Greatness is a simple equation , you just have to ask the right person.
Gavin Freeman is a performance psychologist with more than 20 years of experience advising elite athletes, senior leaders, and high‑performing teams. Gavin brings a rare blend of sporting and corporate insight, shaped by roles as a Director within a global consultancy and as a Head of HR. His work spans major Australian and international organisations across banking, construction, mining, telecommunications, and government.
Gavin coaches CEOs, Executives, Managers, and Elite Coaches, delivering practical and experiential programs in Performance Mastery, Change Leadership, Strategic Facilitation, Executive Coaching, and Team Development. His psychological expertise gives audiences a grounded understanding of human behaviour and how to build cultures that support high performance.
Gavin is the author of three books, including The Business Olympian, which translates mental toughness lessons from elite sport into the corporate arena, and Just Stop Motivating Me, which reframes how individuals and teams create productive and sustainable behaviours. His latest book, Don't Let Me Die in Economy Class, explores how ordinary people achieve extraordinary outcomes through mindset, discipline, and the daily habits that shape performance.
He has served as Team Psychologist for the Australian Winter Olympic Team in Turin 2006, the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, and the Olympic Archery Team. His global sporting experience includes work with athletes from the NBA, WNBA, PGA, and the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
Gavin holds a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Psychology from the University of Western Australia, a Master of Psychology from the University of Southern Queensland, and an MBA from Deakin University. He is a regular contributor to business media across Australia and often appears on television and radio discussing performance, behaviour, and leadership.
Talking Points
Just Stop Motivating Me
As we have all experienced, employee engagement can make or break a team. Many leaders complain that they don’t have enough time for themselves to be productive as they are always pushing and motivating their staff. According to sports and business psychologist, Gavin Freeman, organisations are asking the wrong questions. He believes individuals are always motivated but it is our underlying psyche which determines our ability to maintain or change our approach to motivation.Just Stop Motivating Me
Why do we act the way we do? How can we create smarter work environments which will enable motivation to flourish? What is needed for employees to change the way they work?
Join Gavin as he delves into the human consciousness to uncover a wider motivational continuum which determines our ability to maintain or change how we approach work.
His second book, Just Stop Motivating Me, is the basis of this presentation and is the product of many interviews with various CEO and professionals (including the CEO of Deloitte Australia and Nelson Mandela’s personal bodyguard). The results are quite extraordinary and reveal why we should stop motivating people and instead create an environment where workers choose to motivate themselves and use their discretionary effort to benefit their organisation as a whole.
+PLUS You will be given a questionnaire designed to help you understand your own motivational mindset and how to progress from there.
Building an Olympian Mindset
Building an Olympian mindset is achievable – but it will take everything you have to give. The beauty is that every person has the capability of developing their own version.Building an Olympian Mindset
We explore deep insights into my model of preforming under pressure with a strong message on how you the individual can develop a resilient, focused, disciplined and motivated approach to life and work.
Walking away from this presentation you and your team will have specific examples the impact of pressure and how we can learn to block it out or even make it your friend. The presentation is designed to be highly experiential.
Crisis Management - How Bruce Wayne Becomes Batman
By day he is a mild mannered billionaire, but at night he becomes the caped crusader to fight crime and protect the city and people he cares about. Crisis management by its definition is the ability to respond to a situation which you often have no control over, have little time to respond to, and likely don’t have all the information you need to make a decision.Crisis Management - How Bruce Wayne Becomes Batman
Over recent times the impact of a crisis on a businesses reputation and bottom line has become the norm on the front pages of our newspapers, the butt of many comedians jokes and at the mercy of the twitter trolls.
This presentation will take you on an emotional and cognitive journey into understanding the psychology of a crisis, how we need to build effective plans to support your employees during a crisis and most importantly how your leaders need to pull on the Lycra, put their undies on the outside and become Batman.
Video
Gavin Freeman | Business Olympian | Saxton Speakers
...a wonderfully engaging presentation that left the team understanding what it takes to be motivated and dedicated to be the best that they can.The fact that Gavin related this through his ... keep reading Lend Lease
Just a quick note to let you know that I enjoyed the session last week - it was good to reinforce a bunch of ideas and strategies that I currently employ. The session was also thought provoking in many ways and I'd like to explore some ideas with my fellow employees.
As we discussed, the parallels between sporting & corporate teams are often overlooked, but very pragmatic & clear once comparison occurs. I was very impressed with the concise & relevant points in your presentation. Several people in my team also attended & were similarly impressed.
Gavin provided Hudson with an engaging and insightful presentation on two fronts. Firstly a chance to look at the world of sport and athletics from the inside and secondly, an understanding of what business can learn through the lens of sporting success. The clients in attendance were genuinely enthralled by the presentation which was demonstrated by the volume of questions at Q&A and the very positive feedback Hudson received from the event. Gavin's presentation was thought provoking and highly entertaining, we look forward to future events with Gavin.
The Local Government Association of Queensland was delighted to contract Mr Gavin Freeman to deliver the closing address at our 2004 Annual Conference in Mackay before some 550 delegates and observers. Gavin has a warm, friendly and engaging style and made an immediate connection with the audience. He superbly combined expert advice, audience interaction and use of audio-visual technology to completely win over conference goers who were at the end of a long three day event. His ability to relate complex conceptions performance improvement from the sporting area to the World of business and government was first class. Gavin was formally judged the best speaker by our delegates.
Gavin did a great job engaging the team and sharing practical, relevant information tailored to our work in the construction industry. The insights provided will be valuable and easy to apply in our day-to-day operations moving forward.
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