Director's Profiles

Christopher Connolly

Christopher Connolly, M.A. co-founded Sporting Bodymind Ltd. with John Syer in 1979. The London based consultancy pioneered applied sports psychology in mental training with great success in the 1980’s. Having worked with professional, national and Olympic teams in Britain, Europe and the United States, he began working in the business community in 1985. Christopher now works with such diverse organisations as Jaguar Motor Cars, BP, BT Retail, Barclays Bank, BT Cellnet (O2), TRW, GlaxoSmithKline, American Express, JP Morgan, Friends Provident, UBS Warburg and the Metropolitan and Surrey Police, many of whom are long-term clients. He has given classes and lectures at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in mental preparation for elite musicians. He has co-authored a number of books with John Syer including Sporting Body, Sporting Mind (Cambridge University Press 1984) Team Building Team Leader’s Guide (Ford Motor Company, 1989), Think to Win (Simon and Schuster, 1991) and How Teamwork Works (McGraw-Hill, 1996). He has introduced the application of Transformational Leadership to Companies in both the UK and Continental Europe, facilitates management and organisational development and acts as coach and mental trainer to senior management, elite athletes and musicians.

John Syer

John Syer M.A., M.Litt, M.Ed, a founding Director of The Sporting Bodymind Group Ltd, played volleyball for Great Britain and was National Coach and Director of the Scottish Volleyball Association for ten years. He was a staff member of the Findhorn Foundation in the mid 1970s and trained as a Gestalt Therapist at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). Having worked with professional and Olympic teams in Britain, Europe and the United States, he shifted his main focus to the business community in 1986. He then worked predominantly at Senior Management level across a wide spectrum of organisations, including Ford Motor Company, Jaguar, BP, BT Cellnet / O2, GlaxoSmithKline, UBS Warburg, AMEC, Skanska, Brown and Root, The Cabinet Office, Yorkhill NHS Trust and The Metropolitan Police, many of whom are long-term clients. In 2000, he joined Glenn Hoddle at Southampton FC as ‘team-building expert’ and continued in this role at Totttenham HFC for two years before returning to Southampton for a year to join Gordon Strachan. John is the author of Team Spirit: The Elusive Experience and co-author of four other books with Christopher Connolly including Sporting Body, Sporting Mind, Team Building Team Leader’s Guide, Think to Win and most recently How Teamwork Works. John is often interviewed or asked to contribute articles to management and industry magazines. John has lectured widely at conferences both in the UK and overseas and made numerous appearances on Television and Radio.

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