High performance is often glorified as speed, intensity, and relentless output. But according to author, presenter and behavioural expert Jez Rose, we’re having the wrong conversation. In Episode 5 of The Business of Thinking, Jez explains that true high performance isn’t about going harder, it’s about sustaining excellence over time. And ironically, the key to sustaining performance is knowing when to stop.
You Only Get This Once, And Most People Forget That
Jez’s worldview changed early. Years in emergency medical training exposed him to the brutal truth that not everyone wakes up tomorrow. That perspective now fuels the question he asks constantly:
“If you only get one life, why wouldn’t you go all in?”
This doesn’t mean doing more.
It means living consciously, and not sleepwalking through habit, fear or convenience.
Pressing Pause: The Most Underrated Leadership Skill
Jez shares honestly about his own crises, moments where he lost almost everything, moved across the world, rebuilt his life and career, and eventually pivoted into becoming a ceramic artist alongside his speaking work.
Through those reinventions, he discovered something leaders rarely give themselves permission to do:
Press pause.
Empty the toy box.
Choose intentionally what goes back in.
Most people never do this because:
- Work demands never stop
- Routines become prisons
- Leaders feel guilty for slowing down
- Culture glorifies “pushing through”
But without pause, reflection, or recalibration, performance becomes a treadmill headed toward burnout.
The Real Question: Can You Sustain It?
Organisations often tell Jez:
“Our team is performing brilliantly, but they’re exhausted. We just need them to push a little more.”
This, Jez argues, is the heart of the problem.
High performance can be achieved through pressure.
Sustained performance cannot.
Because humans are not machines, they’re systems influenced by:
- Biology
- Motivation
- Reinforcement
- Energy cycles
- Psychological needs
Ignoring these leads to the crash so many teams are experiencing right now.
High Performance Starts With Values, Not Volume
Jez explains that sustainable high performance comes from:
- People loving what they do
- Leaders knowing what motivates each person individually
- Meaningful reinforcement (not generic perks)
- Removing outdated leadership clichés
- Focusing on behaviour and psychology over “tips and tricks”
Too many leaders don’t even know what drives their team members, one of Jez’s biggest frustrations. He recounts the story of an employee winning a huge chocolate hamper… despite being diabetic.
It’s a perfect metaphor for poor leadership:
treating people generically instead of personally.
Leadership Is Behavioural Science, Not Buzzwords
Jez argues that leadership is fundamentally about one thing:
Getting people to want to do something differently.
Yet most leadership development:
- Skips the behavioural science
- Relies on outdated personality profiling
- Overwhelms managers with theory
- Underestimates the power of simple conversations
According to Jez, if leaders talked to their people more, monthly, weekly, informally, most performance problems would resolve themselves.
Sustaining high performance becomes possible not through intensity… but through connection.
