What Does It Take To Win?

How do high-performance environments in sports and business balance the relentless pursuit of success with the well-being of the individuals who drive them? In this episode, we explore the intersection of passion, performance, and sustainability. Ashleigh Wallace, Director of Performance Support at British Equestrian, leads the way in high-performance sport with a focus on athlete health, well-being, and sustainable success. With over 20 years of experience across multiple disciplines, she has played a key role in shaping strategies that optimise performance while prioritising athlete welfare. Kate Prince, Founder and CEO of Ancient + Brave, has built a mission-driven wellness brand that blends sustainability, innovation, and high-performance culture. With a background in law and media, she has rapidly scaled Equi London into a leading force in the industry, creating a business that champions well-being while maintaining a fast-paced, results-driven environment. From navigating leadership transitions to balancing the drive for excellence with team well-being, we uncover what makes great leaders successful in both business and sport. We discuss how to foster a culture of growth, where failure is seen as a learning opportunity and passion is harnessed without burnout. We also examine performance beyond just physical effort, considering emotional resilience, recovery, and availability. Kate and Ashleigh share insights on recognising individual needs within a team and offer practical advice on creating a balanced, sustainable high-performance culture. Drawing on experiences from elite sports, they reflect on how businesses can adopt similar approaches to optimise both team success and individual well-being.What Does It Take To Win is produced by Urban Podcasts.

What does winning really mean to you? In this episode of the Track Record Podcast, we explore that question with two exceptional guests: Katie Walcott, Head of HR at a Global Investment Bank, and Sean Conway, a record-breaking endurance athlete. Sean shares his “no plan B” mindset and how the thrill of taking risks drives him to push through challenges, while Katie offers a more personal take on winning, having evolved from competing for medals to celebrating small victories in daily life.Together, we explore the balance between individual ambition and teamwork, the mental strategies for enduring challenges, and the role of leadership in motivating teams. With insights from both competitive sports and the corporate world, we challenge your ideas of success and inspire you to rethink what it means to truly win.What Does It Take To Win is created by Urban Podcasts.

What drives us to endure pain, to wake up before dawn, or to keep working toward our goals when progress feels painstakingly slow?In this conversation with Alistair Brownlee and Ben Marrel, we explore the heartbeat of high performance - motivation. We'll explore how ingrained habits of hard work and embracing discomfort are not just the bedrock of athletic achievement but also entrepreneurial success.BIOSBen's experience as a founder and his passion for entrepreneurship led him to co-found Breega, a pan-European founder-led VC backing tech startups from PreSeed to Series B stage.Ben has built Breega to provide founders with the help he wished he had when he launched his own ventures. He debuted his entrepreneurial journey by launching Rugby Division, a disruptive rugbywear brand, and FiftyFor, the first financial rating platform for SMEs in Africa.Ben began his career in M&A, working on large cross-border deals and Series D+ in Tech for Macquarie Bank in London and Sydney.Ben is also a referenced thought leader and invited speaker on venture capital, digital transformation, emerging market investment, climate tech, the future of fintech...Today, Ben sits at the Board and advises major tech scaleups such as Moneybox, 011h, Cuvva, GoJob to propel them to global success.Alistair Brownlee MBE is a triathlete. He has achieved great success in his career and is the only male athlete to have won two Olympic gold medals in the individual triathlon event. He won the gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.Alistair was introduced to triathlon at a young age by his uncle Simon Hearnshaw, who regularly competed in the sport. As a junior, he was a successful fell and cross country runner, coming second in the Junior English Cross Country Championships and winning the Yorkshire County title on several occasions.What Does It Take To Win is created by Urban Podcasts.

The leap from a secure job to the rollercoaster world of startups might seem daunting, but it was a challenge worth taking for Sandrine and Monika. With a shared spirit of resilience, they recount the personal hurdles that sparked their entrepreneurial flames.Sandrine unveils her transformation from finance to founder of a vintage furniture marketplace, while Monika discusses her pivot from advertising to creating an app that revolutionises mental health access. Navigating the startup ecosystem requires a blend of intuition and expertise. Sandrine and Monika reveal that trusting your gut isn't just about internal hunches; it's about weighing those instincts against the advice of seasoned investors and advisors.Embrace the uncomfortable as we explore why conflict can catalyse innovation and the mindset shifts founders face as their companies scale.BIOSMonika is the Founder of OMA Mind, a platform for instant access to mental health support focused on the startup ecosystem. Before Oma, Monika led global brand teams at BlaBlaCar, OYO and Ankorstore, living between London, Paris and India. Back in Poland she worked with Saatchi & Saatchi and Isobar in the early days of social media.Sandrine founded Vinterior in 2016, coding the marketplace's first version herself. Seedcamp funding in 2016 supported growth, and sales of £1m were achieved in 2017 with 500 sellers. Fast forward to 2021 and a series A funding round of £8 million was secured to further invest in the platform and make Vinterior the UK's market leader. In 2023 the platform was opened up to non-professional sellers and now has 400K listings from over 5,000 sellers, consolidating its position as largest supplier of pre-owned premium furniture and homeware in Europe. Prior to founding Vinterior, Sandrine worked in financial services - latterly 3 years in the investment team of fa family office. In her earlier career she worked in structured products at TFS and audit at Ernst & Young. Sandrine holds a masters degree in Finance from the ESSEC Business School.What Does It Take To Win is produced and managed by Urban Podcasts.

We sit down with Kelly Grier and William McNabb to discover how to blend personal ambition with team success. They share how competitive spirit and team synergy can propel organisations forward.This episode is a masterclass in cultivating a robust team culture. We explore the strategies that turn individual stars into team players who champion the collective objective. We discuss the terrain of leadership development, from hands-on contributions to the finesse of mentoring up-and-coming talent.BIOSKelly J. Grier, 53, retired US Chair and Managing Partner (CEO) of Ernst & Young LLP (EY), a global professional services firm, in July 2022, having served in this capacity since 2018. Ms. Grier is a Certified Public Accountant and has over 30 years of service at EY serving in various roles with increasing levels of responsibility. During her career at EY, Ms. Grier gained significant broad-based experience working with the boards of many of the largest companies worldwide. She has served as a director of ITW since September 2022, CDW since August 2023, Booking Holdings since 2024 and serves as a director of many not-for-profit organizations.F. William McNabb III is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Vanguard. He joined Vanguard in 1986. In 2008, he became chief executive officer; in 2010, he became chairman of the board of directors and the board of trustees. He stepped down as chief executive officer at the end of 2017 and as chairman at the end of 2018. Earlier in his career, he led each of Vanguard’s client-facing business divisions.Mr. McNabb is active in the investment management industry and served as the chairman of the Investment Company Institute’s board of governors from 2013 to 2016. A board member of UnitedHealth Group, IBM, Axiom, Vanilla, and Altruist, he is also vice chair of the board of Nexii. He also serves as a senior advisor to Permira and Venrock.Mr. McNabb is active in the nonprofit world. He is a board member and co-chair of CECP: The CEO Force for Good, former co-chair of the NACD Future of the American Boardroom Commission, a board member of Elevate 215 and the Philadelphia Zoo, and chair of the US Rowing Foundation.In addition, Mr. McNabb is the executive in residence at the Raj & Kamla Gupta Governance Institute at the LeBow College of Business, a member of the Advisory Board of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School, and a senior fellow of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management.Mr. McNabb earned an A.B. at Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.What Does It Take To Win is produced and managed by Urban Podcasts.