. It might be to leave people better than we found it. We can all be a difference maker. And I think what we've heard in this month's episodes have been people that are committed to making a positive difference wherever they go. And I hope that you feel like we've made a positive difference to you with the things that we've shared in this episode of the High Performance Podcast.

20:06Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you again soon for another episode.