What keeps a team moving when everything says stop? For John Peck, the answer has never changed: human connection, handled with depth and care.

John is a former army officer and Metropolitan Police Commander who has spent decades leading in some of the most demanding environments imaginable — from inner-city London at its most volatile, to unclimbed Himalayan peaks, the Sahara Desert, the North Pole, and the Atlantic Ocean. In 2004, he became the oldest British person to row the Atlantic unsupported. He wasn't an elite athlete. He just refused to stop.

For the past 30 years, through his consultancy Tiger Teams, John has worked with senior leaders and organisations to build teams that perform when it matters most.

In this conversation, John and Jez — who first met at a conference in 2007 and went on to run 19 Bravehearts Wilderness Leadership Development Programmes together with inner-city youth workers — explore what genuinely high-performing teams are made of, why bringing someone in at the last minute is almost always a mistake, and why human connection isn't a leadership nicety — it runs through everything like a stick of rock.

We also discuss John's concept of turning anxiety into risk, the triangle of strategy, skills and mindset, and why the best leaders have always had an adventure waiting in the back of their mind.

John's books:
Restless — https://www.amazon.co.uk/Restless-John-Peck/dp/B0GR5HZK8L
The Seven Seas to Success — https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Add-Adventure-Your-Life-ebook/dp/B0BMM6TRMK

Find John:
Tiger Teams — https://tigerteams.co.uk
John's website — http://www.john-peck.com
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-peck-0587125/