Pivot Points podcast
The Olympian’s mindset: creating a winning team with gold medal winner & President of Swimathon Foundation, Duncan Goodhew MBE
Episode 41
Pivot Points podcast
The Olympian’s mindset: creating a winning team with gold medal winner & President of Swimathon Foundation, Duncan Goodhew MBE
Episode overview
Olympic gold medallist Duncan Goodhew MBE joins Dave Allen to unpack the what really sits behind his two most famous lengths of the pool – dyslexia, self-doubt, and the decision to work hardest on your worst days. They explore how the psychology of winning, the power of “permission,” and swimming in multiple “lanes” in life can transform not just athletic performance, but leadership and business.
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I adopted this philosophy of working my hardest on my worst days, and the second half of those days became even better than my best days.
Duncan Goodhew Olympic Gold Medalist and President, Swimathon Foundation
On the surface, it took just two lengths of an Olympic swimming pool to change Duncan Goodhew’s life.
But as any elite athlete will tell you, success like Duncan’s isn’t about what you do on the day.
What counts is the person that you, and those around you, shape yourself to become before you even compete.
The parallels between sport and business are easy to draw, and through the Swimathon Foundation, for which he is the President, he’s combined the best of both worlds to make a monumental impact.
Join us as Duncan shares the architecture that makes a victorious leader, why your hardest work should come on your worst day, and the mental models that’ll transform the team around you.
Success has to have ownership to be real; I’ve seen so many people say, ‘that person’s really successful,’ and you look at them and go, you must be joking.
Duncan Goodhew Olympic Gold Medalist and President, Swimathon Foundation
You will learn:
- How Duncan used dyslexia, setbacks, and self-doubt as fuel to build a winning mindset.
- Why the “permission” we receive from mentors and leaders can be the difference that unlocks our full potential.
- Practical ways to “work hardest on your worst days” and turn emotional lows into your strongest performances.
- How swimming in multiple “lanes” of life can strengthen your confidence, resilience, and leadership.
- What it really means to redefine success on your own terms.
On a bad day, a good team around you will believe in your ability more than you believe in yourself, and we all have this innate bit in us that says somebody’s going to find out I’m not as good as they think I am.
Duncan Goodhew Olympic Gold Medalist and President, Swimathon Foundation
