The Happiness Formula: Jake Humphrey on High Performance, Resilience, and Leadership

“Just because something is hard for you, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad for you.”

Catch up on The Symposium 2024 with the latest episode of The Inspiring Leadership Podcast, hosted by co-founder Darryl Cooke and featuring award-winning broadcaster Jake Humphrey.

Jake has interviewed some of the world’s top athletes, entrepreneurs, and thinkers, as host of the chart-topping High Performance podcast, which has had over 100 million downloads to date. This time, Jake is in the hot seat.

“We can’t always be happy, but I believe we can always be optimistic,” Jake tell Darryl. “So much of what we believe is success is what society tells us is success. How much of those are actually your own parameters of success?”

Having rubbed shoulders with some of the foremost talents in sport, music, food, business and politics, Jake is better placed than most to identify what makes someone successful.

His answer is surprising: “I’ve spent the last 20 or 25 years seeing resilient people outperform talented people by a rate of 100 to 1. Just because something is hard for you, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad for you. Failure is a comma, not a full stop.”

Jake also shares insights on the importance of resilience, how vulnerability plays a critical role in leadership, and why quitting at the right time can be a powerful decision. 

“You can’t do something new until you stop doing something old.” 

“Winners never quit? Yes, you should quit!” he says. “Sometimes quitting is the right choice when it’s not the right direction for you. You can’t do something new until you stop doing something old.” 

Darryl and Jake also explore how modern education, and workplaces can better support individuals by valuing emotional intelligence and soft skills over rigid, outdated measures of success, and how business leaders can foster a culture of openness and growth by leading with empathy and honesty. Find out why high performance is about finding contentment in everyday life.

Jake follows in the footsteps of gamechangers such as Vikas Shah, Sir John Timpson, Joanna Swash, and Roger Lane Smith to appear on the Inspiring Leadership Podcast. Lessons and practical tips are shared, and each episode provides listeners with the tools to lead with purpose, resilience, and authenticity. 

To listen to the full podcast, visit Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Darryl continues to welcome inspiring leaders who are making a difference in their business or community to join him for future episodes. Get in touch to recommend a guest. 

Read more insights from our guests in gunnercooke’s business magazine for good, The Reading Room: https://gunnercooke.com/the-reading-room/