Corporate Athletes & Elite Performers: Redefining Talent in High-Stakes Environments

A dual perspective from boardroom to battlefield on how to find, retain, and elevate the 0.1%

As a Partner at Page Executive specialising in the headhunting of C-suite leaders, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with both clients and candidates as they navigate the evolving demands of executive leadership. One theme consistently rises to the surface: clarity in leadership

From our latest Talent Trends report which captures the perspective of over 4,000 senior leaders we know that in today’s competitive and fast-moving landscape, executives are seeking more than just attractive compensation. They want purpose, transparency, and alignment. They want to understand where they fit in a rapidly changing world, how they’ll be supported, and how their values align with those of the organisation. At the same time, executive leaders want their teams to feel they have a meaningful place within the business—where they can thrive professionally, grow their careers, and maintain personal fulfilment

This shift in expectations is not just influencing individual career decisions—it’s reshaping how organisations must think about leadership, culture, and long-term talent strategy.

This White Paper, Corporate Athletes and Elite Performers: Redefining Talent in High-Stakes Environments, brings together the insights of Jason Cranswick, a board-level operator turned executive coach, and Gareth Timmins, an elite performance strategist with backgrounds in professional sport and Special Forces operations. 

Together, they offer a dual perspective—from boardroom to battlefield—on what it takes to find, retain, and elevate the top 0.1% of executive talent. These are the Corporate Athletes: elite performers who operate at the highest level, balancing strategic vision with relentless execution in volatile and complex environments.

In the two sections that follow, Jason and Gareth provide a practical perspective on how organisations can redefine their value propositions, build cultures rooted in clarity and trust, and ultimately compete for—and win—the very best executive talent.
We hope you find these insights both timely and actionable.

Part 1: Jason Cranswick — A Practical Perspective on Finding and Keeping Elite Performers

I’ve often felt like the outlier, and over time, I’ve learned to embrace that. My driving force is helping others grow into their own version of elite performers. My personal journey from Chief Operating Officer to Executive Coach & Mentor and Non-Executive Director wasn’t a linear career move, but a pivot into purpose.

The years I spent as COO, operating at scale in highly competitive sectors, gave me first-hand experience of the strategic, operational and cultural pressures senior leaders face daily. I’ve led through turnaround, transformation, and growth — often simultaneously. That experience now fuels my work in helping others navigate similar challenges with clarity, courage, and intention.

In every high-performing business I’ve led or advised, one truth holds: elite performers make the difference. But spotting them isn’t always obvious. They aren’t necessarily the loudest voices or the first to seek recognition. What they have is consistency, calmness under pressure, and a deep commitment to outcomes beyond themselves. They bring energy without ego and instinctively make teams better, not just results stronger.

In my own executive journey, I learned to look past the surface: to see the team player who quietly picked up the slack, the thinker who asked a better question, the operator who adapted without fuss. Elite performers reveal themselves through mindset more than metrics. They focus on responsibility over recognition, on collective wins over personal headlines. In coaching sessions today, we often explore how to build the observational lens that sees beyond performance reviews to potential in motion.

But keeping elite performers requires more than incentives. They thrive where the bar is high, feedback is fair, and purpose is clear. They want stretch without burnout, recognition without politics, and autonomy with accountability. As a leader, the question is not just how to motivate them, it’s how to create environments where they choose to stay.

This is where “teamship” becomes a strategic asset — shaping cultures where high standards are held by peers, not just leaders. Teamship isn’t just camaraderie; it’s alignment, challenge, and shared accountability. I’ve helped leadership teams build this muscle through clarity of purpose, visible role modelling, and robust talent conversations.

One tool I use is the “cone theory”, adapted from my own leadership writing and coaching experience in rugby. It’s about freedoms within a framework, the right structure and rhythm influencing team dynamics. Helping leaders set out the cones, whether operationally or psychologically, can unlock elite potential and drive breakthrough performance.

“How do you push to the limits, if you don’t know where the limits are?” My simple training rule: the balls don’t come out of the bag until the cones are laid out. Without structure, chaos prevails.

My focus on elite performance stems from a growing belief that high performance is no longer enough. In a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous), it’s the baseline. What separates resilient, future-ready organisations is their ability to attract, retain, and elevate elite performers, those who thrive amid complexity and lead others through uncertainty.

Ultimately, elite performers don’t just want to be led, they want to be inspired. They choose leaders who are intentional, values-driven, and capable of elevating those around them. Whether I’m coaching a CEO, mentoring a founder, or advising a board, I bring a single focus:

To help leaders build the kind of organisations where elite performers don’t just survive, they thrive.

How to Spot and Select Elite Performers in Recruitment

Finding elite performers doesn’t start with the CV, it starts with knowing what to look for beneath it. Elite candidates demonstrate a mindset as much as a skillset. They frame challenges as opportunities, speak in terms of team impact, and show a bias for learning over proving.

I advocate using a “three-layer probe” interview technique:

1. What did they do?
2. Why did they do it?
3. What changed as a result?

Elite performers reflect deeply on success and failure. They rarely overclaim, they credit others, they stay curious, they’re often defined by emotional intelligence, not just outcomes.

Look beyond personal achievement. Ask about how they’ve:

• Developed others
• Adapted to diverse stakeholders
• Handled conflict and learned from pressure

And crucially, design your recruitment process to reflect your real culture. Use peer interviews, stretch scenarios, and informal conversations. Let candidates see the business for what it is, and choose to opt in for the right reasons.

Elite recruitment isn’t about perfection. It’s about potential, integrity, and contribution.

Bridging the Perspectives

While our experiences come from very different worlds—Jason from executive leadership in commercial environments, and Gareth from elite sport and military performance—we’ve converged on a shared truth: elite performers are not just defined by talent, but by mindset, rhythm, and discipline.

This white paper brings together those complementary perspectives to offer leaders a deeper understanding of what it takes not only to spot elite performers, but to sustain them. These are the Corporate Athletes—the 0.1% who will shape the future of high-performing, resilient organisations.

Part 2: Gareth Timmins — The 0.1%, or the Corporate Athletes

The Corporate Athlete model is the product of 25 years at the frontier of elite performance—on the rugby pitch with Leeds Rhinos, on operations with the Royal Marines Commandos, and now in boardrooms and business schools.

It fuses elite sport, military conditioning, and neuroscience to redefine how individuals and teams achieve sustainable excellence. This model is now being adopted across elite military units, emergency services, and commercial organisations globally. At its core is a simple but powerful principle:

Manage energy like elite athletes — cycle effort, embed recovery, and align emotional regulation with fast decisions.

This isn’t about one-off brilliance. It’s about building systems that support repeatable, sustainable performance.

From High Performance to Elite Performance

We talk a lot about high performance. But that’s often sporadic—achievable with some investment and alignment. Elite performance, the domain of the 0.1%, demands something more:

• Micro-investments in daily habits
• Marginal gains
• A relentless commitment to recovery and mindset hygiene

Yet in the corporate world, we often starve wellbeing while feeding ambition. We chase targets but neglect human maintenance. Burnout becomes the cost of doing business.

Resilience isn’t a badge, it’s a bandwidth.

Push it too long, and it thins. Like a muscle, it must be trained: load, rest, rebuild. In the military, rest is a strategic asset. In business, it’s often postponed—until it’s too late.

The Resilience Paradox

We adapt under pressure. But without reflection, prolonged stress erodes our emotional defences. It disconnects us from our own humanity.

In elite teams, cycles of performance are protected. In business, pressure is cumulative.

Picture this: You’d never set off on a long journey without fuelling the car, checking tyres, and planning rest stops. But in our careers, we push through the flashing warning lights, believing resilience will carry us.

It might. But what’s left when we get there?

That’s why self-awareness, reflection, and recovery must become part of the rhythm of work—not a reward for surviving it.

What Organisations Can Do

Based on research from Loopin (founded by ex-Royal Marines Ben Williams and Antony Thompson), high-intensity projects without proactive rest cycles lead to chronic exhaustion. Instead, organisations should:

Prioritise recovery: Encourage life outside work—hobbies, family, exercise

Build psychological safety: Kindness reduces stress and supports innovation

Design smarter workloads: Avoid compounding deadlines and unrealistic timelines

Respond to early signals: Fatigue is not failure—it’s feedback

Conclusion: Leading Where It Matters Most

In a world defined by volatility, complexity, and constant change, the ability to attract, retain, and elevate elite performers is no longer a competitive advantage—it’s a leadership imperative.

Through the dual lenses of Jason Cranswick and Gareth Timmins, we’ve explored what it truly takes to build environments where the top 0.1%—the Corporate Athletes—can thrive. From the boardroom to the battlefield, one truth remains consistent: elite performance is not a product of chance, but of clarity, culture, and conscious leadership.

Jason’s perspective reminds us that elite performers are often hidden in plain sight—defined not by noise, but by mindset, consistency, and contribution. Gareth’s model challenges us to rethink resilience, embed recovery, and design systems that support sustainable excellence.

Elite performance isn’t about pushing harder—it’s about pacing smarter.

The Corporate Athlete model reframes individuals as high-capacity vehicles, requiring rhythm, recovery, and maintenance.

If your business wants to unlock the elusive 0.1%, you must design systems where people can thrive—physically, cognitively, and emotionally.

That’s the elite edge. And it’s available to any organisation willing to train for it.

As you reflect on your own leadership and organisational culture, ask yourself:

• Are we creating the conditions where elite performers choose to stay?
• Do our systems support not just performance, but recovery and growth?
• Are we leading with the clarity that today’s top talent demands?

The organisations that can answer “yes” to these questions will be the ones that not only survive disruption—but shape the future through the strength of their people.

Talk About Your Corporate Athletes

Whether you’re leading a high-growth scale-up, a complex transformation, or a mission- critical function, identifying and nurturing elite talent could be your unfair advantage.

Book a discovery session with Jason or Gareth today to explore how to embed elite performance in your organisation.

Jason Cranswick – Founder, Cranswick Consulting

www.cranswick-consulting.co.uk | LinkedIn

Gareth Timmins – Author & Elite Performance Specialist 

www.gareth-timmins.com | LinkedIn