Henry Cheetham

Henry co-created the human performance programme for UK Special Forces, helped build the equivalent within professional New Zealand rugby, and has coached Olympic gold medallists, transatlantic rowers, and world record-setting mountaineers.

When he started working with Special Forces, he expected them all to be built like tanks. Able to go all day, every day. Plenty were, but they weren’t necessarily the ones who lasted. Many assumed durability would follow ability. Whoever performed best would surely last longest. Yet the ones still standing years later were the ones who hadn’t sacrificed the rest. They knew what was going on at home. They had an identity outside the job. They looked after themselves when nobody was checking. None of it made them softer, it was the reason they were still there, year after year, able to produce their best when it mattered.

That is the heart of Henry‘s message. For most high performers, mindset and discipline are what get you to the top. But they are not what keep you there. Henry doesn’t believe career excellence has to cost you your health and relationships. In his experience it runs the other way round; those areas are what let you stay at the top long enough to realise your full potential.

Today, as founder of Executive Physiology Systems, Henry works with senior executives, founders and partners. Those in high-pressure environments whose skills and judgement are already built, and whose only real question is how long they can sustain them. His answer is that durability isn’t a matter of willpower or discipline – it’s a physiology problem. And physiology is solvable.

It may sound odd coming from someone who has coached Special Forces operators, but Henry believes discipline to be unreliable, inefficient, and overrated – and explains in his talks how the true levers behind durable high performance are far simpler.

To book Keynote Speaker Henry Cheetham, contact The Speakers Agency on +44(0)1332 810481 or email enquiries@thespeakersagency.com