Two prominent leaders from the worlds of business and sport shared their insights on leading high-performing, successful teams at Colmore Business District organisation Gateley Birmingham’s latest Leadership event.

Held at the Council House in Birmingham on Thursday 28 November, the event was attended by intermediaries and C-suite executives from businesses across the Midlands.

John Steele OBE, former England rugby player and the current Chair of Commonwealth Games England, offered a fascinating perspective on creating a winning team ethos from his extensive career working in elite sports, and discussed how to navigate the new and demanding challenges of modern-day leadership.  Having retired as an elite rugby player, John turned to coaching and successfully led Northampton Saints to become European Champions in 2000.  His experience in rugby union also saw him serve on the England Rugby Board during the successful 2003 World Cup campaign and be appointed as CEO of the Rugby football Union.  The winning of the bid for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics saw John take up post as CEO of UK Sport, which he led for a six-year period through Beijing 2008 and into London 2012.

John was joined on stage by Steve Hewitt, the former CEO of Gymshark, who successfully oversaw the transformation of the business into one of the world’s leading fitness apparel brands with a market valuation of over $1 billion during his eight-year tenure. Steve focused on the superpowers of leadership required to build a unicorn such as Gymshark and how these can be used in any organisation to create a successful growth culture.

Partner, Chris Kisby, said: “Our Leadership events provide the perfect platform to hear from inspirational leaders such as John and Steve. We are grateful to them both for sharing with us and our clients their incredible personal journeys, leaving us with a deeper understanding of effective leadership strategies and how to successfully apply these within our own organisations.”