Simon Hartley is a world-renowned elite sports psychology consultant and high-performance coach, who has spent almost three decades working in elite and professional sports. From the English Premier League and Bundesliga to Formula One, the Olympic GB Team, and even Michelin-starred chefs, there are few world-class professionals who have not benefited from his expertise. Simon is dedicated to helping people realise their potential and maximise their performance, pushing them to be their very best. Within this, he is a highly in-demand keynote speaker, available to deliver educational talks on how to raise the bar of what is possible.
Simon has forged a successful career as an elite performance coach, developing and refining his expertise on the principles and skills required to perform at the highest level. It all began with his graduation from Leeds Beckett University, from which he became a Lecturer in Sport Psychology at the University of Sunderland, and then the Director of Performance Sport at Northumbria University. He followed this with being a Sports Science Consultant for ProZone, Head of Sport Science for Sunderland AFC, Director of SENSE, and Consultant Sports Psychologist for the English Institute of Sport.
In 2008, Simon founded Be World Class, going on to help athletes and teams to accomplish more than 40 world championships and world records. This includes his work with the Fiji rugby 7s team, where his assistance led to them joining the Commonwealth Games, and winning Olympic silver medals and the Rugby 7s World Championship. Simon’s work now extends into business, education, military, the public sector, healthcare, and non-profit, working with brands such as Adidas, GE, Siemens, and Sky to elevate their mindset, leadership, and teamwork. He has also published 13 books, including Stronger Together: How Great Teams Work (2015), Hire Great People (2022), and Motivation is P.E.A.R. Shaped (2023).
More of Simon’s career highlights include co-founding Success Engineers, being an on-screen expert for the Fiji Time documentary, co-hosting three seasons of The Podium Podcast, delivering the World Class Performance Conference 2023, and being an on-screen expert for Bundesliga Weekly. Simon has become a seasoned speaker, sharing his expertise on peak performance and psychology at events such as the Adidas Europe Leaders Conference, the Adidas Going for Gold Conference, and the World Class Performance Conference. Champions Speakers take great pride in being an official speaker agent for Simon Hartley, putting him forward to clients who are seeking an elite psychology consultant or high performance coach. If you are looking to elevate the capabilities of your workforce or sports team, don't miss out on hiring top performance expert, Simon Hartley.
Books
Stronger Together: How Great Teams Work
How To Shine: Insights Into Unlocking Your Potential From Proven Winners
Two Lengths Of The Pool
How To Develop Character: Beyond Skills, Knowledge and Personality
How To Herd Cats: Leading A Team of Independent Thinkers
Peak Performance Every Time
Could I Do That?
Master Mental Toughness
Silence Your Demons
Hire Great People
Motivation is P.E.A.R Shaped
Key to the Door
Reviews
Simon Hartley received a 5 star rating across 15 events in 2024
Agent Recommendation
"Simon Hartley is a world-class performance coach and sports psychology consultant with an outstanding track record of helping elite athletes, teams, and businesses achieve peak performance. With nearly three decades of experience spanning the English Premier League, Formula One, and Olympic teams, Simon's insights are transformative. As a sought-after keynote speaker, he inspires audiences with actionable strategies for success. If you want to push boundaries and unlock potential, Simon is the expert to rely on."
How to hire Simon Hartley
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Simon Hartley for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Simon Hartley's official speaking topics are listed below:
World Class Teams
Simon shares the essential ingredients of world-class teams, and teams who are exceptionally good at operating in volatile environment and navigating the unknown. He gives tangible, practical take aways, drawing on examples of world-class teams from diverse fields of endeavour, including the very highest levels of sport.
This session is perfect for leadership conferences where organisations need to foster greater teamwork and collaboration.
From Good to Great to World Class
Much of Simon’s work comes from organisations who are already great but aspire to become the very best. In some cases, they are already the best and want to extend the gap between them and their closest competitors. Simon shares the critical changes in mindset, leadership, and teamwork that enable organisations to elevate from good, to great, to world-class.
This session is perfect for leadership conferences with ambitious organisations who want to create a step change.
Winning Mindset
Simon shares the key ingredients of a winning mindset and how to instil it across organisations and build it into the fabric of their culture. As always, he provides tangible, practical take-aways that enable people to develop a performance mindset and help leaders embed it within their teams.
This session is perfect for leadership and sales conferences for organisations with challenging conditions, significant demands, and with highly ambitious targets.
Official Feedback from In-Person and Virtual Events
"As a speaker, I have watched Simon on many stages and he has a way of pitching his message to land at just the right time and in just the right way, to have the audience hanging on every word he says. I'm always blown away at the inspiring and wise words that Simon delivers to his audiences, using his experience of working across various different world-class fields from sport to business, Simon shares his findings and passion for helping people to deliver their best performances every time!" - Chris, Olympic Athlete
"Simon delivered the Mark Bailey Public Lecture for the Grammar School at Leeds. Simon used powerful examples and stories to deliver an insightful and inspiring presentation. The audience feedback has been extremely positive. Whether you are trying to grow your business or a student wanting to improve their performance, Simon provided practical advice on how you could become 'world-class'." - Helen, Director of External Relations, The Grammar School at Leeds
"Simon has been a regular contributor at The Recruitment Network and his genuine expertise and his phenomenal experience of working in business and sports means he can add huge value to anyone, individually or collectively who is looking to get even better at performance, resilience and mental toughness. Not only does he have the stories, but he's got so many simple, yet powerful tools and tips to help any leader develop themselves and their team. Really insightful." - Gordon, The Recruitment Network
"Simply world class" - Mark, Rubix
“I had the pleasure of hosting an event where Simon Hartley was our keynote speaker. His session on “Be World Class” was nothing short of phenomenal.” - Marlon, Senior Vice President, Flexera
“WOW. We had Simon booked to deliver two keynotes to 60+ VIP clients and guests and he certainly did not disappoint. All our clients are experiencing challenges around team retention and recruitment and therefore Simon was a great fit. "How to hire on character" and "How to build a world class team" gave everybody tremendous insight into how to change good into great. The feedback was fantastic. If you are looking for a speaker to support you and your team, Simon is the man to support you.” - Gary, CEO, Tendo
“Simon presented at a recent event where the theme was 'collaboration'. He was my keynote speaker and was very professional and effective. Prior to the event, he spent time understanding the organisation I work for, what the subject matter was and how he could integrate that with his experience. His speech was full of enthusiasm and passion for the subject and attendees praised his delivery style.” - Lesley, Organisational Development Lead, TRU Alliance
- 2024 – Published Key to the Door
- 2024 – On-Screen Expert for Bundesliga Weekly
- 2023 – Published Motivation is P.E.A.R. Shaped
- 2023 – Published Peak Performance Every Time – Second Edition
- 2023 – Delivered the World Class Performance Conference 2023
- 2022 – Published Hire Great People
- 2022 – 2024 – Helped Fiji Rugby 7s to Commonwealth & Olympic Silver Medals & Win the Rugby 7s World Championship
- 2022 – 2023 – Co-Hosted Three Seasons of The Podium Podcast
- 2022 – On-Screen Expert for Fiji Time Documentary
- 2022 – Published Silence Your Demons
- 2017 - Co-Founder of Success Engineers
- 2015 – Published Stronger Together: How Great Teams Work
- 2008 - Founder of Be World Class
- 2004 - Consultant Sports Psychologist for the English Institute of Sport
- 2003 - Director of SENSE
- 2002 - Head of Sport Science for Sunderland AFC
- 2001 - Sports Science Consultant for ProZone
- 2001 - Director of Performance Sport for Northumbria University
- 2000 - Lecturer in Sport Psychology for the University of Sunderland
