Andrew May is recognised as one of the world’s leading strategists on workplace performance and wellbeing. As a high-performance coach, researcher and keynote speaker he is focused on helping people unlock their full potential, sustain performance, and providing people with the skills and mindset to flourish in the new world of work (NWW).
Andrew presents inspiring keynotes around the globe and his latest venture StriveStronger.com is disrupting the way organisations approach wellbeing, productivity and leadership.
It is this unique background in professional sport as an athlete and coach; academia (studying the body and brain); working in a global consulting firm; coaching high performers and entrepreneurial flair that positions Andrew to cut through ask simple, yet profound questions, that inspire individuals and entire organisations to reach their full potential.
Current work
Andrew is coach and confidante to a number of Australia’s leading CEO’s and executives, elite athletes and performing artists to help them train their bodies and brains so they can show up and perform in a peak state when they need to, and just as importantly, change state and switch off and relax in between.
Previous experience
Coach: Andrew is a former middle-distance runner who was an assistant coach at the Australian Institute of Sport in Tasmania. He has worked with multiple Olympic/international athletes in a range of sports including track and field, tennis, swimming, hockey, netball, basketball, AFL; culminating in working as the Physical Performance Manager for both the NSW and Australian Cricket teams.
Education: Andrew has dual degrees in the body and brain - completing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Exercise Physiology and a Masters in Coaching Psychology. He has recently commenced a PHD exploring the DNA of what makes a successful and fulfilled high-performance leader. Partnering with Dr Tom Buckley, Andrew launched the Research Institute to translate evidence-based research into programs he runs and the programs his team delivers through StriveStronger, with the vision of capturing the impact programs they have on physical and psychological wellbeing, productivity and leadership capacity.
Entrepreneur: Andrew is a serial entrepreneur having built and sold 3 successful businesses. He sold Good Health Solutions to ACCOR (now trading as Executive Health Solutions), Australia’s largest provider of Executive Health Assessments, and in December 2015 he sold The Performance Clinic to KPMG. He worked as a Partner at KPMG for 3 years and has experience consulting across multiple industries and domains including banking and financial services, sales, real estate, building and construction, professional services, telcos, oil and gas, retail, mining and industrials, government and the military.
Author: Andrew is author of the bestselling book Flip the Switch and the soon-to-be released MatchFit for Work and Life; he has a regular segment on ABC News Breakfast and appears across multiple media platforms including TV, radio, printed publications and online.
Talking Points
MatchFit
How to get your body and brain fit for work and fit for life.MatchFit
In today’s increasingly competitive, rapidly changing and high-pressured work environment, being ‘MatchFit’ has never been more important. Traditionally derived from competitive sport, the term MatchFit is being able to play and compete at a consistently high level.
Translated into the workplace, MatchFit signifies being able to continue performing at your best in an ever-changing environment. MatchFit also means being able to negate the biological decline of the body and brain post 40 years of age.
In this entertaining presentation Andrew will:
- Outline the ‘Perfect Storm’ and how to manage our health through the decades
- Help you understand the metrics we use to determine whether or not you are Matchfit
- Explain why being Matchfit is even more important in business performance than it is for athletes in their chosen sports
- Provide you with specific take homes to work smarter, increase physical activity and daily movement, eat for energy, manage stress, increase focus and think clearer
- Show the clear link between enhanced wellbeing and productivity to improved leadership, decision making and emotional regulation
Cultivating GRIT
How to adopt a growth mindset, harness passion and increase psychological resilience.Cultivating GRIT
Happiness and fulfilment in life don’t come from having things easy, it comes from overcoming challenges and working hard to achieve what is meaningful and important. Grit is a psychological construct that combines passion and perseverance, and the good news is, it can be learned.
In this thought-provoking and entertaining presentation Andrew will:
- Show you how grit can be learned, regardless of previous experience or circumstances
- Emphasise why being MatchFit is an essential building block to develop and enhance grit
- Support you to connect with your purpose and what is truly ‘meaningful’ in your professional and personal life
- Explain why giving children a ribbon when they come 10th is counterproductive to building grit
- Demonstrate why a growth mindset (rather than a fixed mindset) is paramount to being psychologically fit for the constantly changing, disruptive and complex nature of the new world of work (NWW)
- Change the way you look at goal setting and why ‘optimal practice’ counts twice as much towards goal achievement
- Unlock key factors to empower teams to increase perseverance and bounce back from challenges and tough times
Workfit
How to boost productivity, minimise distractions, and flourish in the New World of Work.Workfit
The way we work has changed. Forever. What use to be the exception is now the rule with faster turn-around time; increased customer and organisational expectations; constant threat of disruption; digital transformation, robotics and Artificial Intelligence; constant connectivity and a truly global marketplace. Just reading this list makes the heart skip faster and pressure levels start to rise.
The only certainty is that what works today will not work tomorrow. Old business models won’t work. Old leadership styles won’t be tolerated. And slow-moving industries will become extinct. Agility, creativity and foresight are essential skills for leaders and progressive teams to future-proof their businesses. This new frontier of knowledge workers are paid to think, to communicate, to speak, to sell, and to process information.
This new world, this new order, presents amazing opportunities. If we get the formula right we have the capacity and the potential to do more, be more, see more, travel more, learn more, experience more than any generation before. Get it wrong, and you will be left behind. Participants will leave this presentation with a clear action plan for navigating disruption and flourishing in the NWW where Andrew outlines:
- How the NWW definition of ‘productivity’ has nothing to do with hours worked
- Managing energy, not time, is the new currency of workplace performance
- How to focus attention, minimise distractions and cut back unnecessary time spent on email and social media
- Proven working strategies to engender creativity and innovation
- How to find a blend between rituals and routines and not get stuck playing ‘The Same Game’
- 4 forms of disruption that are heading our way in the next 10 years
- Technology trends that will shape the future and how to manage these (and not become managed by them)
- How to avoid the culture and mindset traps that will set any organisation on a collision course with obsolescence
Naturally High
How to tap into neuroscience and your body’s internal pharmacy to enhance energy levels, vitality and joy.Naturally High
Centuries ago Greek philosophers understood the benefits connecting physical activity with the way we feel. Hippocrates prescribed physical activity for patients with mental illness and the Hippocratic oath was formed on the basis that a healthy body is the platform for a healthy mind. While it has taken neuroscientists a couple of thousand years to catch up, we are now proving clear links between exercise, healthy eating, the environment and wellbeing.
There are over 37 trillion cells in the body and every feeling can be linked to internal chemicals. If you learn how to manage this natural internal pharmacy, using the Science of Human Performance, you can learn to consciously alter state and impact your mood, relationships, productivity and happiness.
In this captivating presentation, Andrew will demonstrate how:
• Managing your circadian rhythm (body clock) and endocrine system will produce the right types of hormones for productivity, creativity and fulfillment
• Brain chemistry is fundamentally linked to feeling good in life
• Improve quality of sleep and recovery to boost growth hormone and tap into the fountain of youth
• Learn how to synchronise your lungs, heart and brain to shift state and enhance resilience
• Use EEG (Electroencephalography) neurofeedback monitors to shift brain wave state (Alpha, Beta, Delta) and consciously shift yourself into the zone
• You can front load mental skills for future cognitive control (when you need it)
• Leverage neuroplasticity to build a resilient, adaptable, high functioning brain
• Utilise sunlight, nature and your senses to improve emotional health and wellbeing
• Change your brain chemistry through movement, nutrition and play
• Use PQ (Performance Intelligence) to improve energy, feel in control and enhance vitality
High Performance Leadership
How to expand your leadership capacity and build a culture of high performance.High Performance Leadership
“Leadership has nothing to do with the title. That is your title. True leadership is how you manage state and how you show up each day. It is not what you say, it is what you do”.
The most important driver of how well you lead isn’t your brain, your intelligence, your charisma, or years of experience. Sorry to disappoint. But the biggest impact on your ability to lead is Leadership Capacity - how you manage Time, Energy and Attention.
Let’s face it - leadership is hard. Whether you are the CEO of a publicly listed company, part of the senior leadership group, in charge of a sales team or running your own business - leadership requires concentration, large amounts of energy, focus, the ability to attract and keep talent, discipline, ambition, visionary thinking, a global perspective and the ability to engage and empower others. You simply cannot be all of the above without expanding your Leadership Capacity. Being MatchFit underpins this.
The second part of this keynote focuses on leadership behaviours and culture. Not sure about you, but I’m tired of seeing so-called leadership programs/initiatives where teams quote frameworks and say the right things, but then do exactly the opposite. In this keynote Andrew will shake up the leadership model and:
- Illustrate the overwhelming research that shows leaders need to focus on developing physical and psychological fitness
- How regular physical activity improves attention; the speed of information processing; and executive functioning (cognitive skills responsible for planning, initiation, sequencing and monitoring of complex, goal-directed behaviours).
- Explain how millennials don’t really care about your title or rank, you need to engage their hearts and minds in a meaningful way
- Show unfit leaders are making it harder for themselves and are putting too much added stress on their system
- Highlight the so-called simple things like starting and finishing meetings on time, being attentive in meetings and getting off your technology when you are with others provides a platform for leadership culture
- Provide you with strategies to bring your true self to work, show vulnerability (in an authentic way) and improve connection with your team
Switched-On Selling
Turbo-charge your sales results using the same rituals and routines used by athletes and high-performers.Switched-On Selling
Juggling new sales quotas, global competition, disruption, on-demand 24/7, ridiculous turnaround times, servicing existing customers and battling to stay ahead of the pack; plus trying to squeeze in a life with any spare time left over - depletes physical and emotional energy reserves. No wonder so many sales people feel disenchanted and disconnected.
Switched On Selling is not another sales skills course. It is for sales professionals who already have the basic sales and communication skills, yet aren’t achieving the results they want, or for successful sales professionals who want to raise the bar even more. Based on the Science of Human Performance, it is a proven curriculum that focuses on optimal performance of the mind, body and environment - establishing rituals and routines that position sales people and sales teams for optimal success.
• Learn how to shift state (using the body and brain) and to get into the optimal performance zone every time you’re in front of a client
• As important, learn how to relax and switch off when you are with loved ones, family and friends
• Avoid the sales rollercoaster and stop getting sick on holidays, with strategies to sustain performance throughout the year
• Natural tips and mood foods to get you through the mid-afternoon slump
• How your thoughts reflect in everything you feel, say and do from the very moment you step into the sales presentation
• 7 activities to do every morning to set yourself up for success
• How to project a world class brand that promotes you and your business the moment you walk through the door
• Leverage performance psychology to cultivate grit and build psychological resilience
The World’s Best Innovation Lab - YOU Inc!
Organisations spend a lot of time and money on design thinking, innovation labs, hackathons, and the list goes on. All in the name of driving innovation and coming up with creative ideas. Stop buying into the myth that we need to be dialled into every node and can just ‘manufacture creativity' through a hackathon or inside a lab. Time-sensitive Hackathons where conservative middle-aged men drive agendas to come up with craaaazy ideas is not innovation. And many innovation labs (with the same middle-aged men, this time wearing jeans, sneakers and carrying an iPad) is not innovation either. That’s embarrassing. The World’s Best Innovation Lab - YOU Inc!
Real innovation comes from carving out time to think, to reflect, to truly connect. Slow down and disconnect (from email, social media & back-to-back meetings) and tap into the power of cultivating free space to think, to reflect, to innovate.
In this somewhat controversial keynote, Andrew will show you:
• How your brain is the most amazing innovation lab you will ever have
• The importance of loneliness and boredom to stimulate innovation
• How some of the true great innovators like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs regularly got away from the busyness of work and came up with their best ideas when they scheduled time to reflect
• How to get the best out of design thinking by blending it with state management
• Proven working strategies to engender creativity and innovation
• The clear link between enhanced wellbeing and productivity to improved leadership, decision making, emotional regulation, creativity and innovation
• How to synchronise your heart and brain to change state and enhance the likelihood of getting into flow
The Healthy Entrepreneur
How to keep achieving in the entrepreneurial/small business world, without collateral damage.The Healthy Entrepreneur
The life of an entrepreneur can be exciting, rewarding and engaging. And who doesn’t want to build a unicorn? Life as an entrepreneur/small business owner can also be very demanding. The entrepreneur has multiple roles and responsibilities; is always available and regularly works extra-long hours; has constant pressure between balancing sales and business growth with cash flow; and is faced with a constant blurring of boundaries between work and life. If you don’t build in rituals that support health and wellbeing, energy and time for creativity - you are at high risk of becoming fatigued and at the extreme level, burnt out.
Recent research from KPMG found the average start-up founder works 64 hours a week, with 40 percent working seven days a week. 66% of founders are very or extremely stressed, and more than 57% said that their stress has a large impact on the ability of their start-up to succeed. Long hours and constant pressure can also impact personal relationships and mental health.
Video
Andrew May | Show Reel
For the past 15 years Andrew May has been speaking on stages around the world, and during the past 12 months, delivering engaging virtual presentations. From a shed in the outback; to shedding myths about productivity in large conference centres. From graduate recruit days welcoming new employees; to presenting at CEO forums and challenging outdated leadership frameworks. From high energy, entertaining post-lunch digital keynotes; to highly moving, seriously impactful Leadership Offsites that change people’s lives. Andrew has the ability to connect with audiences like very few speakers can. He has a special talent blending science (psychology, physiology, neuroscience); and practical experience working in the worlds of high-performance, sport and business.Andrew May | Media Reel
Andrew May is recognised as one of the world’s leading strategists on workplace performance and wellbeing. As a high-performance coach, researcher and keynote speaker he is focused on helping people unlock their full potential, sustain performance, and providing people with the skills and mindset to flourish in the new world of work (NWW). Andrew presents inspiring keynotes around the globe and his latest venture StriveStronger.com is disrupting the way organisations approach wellbeing, productivity and leadership.Saxton Fireside Chat with Leading Performance Expert, Andrew May
The exchange of stories and ideas is more important now than ever. In this bi-weekly series of virtual Fireside Chats you can gain unprecedented access to the world's greatest storytellers and thought leaders. In this intimate session, leading performance expert Andrew May shares his expertise into how to maintain mental and physical wellness in the face of a crisis.Thanks for your great ‘Switched On’ keynote at our annual conference. It was our pleasure having you as part of our 'people' day and I thought your speech was fantastic! One of our internati ... keep reading EMI Music Australia
Thank you for all of the time and effort you have put into the AXA manager conference program over the last year. Combining the morning wake up activities, masseurs, and the online learning and intranet with your keynote presentations is a perfect way to blend content and practice. The Switched On reviews where you summarise all of our activities and provide us with downloads and photos of the entire experience is always very well received. We are looking forward to running this program with you again next year!
Feedback from delegates clearly shows your talk was not only well received, but a highlight of the event. Your experience and understanding of sustained performance and its impact on our businesses certainly gives us all plenty to think about in planning ahead.
Andrew's energetic style always leaves the audience buzzing. We can always count on Andrew to partner with us and deliver a humorous, thought provoking and very practical presentation. He is a master speaker and the perfect choice to stimulate the audience with a fact filled health message. One of the best I've seen!
Andrew was simply brilliant. His obvious wealth of subject knowledge shone through his presentation as he easily engaged the wide ranging audience providing insightful information into improving our lifestyle and productivity. His personality opened up audience participation during question time which allowed a vibrant and informative session. His humour and candid opinions were refreshing and very well received by the audience.
