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Ep 35. Chris Bird, CEO The Raheem Sterling Foundation: Mindset of a Champion!
44 Plays2 years ago
“Everybody’s got a talent, but not everybody gets the opportunity. And thats what we’re about; we’re about opening that door and getting people through that door… that’s what’s missing in a lot of communities and society today…
There’s a lot of talented young people out there… The Raheem Sterling Foundation is about capturing that (talent) and making sure the opportunities are there.”
This episode is a very special collaboration with The Olympic Mindset Podcast.
I have teamed up with its host, Dominic Broad, to bring you this conversation with Chris Bird, CEO of the newly formed Raheem Sterling Foundation.
Chris is also the Founder of EQ Esports, CEO of Sports Tours International, a Trustee of The Running Bee Foundation and in the late 90s was the COO of Manchester City Football Club.
We speak with Chris about leadership and what it takes to have the mindset of a champion - not just in sport but in any walk of life.
Chris shares his aspirations for The Raheem Sterling Foundation and how through its focus on education, employment and social mobility, it aims to create opportunities and change the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. We have a fascinating conversation about levelling up and what that means in reality versus just in a political manifesto.
And of course we also talk about football.
Recorded August 2022.
Guest Biography
Chris is CEO of The Raheem Sterling Foundation, which champions further education, employment opportunities and social mobility for young people.
Chris is a leader in business and sports, and is widely considered a media, PR and communications authority. His media career started in 1982, working in commercial radio and regional newspaper sales. He now holds the position of Executive Chairman for Quest Media Network, as owner of the newspaper he delivered as a boy. He is also CEO of Sports Tours International.
Chris served as COO at Manchester City Football Club, where his negotiations were crucial in securing major commercial and sponsorship agreements that were highly profitable for the club. Chris joined Manchester City FC as a freelance PR Consultant before he was appointed as the Chairman’s Assistant. His rise from freelancer to COO reflects that of the club, climbing from Division 2 to English football’s top tier, the Premier League.
Chris is also the Founder and Trustee of The Running Bee Foundation and actively participates in challenges inspiring communities to lead healthy and active lives.
Links
https://raheemsterlingfoundation.org/
https://www.theolympicmindsetpodcast.com
There’s a lot of talented young people out there… The Raheem Sterling Foundation is about capturing that (talent) and making sure the opportunities are there.”
This episode is a very special collaboration with The Olympic Mindset Podcast.
I have teamed up with its host, Dominic Broad, to bring you this conversation with Chris Bird, CEO of the newly formed Raheem Sterling Foundation.
Chris is also the Founder of EQ Esports, CEO of Sports Tours International, a Trustee of The Running Bee Foundation and in the late 90s was the COO of Manchester City Football Club.
We speak with Chris about leadership and what it takes to have the mindset of a champion - not just in sport but in any walk of life.
Chris shares his aspirations for The Raheem Sterling Foundation and how through its focus on education, employment and social mobility, it aims to create opportunities and change the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. We have a fascinating conversation about levelling up and what that means in reality versus just in a political manifesto.
And of course we also talk about football.
Recorded August 2022.
Guest Biography
Chris is CEO of The Raheem Sterling Foundation, which champions further education, employment opportunities and social mobility for young people.
Chris is a leader in business and sports, and is widely considered a media, PR and communications authority. His media career started in 1982, working in commercial radio and regional newspaper sales. He now holds the position of Executive Chairman for Quest Media Network, as owner of the newspaper he delivered as a boy. He is also CEO of Sports Tours International.
Chris served as COO at Manchester City Football Club, where his negotiations were crucial in securing major commercial and sponsorship agreements that were highly profitable for the club. Chris joined Manchester City FC as a freelance PR Consultant before he was appointed as the Chairman’s Assistant. His rise from freelancer to COO reflects that of the club, climbing from Division 2 to English football’s top tier, the Premier League.
Chris is also the Founder and Trustee of The Running Bee Foundation and actively participates in challenges inspiring communities to lead healthy and active lives.
Links
https://raheemsterlingfoundation.org/
https://www.theolympicmindsetpodcast.com
Recommended
Transcript
Champion Mindset & Olympic Drive
00:00:00
Speaker
The mindset of the champion is that mindset of don't say no, there's no chance I say no to anything. It's how can I do it? How can I find a way of doing it? And if I'm a Olympian, can I go faster? Can I jump higher? Can I jump longer? Can I run longer? It's those kind of things. But they don't say, I can't do it. They say, how can I do it?
00:00:26
Speaker
Find me, show me the way of actually being able to achieve what I need to achieve.
Podcast Milestones & Collaborations
00:00:40
Speaker
Welcome to season four of the Charity CEO podcast, the podcast for charity leaders by charity leaders, bringing you inspirational and meaningful conversations with leaders who are driving change in the nonprofit space. I'm truly delighted and humbled that the show has been named in the Charity Times top 10 charity podcasts for 2022. Thank you all for that incredible endorsement. I'm Divya O'Connor, and here's the show.
00:01:07
Speaker
Today's episode is a very special collaboration with the Olympic Mindset Podcast. I have teamed up with its host Dominic Broad to bring you this conversation with Chris Bird, CEO of the newly formed Raheem Sterling Foundation. Chris is also the founder of EQ Esports, CEO of Sports Tours International, a trustee of the Running Bee Foundation, and in the late 90s was the COO of Manchester City Football Club.
00:01:33
Speaker
We speak with Chris about leadership and what it takes to have the mindset of a champion, not just in sport, but in any walk of life.
Mission & Impact of Raheem Sterling Foundation
00:01:41
Speaker
Chris shares his aspirations for the Raheem Sterling Foundation and how, through its focus on education, employment and social mobility, it aims to create opportunities and change the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
00:01:53
Speaker
We have a fascinating conversation about levelling up and what that means in reality versus just in a political manifesto. And of course, we talk about football. It's not a subject that I know a lot about, so I left that to Dominic. And those of you who are football fans are going to love The Icebreaker. Enjoy the show.
00:02:13
Speaker
Hi, Chris, welcome to the podcast and thank you for being here. My pleasure. Well, as you know, today's episode is an exciting collaboration with the Olympic Mindset podcast, and I'm going to hand over to the host of that show, Dominic Broad, my co-host for today to kick us off. So Dominic, over to you. Thanks, Divya. Hi, Chris, how are you? Well, good morning to both of you. And it's good to see you again, even though you are a Manchester City fan and we've already discussed this.
00:02:41
Speaker
I'm still a bit upset that you signed some of our best players this summer as a Leeds fan. So to start us off Chris, I've got a quick question for you if you don't mind. As you know, I'm a massive football fan and you led Manchester City through an amazing, really exciting period of football, the late 90s, early 2000s. If you could go back to that period and sign three players, realistic players for Manchester City at the time, you know, bear in mind you got to the prime and where you were, who were the three you would have liked to have signed at that time?
00:03:08
Speaker
I think when we're in the second division, we didn't have much money to play with. So it's not always a case of who did we want. It's who would fit what we required. We needed square pegs in square holes. And I think the people that we signed at the start, very, very difficult to say that would you do it any differently? Because you look at one player that we signed along from Bristol City, we paid £400,000 for him.
00:03:34
Speaker
And if you looked in the Rothmans book of players, if you put your finger over his name and looked at the results, you probably thought we were signing a 10 million pound player because of his games to gold ratio, which was Sean Goethe.
00:03:49
Speaker
I absolutely love Sean. Phoebe Galton, he will score.
Leadership Philosophies & Empathy
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And Sean became a cult hero and still a cult hero today, and really was a major part of what we did at the club. And the great thing about Sean was even when we got to the Premier League and we were signing Nicholas Inelka, Aleben Arbier, Al Berkovic,
00:04:08
Speaker
Sean still reached the absolute pinnacle of his career and scored lots of goals. So you always got to look at what the budget is, what your circumstances are, and it's square pegs in square holes. But I think when we went to the Premier League, there were players that we were really keen to try and get that we couldn't get. I mean, we've got Nicholas and Elka. That was a great sign in, by the way. It was, yeah. There was two other players that we tried to get. One was William Gallas, it's and a half.
00:04:37
Speaker
Hugo Equioque was another one, and also Caffoo. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I was very close. I was trying to convince Michael Reitziger to leave Barcelona and come and join us. And Michael came over and we had dinner, but it was the pull of leaving Barcelona was not for him. But they were the conversations we were having, which was great.
00:05:01
Speaker
That's amazing. And I never knew you tried to sign CAFU. CAFU, by the way, for anybody listening, right back World Cup winner, captain of Brazil for a long period, one of the best right backs ever to play in the game. And if he happened to watch the charity game on ITV a few weeks ago, he played in that and walked as if he could walk on a pitch again today.
00:05:21
Speaker
that's amazing and obviously again leading on from that period that you were there again i've already alluded to this was a golden period that we had the invincibles not long after i think you're at man city the double the treble all within that period so as a co-op of manchester city you were obviously there when kegan was there you had ferguson that came against you vanger was there some real top managers was there any manager you admired at that time more than the others and why
00:05:48
Speaker
Probably a lot of City fans, if they're listening to this, would hate me to say this, but Sir Alex. I became friends with Sir Alex. We went to the World Cup together in 2006. He was very helpful to me. When we were in the second division, we had some problems with our pitch on a particular night. There was a bad storm and he sent these grounds people over to help.
00:06:09
Speaker
And whenever United didn't have a game, he always came to watch City and have a meal with his pals who were City fans. So just his mindset. He was the Manchester United manager and there was nobody else he was interested about. I'm sure if we were probably more successful at the time, he might not have helped me so much. But it was just the fact that the Sir Alex that everybody sees that aggressive Glaswegian who was very single-minded but
00:06:34
Speaker
away from the camera and behind the scenes, there was a genuinely nice man, but who had an incredible mindset. I mean, incredible mindset. I spent the day yesterday with Raheem Sterling. I operate his foundation for him. And there's a lot of those traits in Raheem. He's very focused. He's very single-minded. He's very clear on what he wants to do with his football career. But off the pitch, it's very much all about his family.
00:07:00
Speaker
Most
Journey to CEO & Foundation Goals
00:07:01
Speaker
importantly, it's all about the communities that he wants to help and support. Sir Alex was certainly one of those. The other one who was just an amazing human being was Sir Bobby Robson. I just found him outstanding. Then two others who were very good to me, Mick McCarthy and David Moyes. When I resigned from Man City, Mick McCarthy was one of the first people to drop me a text. David Moyes, even when you don't see him for
00:07:28
Speaker
months or a couple of years, you could bump into ministry, it'll always come over and have a chat. That's great to hear. So what would a good leader look like to you? You've alluded to those guys being great, but break it down a little more for us. What would that good leader look like? If I look around the leaders that I've been lucky enough to learn from, it's people that just have empathy. They've got to understand that everybody's very different and everybody's got different lives. And when somebody sat in front of you,
00:07:55
Speaker
it's not always in their mind they've got other things going on in their lives and sometimes you've got to try and understand that and break through that and realise that if someone's having a bad day or not performing terribly well that it might not be just because of their talent or something that's happening in the work environment or the sporting environment it could be outside of that and psychologically something is just holding them back and I think a good leader recognises that in people
00:08:24
Speaker
I'm very fortunate. I have a business that I'm CEO of, Sports Tools International, and Fred Doan, who owns Bet Fred, is the chairman.
00:08:34
Speaker
and owner. I've worked with Fred since 2003. Fred is 79, going on 25 because he just is an amazing character for his energy and the time he has for people. The great thing about Fred is he surrounds himself with young people who have got a drive and determination. He always says, you only need me when you've got a problem. He says, when things are good, you just crack on. He said, I'm here if you need the money, you need the advice, you need the guidance,
00:09:04
Speaker
And he checks in all the time. He always checks in just to check you're okay. How are you doing? How's the family? How do you feel? Anything you need. That's a good leader. I found to me detriment during a period where I was having really poor mental health problems. And my leadership was terrible because I was demanding stuff. I was too aggressive. I wasn't thoughtful. It was about the job. It wasn't about the people. It was about the results. It wasn't about people's mindsets.
00:09:34
Speaker
And I had a huge wake up call and realized that that's not the way to treat people. And it's also not good for the leader himself because it makes you ill and it makes you underperform. And it makes you a person that people don't want to work for. And you can't do that. And I think that, again, in leadership is you've got to be able to look at yourself and realize what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. But if you do anything wrong, find a way of correcting it.
00:10:00
Speaker
Chris, that sounds like such a fascinating journey and I'm really curious to hear a bit more about what's led you to where you are today. You mentioned that you are now the CEO of the Raheem Sterling Foundation. How did you get involved with that? I was approached by a friend who was already talking to Raheem's agent
00:10:20
Speaker
And they were saying that they were looking to try and create a foundation. Didn't really know how to go about it, but Raheem had been wanting to do it for many years. They approached me because they know that I've done it before with my own foundation. It was a case of just really looking at what the objectives were that Raheem wanted to try and achieve. And I then went away and came up with this
00:10:43
Speaker
this idea of the power of seven and the way the foundation could operate and the kind of work that we would do around social mobility, education, employment, creativity. And then we presented it to Raymond. That's exactly what he wanted. He just said, yeah, you've got to, you understand exactly what I'm trying to do. And then that was April 21. We launched it in Brent eight is old school in November, 21.
00:11:10
Speaker
And then when we launched it, I said, there we go. It's down to you guys now. And he said, what do we do next? So I said, well, you need to want to run it for yourself. I'll open some doors. He went, no, I said, I want you to do it. And I couldn't say no, because the young man is 27 years old and he is one of the most impressive young men and sports people I've ever met. I mean, just every time I meet him, I'll learn something, which is great. We've cracked on. We have a second trustee meeting.
00:11:37
Speaker
of the year yesterday down in Surrey and things are really going strong and we've got some fantastic projects that will be rolling out over the next months. Are you able to tell us a bit more about those projects and plans? Yeah we've got a project that we're going to be working on with the University of Manchester and King's College London which is about bringing young people from deprived areas into university and also young people that have got talent but
00:12:07
Speaker
They don't know how to channel that talent. They need the opportunity because everybody's got a talent, but not everybody gets the opportunity. And that's what we're about. We're about opening that door and getting people through that door. That's what's missing in a lot of communities and society today is there's a lot of talented young people out there. But for some reason, this country is great as we all think it is at times. It's really bad at pointing opportunities at young people from deprived areas and
00:12:37
Speaker
young Black people, young Asian people, people of all shapes, sizes, colours, religions. There's lots of talent out there, but we just keep missing a lot of that talent.
Emotional Intelligence & Leadership
00:12:48
Speaker
And the Raheem studying foundation is about capturing that and making sure the opportunities are there. We're doing a project with the National Portrait Gallery, which I can't say too much of, but it's a big, big project called The Making of May. And we're going to be working very much with the Young Brent Foundation
00:13:06
Speaker
in London and the hideout youth zone in Gorton in Manchester, which is a very deprived area of Manchester. But amazing work going on there with the CEO, Adam Paraker. And again, Fred Dunn was the instigator of that state of the art world class facility, investing around about £67 million of getting a world class youth club youth zone for the young people of Manchester. So he's doing another one in Solford. So what's going on?
00:13:35
Speaker
Chris, is there any involvement with schools from this? Because I don't know if you're aware, I'm Director of Education at the moment in the Midlands. And we do obviously, we have a lot of deprivation in the Midlands. So it would be awesome to access some of this stuff. With the school side, we're actually partnering with Arc Helvin. They have schools across the country. And the first school that we piloted with them is Arc Helvin.
00:13:55
Speaker
in Brent, which is the school that Raheem went to. But the art group that people behind are Kelvin, they've got schools further south, they've got schools in the Midlands. So yeah, everything that we do around education will feature schools, and it will feature colleges, and it will feature universities. So the answer is yes. The focus at the moment is
00:14:16
Speaker
Brent, Manchester, Kingston, Jamaica. We're only year one of the foundation, but as we move into future years, this will become more of a national and international charity, surely because Raim is a national and international figurehead. Yes, and Chris, talking about Kingston, Jamaica, I know that the registered name of the foundation is actually 1692. Tell us about the relevance of 1692.
00:14:42
Speaker
The story goes that there was a huge disaster in Jamaica, and when Jamaica was founded, and Kingston was founded as a city, that was in 1692.
00:14:55
Speaker
He loves the country of his birth. It's where his roots are from, it's where his character was started to form. He's very close to his family over there and the people over there adore him. It seemed apt for him to create his agency, which is the 1692 Agency, and the foundation to also be called the 1692 Foundation. But we sort of promote it and talk about it as the Raheem-Stealing Foundation because it takes a while for people to understand what the 1692 is all about. But very much when you see everything
00:15:25
Speaker
about what we're doing, it all fits together. It's a nice story. Indeed. Chris, you talked about empathy being key to a leadership mindset. I'm very conscious that the work that you have done with the EQ e-sports organization is also really connecting around emotional intelligence and empathy and also about creating pathways to social mobility. Tell us about how those different areas of work intersect for you.
00:15:52
Speaker
The EQ side of things, the emotional intelligence was something that I've always held onto as a person because I've not got a great IQ. So I needed something to say to people, I've got something with a Q in it, but mine's an EQ. And the emotional intelligence is very much, I try and describe it as being, if this is empty, the heart, if the heart is empty, what's in the head doesn't really matter. I just don't see in the people that I work with and the people that I see,
00:16:23
Speaker
on a day-to-day basis, that if there's no passion for what they're doing, if they don't understand about how emotions can make things a whole lot better or make people work a lot harder or think more creatively, then you're going to get nowhere. You really need to have the passion. And people listening to this podcast will say, what a load of rubbish. What about the great accountants and all that? Yeah, they're fine. That's fine. But when you look at the people that really get things done,
00:16:52
Speaker
that really inspire us all. They've got an emotional intelligence because they know how they can reach people in
Engaging with Esports in Charity
00:17:00
Speaker
a different way rather than just in an analytical way or a debating way. You can debate, but you can be very analytical about it. Emotional intelligence is about really reaching inside people and making them feel that I want to go on this journey with them.
00:17:18
Speaker
When I created the esports business, I saw what was going on in esports back in 2014-2015. At the time, I was on the board at JD Sports. I convinced JD to get involved in esports, which they did. I'm now doing a lot with Excel in London.
00:17:37
Speaker
I wanted to take it a bit further and not just look at esports as being something my kids gain and participate in tournaments. I wanted to show them that you can get a good education through esports, you can see employment opportunities through esports and also you can communicate through esports.
00:17:56
Speaker
and create your own communities. That's what we're developing. It's early days yet, this could be 10 years of a journey for me, but it's something I'm determined to do because I see some amazing companies out there that are doing some really good stuff like London United versus the British Esports Association do absolutely amazing work. I just want to make sure that if we can join in and be a little bit part of that and get some real emotion and drive behind it, then that'll be good.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yes, that sounds absolutely fantastic. And the charity sector is all about leading from the heart. And I know the gaming industry is like a $200 billion sector and provides huge opportunities for collaboration and progress. So do you have any advice for charity leaders who may perhaps be looking to engage with the industry in terms of how they might go about that? Do you have any suggestions for them?
Authenticity & Inspiration in Leadership
00:18:50
Speaker
In terms of engaging with esports, I've looked to esports as a pyramid.
00:18:55
Speaker
And at the top of the pyramid is the teams and the events and where a lot of money is being spent and sponsors are putting loads of money in. As I go down the pyramid, I look at all the different areas of I don't think you can create a great business or a great opportunity without having absolutely solid foundations.
00:19:17
Speaker
on which you build a great business. And I think the education, the employment, the social mobility, creativity is where, what we're doing at the Rheims-Sudley Foundation, but I see that's where esports has to focus. And I think that's where the charitable sector can work with the esports sector of those grassroots areas and building up. And I think if we're going to give young people an opportunity to be in a sector that they're going to love,
00:19:46
Speaker
that they're gonna really enjoy and they're gonna feel that they got a future with, then that access of getting young people through youth clubs, through places like the Yung Brent Foundation, Yung Manchester Charities, all those different areas that focus on young people.
00:20:03
Speaker
that I think there's a collaboration there that should be nurtured. You've made a really interesting point there for me, Chris. I think something you've skimmed over is authenticity, which we've alluded to, but believing in what the person is saying, believing in the drive behind it. 100%.
00:20:19
Speaker
Having come from a deprived area myself and now teaching and overseeing large groups of deprived areas, I think it's a really common thing that large organisations and governments even forget to inspire the children in those areas. We talk about levelling up and wanting those children to do better. Well, gaming, football, and even your story. I mean, I was reading what you've achieved, market trader to lead in the club that you supported as a child, setting up
00:20:44
Speaker
gaming industries, doing all the different things you've done. And that's an inspiration to somebody like myself and from the areas that I come from. I think quite often we don't dangle that carrot enough. It's all about driving statistics, rolling out things that last for two, three years and they don't last. That's where the IQ and the EQ, the people that are driving all statistics are very, very clever people.
00:21:08
Speaker
They've been through the system. They've worked hard to learn what they learned and have all the tools to be able to try out the statistics and everything. But if I take somebody down to Gorton, put them with the guys at the hideout and meet the CEO, Adam Varica and his team.
00:21:26
Speaker
and Joy Moss down there and listen to them for an hour about what really needs to be done and what really is happening. They find it's a different world than what they're talking about. It's great trotting out the stats and saying we're going to level up.
00:21:41
Speaker
Do you know what? Leveling up is just a sentence that they drop out. Can you see any any leveling up going on? No, I can't. We haven't closed the deprivation gap in about 25 years and we've been rolling out. Sorry, I'm getting on earth. No, you're absolutely right. But it's a very frustrating thing for me. I work at whilst government level, you see people, teams of people having millions and millions of pounds and it never makes a difference. It doesn't scratch the surface because they miss the point. And just one really small anecdote to kind of make this point.
00:22:11
Speaker
When I left football and came and worked in education, I had a BMW.
Role Models & Fear as Motivation
00:22:15
Speaker
I came to work in a deprived area. And my head teacher at the time, doing a right for himself, I purposely drove a beaten up car. And he said to me, you need to change your car. And I said, why? And he said, because the people here won't accept you unless they see you as one of them. And I said, mate, I'm from an area like this.
00:22:31
Speaker
children need somebody to look at and say, well, actually, I have got this job and I've got this car. Aspiration. It gives them a role model to look up to and a route to go through. So sorry, I've gone off on a massive time. No, you're absolutely right. And I think sometimes it's, I'm going to kick into politicians where they turn up to different areas and they think it's really, really the right thing to do. That I'll take me tight off of me jacket off and I roll my sleeves up. And that makes me look like I'm getting the job done.
00:23:00
Speaker
It doesn't. It just makes us all think you're a prat because we can see through it.
00:23:07
Speaker
Well, it taps into that passion aspect and, you know, talking about aspiration and mindset and Chris, you're clearly really keen on creating pathways for young people along the lines of employment and social mobility. And I think the aspiration mindset is a really important part of that. And I know, Dominique, you were keen to explore this a bit more in terms of the Olympic mindset and that in order to achieve and be a leader and be a top performer,
00:23:35
Speaker
mindset is so, so key. Yeah. So the title of my podcast is the Olympic mindset podcast. And it's not because I believe only Olympians have that mindset. It just so happens that I've been working with a group of Olympians, coaching and mentoring. And they seem to have a number of traits that have led them to work at the top of their game. And I wondered if you've seen similar traits and you could relay them to us. The one thing that I said earlier is about having role models and mentors and
00:24:03
Speaker
The one thing that I've always looked at is I stop and look at what I've been doing or what I may have achieved and think, how have I got there? Because I was born with each other, brought up on a council estate called Hattersley, comfortable home life, lovely mum and dad, brother, but nothing special in terms of what we had.
00:24:26
Speaker
And I was pretty average at sport, but I enjoyed it. I played with my heart, probably why I got sent off so much. But you get involved in stuff. And I think it's that passion for getting involved. I try anything. And then when I started to work and go on the markets, I met my first real mentor, a guy called Derek Fawcett, who just taught me the value of
00:24:47
Speaker
communicating and money and service and making sure that the customers are happy. And if the customer was unhappy, what you needed to do to make them happy again. And I guess at the time, I was just going through, you just get on and do it. I'm 13 years old, for God's sake. It's like,
00:25:05
Speaker
it's not something i'm used to but i'm doing it and i guess all those stages that i went through in my career there was always somebody who i looked up to that just gave me that little bit of knowledge all the time that subconsciously has stuck in my mind and when i get into situations it almost comes to the fore then
00:25:26
Speaker
But Taplock, who's my sales director at Pickett & The Radio, what would he have done? John Wardlett, JD Sports, what would he have done? Dennis Stewart at Man City, what would he have done? Fred Doan.
00:25:36
Speaker
Barry Hearn, great people who at times in my life just showed me different ways of handling different situations. They weren't coaching me, they weren't teaching me, but just by their actions, I was looking at and I would say to people, I've had a 40-year apprenticeship with some of the greatest leaders this country's ever seen that probably
00:26:01
Speaker
experience that is. And I think the mindset of the champion is that mindset of don't say no, there's no chance I'd say no to anything. It's how can I do it? How can I find a way of doing it? And if I'm a Olympian, can I go faster? Can I jump higher? Can I jump longer? Can I run longer? It's those kind of things. But they don't say, I can't do it. They say, how can I do it?
00:26:28
Speaker
Find me, show me the way of actually being able to achieve what I need to achieve. Same in business. I would never say I cannot do that.
00:26:38
Speaker
I'll go away and find a way of doing it. And we'll have teachers listening to this who maybe want a career change or to start a company, we'll have students listening to this, we'll have people in business in the charity sector. You've had success in five or six different areas, media, PR, obviously a consultancy firm is still going on, football, e-games, JD sports, I forgot about that till you mentioned it.
00:27:00
Speaker
all of these different things. Chris, have you ever discovered what drives you? What's your purpose? Where does this passion come from? What are the things that get you out of bed in the morning and make you think, I'm going to tackle this day, I'm going to tackle this challenge? One word. And it's probably a word that a lot of people would say, that's crazy. Fear. Fear of not achieving. Fear of letting people down. Fear of not paying me bills. Fear of
00:27:29
Speaker
disappointing people. I always say fear is my fuel because, and it's not great fuel to have, I would never recommend people to go into something the way I've done into it. Because when I set up on my own in 1990, I didn't do it with any money. I re-mortgaged the house. It was skin of the teeth kind of stuff. And everything I've done, I've always took a chance. And I think I've always took a chance because it's the fear of what happens if that chance I take
00:27:59
Speaker
doesn't work and that's what's driven me. Has it helped me? Yes, in achieving things. Has it damaged me? Absolutely. Physically, mentally, emotionally. But that's the way I'm wired, unfortunately. But I think in a perverse way, a lot of people just need that little bit of
00:28:21
Speaker
trepidation and fearing the lives if they're going to do something that's going to test them. You're not telling me that Usain Bolt, when he's on the start line of a 100-meter Olympic final, that he's there thinking, I've got this. He's not. He's thinking, I have to get this, because what's my legacy going to be?
00:28:42
Speaker
The footballer who goes on the pitch, who's not scoring, he's got that fear. It's a bit perverse, I think, sometimes, when you talk about the fear. But for me, it gives you the edge. It keeps the sharpness there. And I guess, you know, I'm 16 in February. And I think from day one of when I started in media in 1982, I don't think I've ever lost that sharpness because I am feared to death of not achieving something.
00:29:10
Speaker
Chris, just taking that concept of fear a little further then, because I'm conscious that just this morning, for example, off-gem regulators announced that the energy price gap is going to go up to £3,560 or something like that. And there's a lot of fear and anxiety sort of more broadly in society and the economy. And there may be many young people kind of looking at the state of things today and genuinely being fearful and not even knowing how to sort of take a first step.
00:29:39
Speaker
So two questions for you, Chris. One that I wanted to ask you earlier, but I'll ask it now. What would you say has been your professional superpower that fear aside has really kind of helped you get to that next step? And do you have practical advice that you could give, say, the young people who, for example, the Raheem Sterling Foundation may be looking to serve and to help? I mean, what are some practical things you would tell young people today to combat that fear?
00:30:06
Speaker
Just before I go on to that, the one thing that I would, again, the politicians, I hope some of them are going to listen to this, but they need that fear. They need that fear. Not one of them has got it because they should be looking to have an affair of who they're letting down the people that are going to really suffer that they won't know the names of. They don't know where they live to probably never meet them. But if I'm a politician today,
00:30:35
Speaker
I would have that fear in my stomach, in my mind, in my heart, because you're letting people down and you can't do that. And you've got the power to change it, but politically, it's not the dumb thing to just, when you see them rolling their sleeves up, really roll your sleeves up.
00:30:54
Speaker
and have that fear in your belly and make a change. Sorry, just the way I feel about politicians is they ain't got enough fear. In terms of the young people, you said about superpower. I ain't got no superpower, but what I had was a mum and dad that taught me about having a work ethic.
00:31:10
Speaker
I get up in the morning and I go to work and I earn my money and I do it in the best way I possibly can and I do it honestly and openly and I pay my way and I pay my taxes and I do the right thing and that's the way I was brought up. So it's not a superpower, it's just the way I was brought up. If you've got a good work ethic and people see you putting a real shift in, then you will get on. If you're not getting on and you're working hard, then you're working for the wrong people. So change your job.
00:31:41
Speaker
Chris, can I ask you a quick question? Sorry, if it's too personal, I don't mind you saying no. I know you started working for Man City at first. You did a bit of work for free before obviously leading and COO. The reason I'm asking you this is because I was recently talking to a friend and they wanted to go for a promotion, but the promotion didn't offer a lot of money and they kept saying, no, there's not much more money. There's no point. And I was trying to explain that sometimes it's about the opportunity and being on the right ladder rather than about the money.
00:32:10
Speaker
How important would you say that is to somebody trying to get ahead and make a career? I'll tell you a true story. I worked in a factory when I was 17 and the foreman of the factory was my dad. And he made sure that I worked in all the worst parts of the factory. He never believed in favouritism, which was very kind of him, but he taught me a lesson. And I'll do that with my kids today. I've applied for a job.
00:32:33
Speaker
at the reporter newspaper as a trainee sales representative. This is the paper I now own and I was on the phone to the manager who was offering me the job and he offered me the job and he was 20 pounds a week less than what I was on.
00:32:49
Speaker
My dad was stood next to me on the phone, and I put my hand over the receiver, and I turned around to my dad. Now, this is a guy who, Irish immigrant, worked on the railway, on the factory, but wasn't a big businessman or a big thinker. He was just a hard worker who was sensible. He said, take the job. I said, 20 quid a week, less dad. Take the job. It's a great opportunity. I'd always say, at a certain age,
00:33:18
Speaker
You shouldn't always be thinking about how much money am I going to get? You should be thinking about where will this take me? And that's why we're sitting. I took the work for free for six months because I felt I could make a difference. And if I'd done it after six months and not earned anything and didn't get anything, you know what? I still got the experience. Did you have another job at the same time? I had my PR company.
00:33:42
Speaker
So you're working two jobs. I was doing everything I could do to make sure that I paid my bills at home, but I was looking to the future with the football club.
00:33:51
Speaker
I love that. I love that mentality. I think it's really... Deviant and I were discussing this as well the other day. And again, another personal thing that I want to bring up, if you don't mind, the message you put out on LinkedIn about vulnerability. Both of us were so impressed with that. And I know I said brave and you said it isn't brave. I think it is. I think it is because I tell you what, I was brought up in a way that you don't share those feelings. You don't share those emotions. If you're going to be a leader, you should always be stoic, always be level, always be the person that people look to, never really show too much fear.
00:34:19
Speaker
and to see somebody with so much success. I found it quite inspiring actually, and brave. There's another video on LinkedIn or online where I made a speech around about 2016, I think it was, where I spoke openly about the mental health for the first time to a big audience. It was at a time where I'd really made some big mistakes in my personal life in around about 2010, 2011, and things started to spiral.
00:34:47
Speaker
I needed to change my life I needed to realize what I've done to my wife to my kids to my family and I needed to take a stronger look at what I was doing.
00:34:56
Speaker
I realized it wasn't just my family. I was hurting. It was my colleagues, people that worked for me, my clients. I was wearing all these different masks to try and get through the day and do different things and think that I'm achieving things. Whilst behind the scenes, I'm dismantling things, but not consciously knowing that I'm dismantling it. When I realized that, and I went, I've got to go talk about this,
00:35:19
Speaker
And instead of thinking I'll go and talk to a psychologist, a professional, a counsellor, I thought, no, I'll stand up in front of 200 people and I'm going to tell them what an absolute asshole I am. And can I swear? Sorry. We might. Yeah, you might. We might cut that bit out. I'll beep it.
00:35:41
Speaker
I tell you what, if there's anybody that knows me that listens to this and they don't hear me swear, they will say, that wasn't Chris Bird. I only have a small vocabulary, so there's always a lot of swear words. But I needed to say that. It was awful. I was shattered after. I was in tears. I just could not believe what I'd done. But I'm glad I did it, because when I went back to the office,
00:36:08
Speaker
I noticed one of the guys that worked for me, he was sat over by the window. He seemed to be frozen in time. And I went over to him, I said, are you OK? He went, yeah, yeah, yeah. He said, just don't. Just not feeling it at the moment. I said, let's go for a cup of coffee. Went across to him for a cup of coffee. And I said, what's going on? He couldn't tell me. I said, are you on any medication at all? And he said, why do you say that? I said, I'm going to mention one word to you, sertraline.
00:36:36
Speaker
And he went, yeah, I'm taking Sertraline. I went, yes, oh, Matt. I said, you're not on your own now. We're going to change the way you work. We're going to change the way you do your job because something's not happening for you. I feel responsible for that. I need to help you. And then I started to open up to the office and I spoke to the office and told them all about what I've been going through. And I want them to start talking to each other. And we started to have a mental health team.
00:37:02
Speaker
put together. So everybody was mental health first aider. So we did that just checking in on each other. And I just felt a big change in terms of just understanding that you got to understand yourself more because then you'll understand what you're doing to everybody else
Chris Bird's Leadership Advice
00:37:19
Speaker
around you. And I was doing a lot of damage and hopefully I'm repairing some of that now, but at least I recognize it. But I also recognize it in others. So you want to make sure that you try and pass that on.
00:37:30
Speaker
Yeah, thank you for sharing that, Chris. I think it comes back to what you were talking about earlier in the conversation about empathy and authenticity in leadership and how that really helps bring the best out of people. And if you were to look back now, Chris, to that young boy who was on the phone debating whether to take that job or not, is there anything you would say to yourself? What advice would you give to yourself looking back now? The advice probably is the same as I'm always telling myself today.
00:37:59
Speaker
is, have a go. I have the fear. So it's the fear of not knowing, it's the fear of, can I do it? It's the fear of, what will people think? Forget that. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Yeah. What's the worst that can happen? I get it wrong. Okay. Try again. Fred Dylan always says, when he talks to young people and he talks about setting up your own business, he said, don't worry about it. If you fail and it goes wrong, try again.
00:38:30
Speaker
If he does it again, try again. He says it about six times. What I'm trying to say is don't give up. If you feel you've got something, keep bloody trying it and it'll happen.
00:38:42
Speaker
And to put you on the spot now, Chris, again, three things for me, please. So you've had an amazing life. You've done some phenomenal things. You've had your ups, you've had your downs. It's important to acknowledge that, I think. So many people, you only ever hear the good stuff. And that's why early when you mentioned fear, kind of hit me in the gut, if I'm honest. It's not very often I speak to somebody and they say their motivation is fear. And that's something I can really relate to.
00:39:06
Speaker
which is for a conversation another time. But we'll end with the question from me, if you don't mind, that if you could give us some advice to our listeners, three takeaways for leadership and life, what would they be after everything you've been through? Wow. I don't think I'm qualified to do that, but I'll tell you what I think from a personal point of view. Chris, if it's not very good, we're just going to cut it. Okay.
00:39:28
Speaker
Well, you can dub somebody else's advice over mine. If you can do it at the end, she's going to just give her... Chris, Chris, feel the fear and do it anyway. Yeah, I'll get Fred to do it and just put my mouth moving like that. The three things that have stayed with me from being a young lad right the way through and watching me dad working and me mum working and the people that I've been around is don't be frightened of work because you put that work effort in, people will recognise it.
00:39:58
Speaker
There's people that will take advantage of it, but they're the people that you just leave behind. They're the people that you don't want to work for. But they're really good employers or entrepreneurs or advisors that see that you are willing to get up and go and work. They'll make sure you get on. And I think there's so much
00:40:20
Speaker
in young people's minds at the moment where they don't always feel as if you've got to put a lot of work in. It's, well, I've got these qualifications, so I should be able to get this. I worked from nine to five, so that should be enough. Some people might not like to hear this, but work doesn't stop at nine to five. You've always got to be thinking, you've always got to be planning, you've always got to be creating, because when you finish at five and you go off, you might go and have a beer or a pizza with your mates,
00:40:50
Speaker
You still want to be thinking because when you arrive back in the office at nine, the next day, take something with you. Take an idea, take a concept, take a passion that has come through the night and it's there for you. Don't just turn up. As a sports person, you can't just turn up on the start line. You can't just turn up on the pitch. You can't turn up in the ring. Anthony Joshua fought his heart out on Saturday night. He didn't just turn up.
00:41:20
Speaker
And you saw what that young man felt and the way he talked. And a lot of people criticise him. I have zero criticism for AJ because that was a man with a passion, a desire he wanted to achieve and he failed, but he tried everything. But you know what? That young man will get back in the ring again and he'll go again and he'll try and win because he's got the fear.
00:41:47
Speaker
The fear of not being recognized, the fear of failing, the fear of losing, and the fear of not achieving what he set out to do. In terms of those three things, you have to put the work in. Then when you're there, you've got to believe in what you're doing. If you're working on something that you really don't believe in, then get out of it.
00:42:09
Speaker
You got to love it. You got to believe it. If you don't love the hundred meters and you think you're going to run the hundred meters, you're going to lose. Go and get the pole vault. It's not for you. You got to believe in it. And then the last thing is for God's sake, be yourself. Be authentic. Don't try and be something you're not. Don't use words that you're not used to. Swear if you have to be yourself because people buy people. They don't buy frauds. That's it.
00:42:37
Speaker
Thank you, Chris. And on that really authentic and passionate note, this has been such a great conversation. Thank you for being so candid with us. And thank you, Dominic, for joining me as co-host. It's been really good fun. Yeah, guys, honestly. And Chris, thank you so much. That was an inspirational chat. And Divya, thanks for setting this up. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Thank you.
00:43:02
Speaker
Huge thanks to Chris Bird, CEO of the Raheem Sterling Foundation, for sharing his wisdom and experience with us. And a massive thanks again to Dominic Broad for co-hosting this episode with me. For those of you who are interested in the Olympic Mindset Podcast, the website is in the show notes, and you can also find the show on all of the usual podcast platforms. I'll leave you with the three lessons that Chris shared with us as his keys to success. Put the work in, believe in what you're doing, and be yourself.
00:43:34
Speaker
I hope you enjoyed this latest episode of the Charity CEO podcast. A show that, thanks to you, our listeners, has repeatedly reached the number one spot in Apple's nonprofit podcast category. If you found this conversation valuable, please share or tag us on Twitter or LinkedIn or Instagram, and make sure you subscribe to the show by clicking the subscribe button on your podcast app.
00:43:57
Speaker
If you are feeling inspired or uplifted by what you have just heard, please share the joy and leave us a five-star review. Visit our website thecharityceo.com for full show details, information on previous season episodes, and to submit ideas for future guests. In order to balance my personal and professional commitments, the show will now come to you once a month instead of fortnightly. But I assure you it will be worth the wait. Thank you for listening.