#8 - Peter Spence: High Performance, Joy and Expansive Thinking

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Peter Spence about accessing natural genius through joy, presence, and expansive ways of thinking.

Pete reflects on decades of work across elite sport, coaching, arts, and leadership, drawing insights from cricket, ballet, and Cirque du Soleil. Together, they explore how inner focus, openness, and joy support sustained performance, meaningful collaboration, and more fulfilling ways of living and working.

This episode explores

• Joy and satisfaction as foundations for performance
• How high performers access “no thought” states
• Self-organisation, spontaneity, & non-linear thinking
• Coaching as listening, facilitation, & restraint
• Moving beyond mechanical toward quantum perspectives
• Self-organisation as a core human capacity

Guest links:

• Peter Spence: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-spence-6021016/

• Shawn Green: The Way of Baseball (stillness and “no thought”) 

• Dr Amy Saltzman: mindfulness in sport, medicine, and education

• Graham Winter: hleadership, sport psychology, and Olympic work https://www.grahamwinterpsychology.com

• Debbie Muir: coaching, leadership, and Great Traits
 https://medium.com/@debbiemuir/about

• Meg Wheatley: Soul-grounded Leadership and systems thinking https://margaretwheatley.com/

• Kalvinder Shields: economics, leadership, and meditation
 https://meditationaustralia.org.au/about-us/ma-council-and-patrons/

• Dr Elise Bialylew – Mindful in May https://www.mindfulinmay.org/

• Chris Laszlo https://www.sustainablevaluepartners.com

Books:

• The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 mph by Shawn Green & Gordon McAlpine https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Way-of-Baseball/Shawn-Green/9781439191200

• A Still Quiet Place for Athletes by Dr Amy Saltzman https://stillquietplace.com/product/a-still-quiet-place-for-athletes-mindfulness-skills-for-achieving-peak-performance-and-finding-flow-in-sports-and-life/ 

• Quantum Leadership: New Consciousness in Business by Tsao & Laszlo https://www.sup.org/books/business/quantum-leadership

• Works by Danah Zohar on quantum thinking

Chapters:
02:17 High performance across arts, sport, business
07:15 Cricket in Australia alongside ballet and rugby
11:22 Innovation in elite sport, openness, and fulfilling lives
20:00 AI, directorship, mindful technology, and Graham Winter
27:00 Joy as a foundation for satisfaction and achievement
35:00 AIS, VIS, and Cirque du Soleil performance models
48:20 Mindfulness and recognising individual talent

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 16 January, 2026
Produced at the Travancore and Violet Town offices, 26 January - 6 February, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au