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KARL GOODMAN

FOUNDER ATHLETES AUTHORITY

BUSINESS STRATEGIST

MARKETER

NEWSLETTER PUBLISHER

  • Founder of Athletes Authority
  • Marketing Maverick
  • Business Strategist
  • Newsletter Publisher

Why values on a wall suck

Once upon a time, I remember reading in a book that it was important for every business to have a set of corporate values. Eager to “do the right thing”, I hurriedly got to work, opening up a Canva doc and listing out what embodied us at the time:

INTEGRITY
HARD-WORK
ENCOURAGEMENT…

I saved my creation as a high-res file, sent it to the printers, and stuck it on our gym wall.

Shortly after installation, I realised that the words on the wall didn’t mean jack-shit in the real world. It had no material impact on who we were, what we did, or how we did it. 

So we eventually binned it… and with it, the idea of company values was something I disregarded as corporate fluffy bullshit.

But that was a mistake.

Because here I am, at 8:00 pm on a Tuesday, writing out my company’s values.

And I’ll do it again when I get up tomorrow morning.

And then again tomorrow evening.

And on and on I’ll go until I document, what we should have documented, all those years ago.

And you know what’s funny?

Not much would have changed between now and then.

So why the change of heart, you might ask? 

Well, I’ve had to eat humble pie.

Values are far more than wall art and can mean so much more than something you pay lip service to.

Because what I never understood about company values (and that the books failed to tell me) is how they affect the two things in your business that will eventually kill you if you fail to get them right:

  1. Model
  2. Team

Let me explain:

For most of us, our business is an amplification of our own personal values and ambition. It’s the vehicle that we use to “act on the world.”

Those that value money will gravitate to a business (and business opportunities) that can scale to the moon.

Those that value belonging will build a business that cherishes connection.

Those that value status will build a business that can be held in high regard and esteem.

What we value personally determines, for many, what the business optimises for.

In simpler terms… your values dictate your business model.

It sounds so simple typing this out.

Like, I’m smacking my head, going “duh’’…

It’s almost embarrassing that I’ve gotten seven years in business, having achieved what many people aspire to and look up to as pioneering, yet, I don’t even have my values clearly outlined… anywhere.

And I’m completely responsible for that misstep, but that’s a story for another email.

Then, of course, there is how values affect the team.

Consider this:

If values help determine how the model functions, it also determines how the team functions (because the team is responsible for acting out the model).

Without a rock-solid set of company values clearly defined by leadership, you risk building an organisation that is a conglomerate of everyone’s values…

A corporate value ‘soup’, so to speak.

Some values align…

Some don’t.

And it’s those that don’t that will typically get you into trouble.

But take heed before you get out your notepad and start writing down words like integrity, community and stuff like that…

To do this right, you need to take the extra step and ask yourself the question:

“What does this value mean if it’s acted out?”

That question has all the meat on it, and the answers to that question don’t so easily ‘fit on a wall’ or a ‘corporate plaque’… which is why it’s so easily missed.

But yet…

It is, by far, the most important.

Take from that what you will.

– Karl Goodman

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56 Grantham St, Wembly WA 6014
+61 439 296 427
 
 

Bodyseek Personal Training

6/92-100 Champion Rd, Williamstown VIC 3016
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Woodford Sport Science Consulting (WSSC)

97 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin VIC 3189
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Elite Performance Gym

17 Neumann Rd, Capalaba QLD 4157
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Athletes Authority

16 Dickson Ave, Artarmon NSW 2064
+61 1300 936 563

Application details

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Lachlan Wilmot

DIRECTOR OF COACHING & PERFORMANCE

Qualifications:

  • Bachelors of Exercise and Sport Science
  • Honors in Rate of Force Development in Team Sport Athletes

Lachlan began his professional sports coaching career as the second ever employee at the GWS Giants in 2010-11 season prior to entering the AFL in 2012. Over 7 seasons, Lachlan grew a team of talented young men into back-to-back preliminary finals contenders. As the head of strength and power, his role was to turn teenagers into physically dominant men, developing their strength, power, speed and most importantly, their resistance to injury.

In 2018, Lachlan’s success afforded him the opportunity to shift codes, having been offered the role of High Performance Manager for the NRL’s Parramatta Eels.

In as little as one rebuild season, he had taken the wooden spooners of 2018 to the finals in 2019, where they inflicted the greatest defeat of the Brisbane Broncos in NRL history. By 2019, it was time for Lachlan to go ‘all-in’ on his other baby, Athletes Authority.

Now, Lachlan leads the performance program, designing the programs for all the athletes here. He works closely with the sports medicine team, just like he did in pro sport, to help athletes achieve more and reach new heights with their athletic careers.

Karl Goodman

FOUNDER & DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Karl began his career in coaching as a Personal Trainer back in 2007. After competing for NSW as a Baseballer, and then competing at an elite standard as a cyclist throughout university,  Karl received the opportunity to work with Gordon Rugby in the Shute Shield competition. From there, he found a way to marry his passion in sports and competition with coaching; selling his investment property to start Athletes Authority in early 2016.

Starting from humble beginnings, the facility vision was taken to another level when Lachlan and Karl partnered up in 2017 and Athletes Authority was incorporated. It was no longer just a gym training athletes; Athletes Authority was committed to becoming a brand athletes worldwide could rely on for quality coaching, advice and service.