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Jack Groppel will help club leaders at IHRSA's European Congress transform themselves into elite 'corporate' athletes
By Jon Feld Q&A Highlights
CBI: To begin with, tell us a bit about your company, the Human Performance Institute, in Orlando. Jack Groppel: We work with people from every area of the professional population—sports, medicine, business, law enforcement, etc. We've dealt with everyone from FBI agents to world leaders. In general, our job is to help high-performing individuals increase their capacity and better manage their energy so that they can be on—professionally or personally—whenever they need to be. My partner, Dr. Jim Loehr, and I created the corporation in 1992, and we've been very pleased with its progress. CBI: For those who aren't familiar with the Institute's basic defining premise—that of the "corporate athlete"—could you provide a little background? JG: Jim and I had both worked extensively with world-class athletes, helping them to do what they did even better. One of the things that we both noticed is that, while athletes spend most of their time "training" to perform, in other professions, individuals spend most of their time performing and virtually none in preparation. Our plan was to make the structured, disciplined training approach available to others—thus the idea of the "corporate" athlete. CBI: One of the cornerstones of your program is what you call the "Face the Truth" moment. What's that all about? JG: It's the psychological foundation of our work. What we discovered was that, psychologically, you can't progress to a higher level unless you truly understand who you are right now. We break the "moment" down into four components. (1) Physically: What's your weight? What's your nutrition like? (2) Emotionally: How do you handle stress? (3) Mentally: Do you multi-task? As a leader, do you let meetings run too long? (4) Spiritually: Are you apathetic? Do you feel as though you're on a treadmill going nowhere? The idea is to put all of these things on the table and, with no judgment attached, consider them objectively. We've found that, unless you face the truth about who you are today, you can't possibly figure out who you might want to be . . . or develop an action plan to get you there. CBI: You mentioned world leaders. You've shared the stage with a number of them on occasion, including former Presidents George Bush and Gerald Ford, and former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. How do they differ from sports stars or corporate heads? JG: They have a very similar lifestyle. Like professional athletes and business executives, they have to travel the world, and they have to be on 24/7, but they also require recovery periods. For the most part, however, these are people who understand the importance of—and know how to get—recovery. CBI: Of the professionals that you deal with, which group is the easiest to train? JG: The corporate athlete—because they come to us exhausted, literally running out of steam. They're grasping at straws and looking for a secret solution. While pro athletes have time to recover between events, their corporate equals have to fight for their evenings, weekends, any spare time, so they tend to be the most open to what we teach. CBI: Do you think that people in the fitness industry are predisposed to utilize your program? JG: Yes, I do, but they get caught up in the same things, the same issues, demands, and routines, that trap everyone else in business. They have plenty of knowledge, but that's not enough. Let me share a personal example: I have a Ph.D. in exercise physiology, but I'm just as busy as anyone else, so I have a personal trainer who holds me accountable. Hiring him was a huge and very positive move for me. Now, I play tennis, bicycle, and work out with my trainer twice a week. Everyone has to figure out their story, their truth. From an exercise standpoint, I knew that I needed accountability. CBI: Well, the fitness industry is certainly synonymous with performance—on the part of both club operators and members. Have you ever worked with someone in this business? JG: Yes, in fact, someone who's quite well known—Augie Nieto, the cofounder of Life Fitness. I first met Augie in 1994, and he had me come to speak at his national sales meeting. At the time, he told me that he didn't need that much sleep—maybe four or five hours a night. I got him up to about six or seven hours, and he couldn't believe how much his performance improved. At the Institute, we have a 6,000-sqaure-foot fitness center, and, because of him, we're committed to his Life Fitness and Hammer Strength equipment. Augie's a star in my eyes. I really look up to him. CBI: Can you imagine clubs offering part of your training—perhaps a "Jack Groppel 21-Day Performance" program—to their members? JG: I don't see that happening, but I can see the "Corporate Athlete" brand being made use of in corporate fitness centers. People who are in that environment might already aspire to be corporate athletes, and, if so, would be eager to learn how to manage their time and their energy better. A Corporate Athlete program might be very valuable in that sort of setting. CBI: Well, given that, is there some way that club operators can apply your principles to their members' advantage? JG: Just by helping people to manage their energy. Clubs, for example, can conduct community-outreach programs that make it possible for people to connect to the "why" of health, fitness, and exercise. Clubs don't need to show them, initially, how to do it, or talk about the new person they could possibly become. Understanding, accurate information, should drive their involvement—not the other way around. That's the reason New Year's resolutions never work. People embark on an action plan that, because it doesn't have a purpose connected to it, can't be sustained. Clubs simply need to make it easy, appealing, and intellectually reasonable for people to try their services for 30 days so they can experience the rewards of exercise first-hand—so they can see how it feels. CBI: The health of the population, in general, seems to be steadily declining. Do you see that changing significantly in a positive way, or should we expect the situation to continue getting worse? JG: I don't see a lot of improvement because everyone involved is still taking the same approach. People are becoming more active, but it's not a true commitment. When there's a surge of press coverage around sports—when, for instance, particular pro athletes are really hot or the Olympic Games are under way—it tends to generate interest and spur some short-term activity, but not an overall commitment. I'm very concerned about the state of the nation's health. CBI: Do you think political leaders are doing enough to make health and fitness a national priority? JG: Healthcare—as defined as "taking care of the health of the people"—requires government participation, and, I think, always will. But that's really not my area of expertise. The one thing that I am clear about, though, the area where we definitely need to step forward—and here, what we do at the Institute could possibly be of some assistance—is to work hard to get people in the U.S. to change. And it's about more than just offering them information. Newsman Tom Brokaw once noted that, while the U.S. is the most educated country in the world, it's also the most obese. We have to help people understand what matters to them—and why it matters. Ours is a culture of indulgence and excess. Parents, for instance, have to be much more diligent about getting kids away from the computer games. We need to understand, as a nation, what our truth is . . . and what our purpose is. We're giving people information, but they're not getting it, because it's not just about knowledge. It's about getting people connected to truth and purpose—as individuals, as families, and as a nation. Jon Feld is a contributing editor for CBI and can be reached at jon@trendline-co.com. |
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International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association |
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