"The coaching police knocked at my door — and I'm glad they did" - a conversation with Simon Harling
The Talent Equation PodcastShow Notes
I had a conversation I've been looking forward to for a long time — Simon Harling, author o'f Good Coach, Bad Coach', joins me to explore what it actually means to examine your own coaching practice with honesty, humility, and a willingness to sit with the uncomfortable stuff.
Simon's journey started in sports science, moved through fitness coaching into professional football and strength and conditioning, and eventually arrived at a reckoning. He was brilliant with athletes who arrived with intent and clarity — people who just needed directing. But with everyone else? Not so much. That gap forced the question that became a book.
What I love about this conversation is that Simon isn't here to tell you what good coaching looks like. He's here to hand you the lens and let you look for yourself.
Three key takeaways: You can't coach people who don't feel stable and secure. Before we talk about instructional design, ecological dynamics or any model of practice, Simon argues we have to address whether a coach feels safe enough to make genuine choices. If they're compromised — financially, emotionally, environmentally — everything else is noise. The tension is the work. Whether it's performance versus development, money versus impact, or fear versus hope, the answer isn't to pick a side. It's to name the tension, sit with both poles, and design from there. That's Simon's definition of leadership — and it maps neatly onto ecological thinking.
The student picks the teacher. The moment Simon genuinely became a learner wasn't when he got his master's or his accreditations — it was when he became open, curious, and willing. That shift changes everything about how you engage with development, and it applies to athletes and coaches alike.
Simon's book is available in paperback, ebook, and audio, and you can connect with him at simonharling.blog. If this conversation sparked something for you, come and continue it with a community of practitioners who are asking the same kinds of questions. Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers — head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-talent-equation-podcast--2186775/support.
Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation
More from The Talent Equation Podcast
I joined Mike Finch and Professor Ross Tucker on the Real Science of Sport podcast for my third visit, this time to talk about talent development and what parents can do to help young people grow. We cover why sport has had a reckoning, why early selection catches so many people out, and what the numbers say about the odds of making it. I also get personal about the choices I made as a parent with my own son.
In this conversation, I speak with Barry Jones, an ice hockey coach based in Australia who works with the Perth Inferno Women's team. Barry shares his remarkable journey from working with people with disabilities to enbracing the principles of ecological dynamics and aplying them with an eleite level team where his team has just 45 minutes per week to train whilst competing interstate.
In this special 300th episode of the podcast my good friend Andrew Wilson from Leeds Beckett University delivers a ;Christmas Lecture for members of the Ecological Explorers Club and The Guild of Ecological Explorers.
In this Dog Walk Diary episode, I explore a powerful metaphor about bananas and talent selection to unpack why traditional coach education falls short, and argue that we need to think ecologically about the environments coaches operate within rather than just pumping them full of content.
In this episode, I sit down with Hayley Lever, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Moving, to explore what authentic leadership really looks like when you're trying to create systemic change. Hayley has been one of the biggest influences on how I think about leadership, culture, and the power of creating environments where people can truly thrive. We dive deep into Hayley's newly published book on leadership, 'Leading from the Balcony', discussing everything from the courage it takes to question cultural norms, to the daily act of resistance required when you're committed to doing things differently. This conversation is raw, honest, and packed with practical wisdom about what it really takes to lead with integrity in a complex world.