High-Performance Discussion, Sporting Tales, Fine Dining and Wine with Scott Draper

Inertia and our valued guests were joined by the extraordinary Scott Draper, former professional Australia tennis and golf player and now Leadership Consultant and KPMG Contractor Specialist at Scott Draper Consulting.

It was an absolute pleasure to hear about Scott’s incredible journey to become such a success in his career both in and out of professional sport. Being the inspirational speaker that he is, he shared many valuable insights into leadership development, overcoming adversity, teamwork and communication which we hope to put into practice in our own work.

Purpose and wellness were the two main areas of discussion with Scott. He kicked this off by asking our guests if they knew their purpose, and if so, whether they had a definitive statement to explain it. This had many around the room struggling for the right words, as it turned out to be much more difficult to do than expected. By sharing his own purpose and the personal events and hurdles that have helped shape it, he showed how having a clear purpose acts as a guideline for all decisions made in life, and by extension helps drive success.

Through stories of his time as a professional sportsman, he highlighted the value of focusing on the process rather than the result. Whenever he started getting ahead of himself in a tournament or feeling the pressure get to him, he was able to combat this by simply following the process of every shot. Another lesson he learned throughout this time was that weaknesses are often simple strengths that are overdone, such as modesty versus self-effacing, confidence versus arrogance. Although this can sometimes be hard to pinpoint, by acknowledging this we can change our mind-set and find a balance.

His experience from both of his high performing career paths also gave him an interesting take on wellness in business leaders. When you compared to the amount of rest and recovery that athletes have to that of business leaders, it becomes clear that it is impossible to perform at the highest level for 50-60 hours per week. Recovery time is absolutely essential to high-level performance in whatever you do.

The intimate event took place in Baedeker’s prohibition inspired Cellar Room hidden behind a bookcase, and was the perfect environment for relaxed conversation over great food and fine wine. Thanks to everyone who attended, Claire O’Rourke, Martin Henry, Shaun Gallagher, Tim Rossberg, Adam Pope, Nick Gubbin, Adam Di Marco, Steve Dunn, Ben Haynes, Ian Don, and thank you to Scott Draper for lending his time, passion and expertise to the event.

Looking forward to hosting our next event!