Keith Power: High Performance

Michael Gervais (0:09)

All right, Keith, thank you for coming on Finding Mastery.

This podcast is, as you know, is just, we're gonna hunt and we're gonna try to figure out how you understand how the world works and how mastery is part of your journey and the basic mental skills that you've employed along the way and the mindset that you've employed along the way to be able to come to the understanding that you've come to. And could you just maybe talk to us a little bit about your current role and some of the things that you've done recently to give people a better picture of what you're up to nowadays?

Keith Power (0:46)

Sure, Mike. I mean, first thing to say, thank you very much for inviting me to do this. Very excited about it in terms of the ability to share and learn because that's really at the core of who I am.

So my role is as the high performance sport director for Malaysia. So in essence, I work for the Minister of Sport in Malaysia and I have a key responsibility for the policy and the systems and processes to create a high performance culture and a high performance mindset for Malaysia. And that's from grassroots level, all the way through to elite level, through to Olympic games level. And I guess many people who are listening may not be familiar with Malaysia.

What I would say is Malaysia is actually one of the most progressive countries in the world and it's actually in the top 25 in the world in terms of economic power base, which people might not know. It has a population of about 30 million people and at the high end, we actually have a number of world champions in a number of sports. So we're doing pretty well at sport. We're just looking at different ways that we can consistently improve the level. And unlike the US, the talent base is quite small for sport. So we have to work out how we can work with what talent exists and to grow that talent and to make it better. Whereas in the States, with the greatest respect, there's a real conveyor belt of ready-made talent that comes through.

Michael Gervais (2:41)

Yeah, I mean, that's fascinating that some people are high performance directors for universities or for professional sport organizations or they're, and you're doing it for a country. And so there's only a handful of folks that have this role.

And so I'm excited to dig in and to really learn the path that led you to now and the things that you're most excited about. And as we take a look at the path, you do not have a Malaysian accent. So bring us into the fold before that.

Keith Power (3:16)

Well, kind of like where to start, I guess, so I'll try and just having a kind of a history background as well as a sport background, I'll probably go over time.

So first and foremost is that we all have our own stories. And I grew up in quite a tough neighborhood in North London and in England. And so without sport, sport really made my life and I found sport very early and I created a tremendous passion and love for sport. And I ended up through that getting actually a scholarship for a very famous sports school in England called Millfield, which has produced many top sporting champions in lots of different sports. And I actually got a scholarship for six sports.

Michael Gervais (4:09)

What was your sport of choice?

Keith Power (4:11)

The main sport at that time was track and field. It was actually hammer throwing, but I also played for the school, you know, soccer team.

And I played for the basketball team. And so it was, I think, kind of a real...

Michael Gervais (4:29)

Keith, I've seen your body frame. You're not built like a basketball player.

Keith Power (4:33)

Well, no, developed over time, but obviously as a younger man, I played many different sports. And I think it's kind of a reinforcement that, you know, early specialization, you know, doesn't really work.

And that really gave me a tremendous opportunity. And I ended up going to a very famous sports university called Borough Road College in London. And I continued my studies in there, which were in sports science, essentially. And also I took a history degree there as well.

Michael Gervais (5:12)

Let me make sure that I'm tracking correctly, which is North London, or did you say North England?

Keith Power (5:19)

North London, yeah.

Michael Gervais (5:20)

North London, yeah, okay. Tough town, used sport as a way to kind of be part of something, to get out of the ins and outs of a hard way of living. And then found multi-sports, played with a lot of them. And then along that path ended up taking a sports science career, I'm sorry, a sports science degree as well as a history degree.