Damian Hughes is a bestselling author who combines his practical and academic background within sport, organizational development and change psychology, to help organisations and teams to create a high performing culture.
He is the author of eight best-selling business books, including Liquid Thinking, Liquid Leadership, How to Change Absolutely Anything, How to Think Like Sir Alex Ferguson and The Five STEPS to a Winning Mindset.
His latest books, High Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best and How to Change Your Life, have both been number one Sunday Times best sellers. His work has been translated into twelve languages.
He has also been nominated for the 2007 William Hill Sports book of the year award for Peerless, his biography of boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson. He co-authored a critically acclaimed biography of boxing legend, Thomas Hearns and in 2013, his book, Marvelous Marvin Hagler became the UK’s best-selling sports biography.
He was appointed as a visiting Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Change for Manchester Metropolitan University in September 2010. He is the co-host of The High Performance Podcast, an acclaimed series of interviews with elite performers from business, sport and the arts, exploring the psychology behind sustained high performance. The podcast has over 100 million downloads.
Damian has served as a member of the coaching team for England Rugby League, England Roses, Scotland Rugby Union and a wide range of international and national sporting teams.
Outside of his working pursuits, Damian is also the founder of Coats4Kids, a charity that addresses the challenges of children living in poverty, by providing coats for those most in need.
Damian demystifies the culture-building process by identifying five key aspects that generate resilience, cohesion and cooperation, and explains how diverse groups can learn to function with a single mind. This concept is introduced with a simple formula: BARCA
Damian talks about how the highest-performing people successfully face change and how you can too. Drawing on interviews with record-setting athletes, Olympic coaches and leading business founders, Damian will introduce the five simple steps that take you from where you are to where you want to be.
Damian looks at the trademark behaviours that define us when we are at our very best and how we can maintain this with congruence and consistency.
Damian explores the three stages of change – Ridicule, Opposition and Acceptance. He believes that an understanding and awareness of each stage means we are less likely to be hindered and more likely to have the courage to bring about change.
Using real life testimonies from the multi-million download podcast Damian’s a co-host of, High Performance, which examines the secrets of the world's highest-performing people - in sport, in business and in life – as well explaining the cutting-edge psychology to explain why these methods have such a transformative impact, he reveals how to build the principles of high performance into our own lives, whether on the pitch, in our careers, or at home.