Business, Sporting and Speaking Testimonials
Contact References
Caryl Carson
Business Solutions Manager
Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC)
+ 64 7 856 0710
I chose to work with Mark for a period of 12 months with a particular professional high performance goal in mind. Mark gave me the tools to aid my thinking processes and improve mental toughness. Most importantly, Mark ensured I remained focused on the goal, and stayed focused on the high performance qualities needed to achieve it, which I did. Mark has now worked with a number of our team for the benefit of each individual and our business.
Grant Hope
CEO
Trust Investments Limited
I have worked with Mark for about three years, with this involving regular discussions relating to my overall performance at work.
Discussions with Mark are useful, practical and refreshing (and enjoyable!) and I regularly come out of them with tangible actions that lead to incremental improvements in my performance and also the performance of the work area I lead.
It has been valuable for me to have an external advisors like Mark, with this providing independent, objective and confidential support and advice.
Peter Benfell
Science & Technology GM
Agriculture & Environment
AgResearch
I have worked with Mark Sutherland for the best part of two years. Balancing my work as a lawyer, with my work in the electricity industry and with my personal life has always been a challenge. Too often my personal needs have been abrogated to work and industry needs. Working with Mark has assisted me in prioritising those matters that really are important to work and to me, and in turn this has enabled me to work smarter not harder and have a lot more fun.
Karen Sherry
Bell Booth Sherry
Chairperson Auckland Energy Consumers Trust
The coaching has been invaluable. I draw on it every day and get challenged regularly when I look at the laws and go over our coaching info. Much like your coaching with gold medal athletes, it's about going beyond the skills, and seeing if you've got the mental toughness to go beyond the comfort zone to really excel....So thanks heaps for the steering, kicks, encouragements, and support to see me improve, thereby enabling my great team to start becoming what they can be.
Paul Cocks
Surgical Services Manager
Lakes District Health Board
When I took on the role of chief executive I knew I was going to need help. Having never been a CEO before, mixing youthful enthusiasm with raw business knowledge had its challenges, but none that were insurmountable thanks to your support and encouragement.
Our Board of Directors declaring their wishes to have professional development as part of their program was a stroke of genius. Little did we understand then how much impact your coaching would have on the Board and professonal staff alike. We continue to experience the lasting effects of the skills, knowledge and enthusiasm you engendered in my team.
Robert Barnes
Chief Executive
Surf Life Saving Northern Region Inc ___________________________________________________________________________
I started working with Mark after my boss, Roger saw that I was lacking in motivation and self belief. Despite having the talent and skills to excel im my career, and even after consistently achieving great results, I still felt like a faud. Not only did Mark instantly understand exactly how I was feeling but he completely normalised it, putting me immediately at ease.
During our meetings Mark gently coaxed out of me exactly what was going on inside my head and I experienced SEVERAL A-Ha! moments. My stress levels have fallen away as I am now more focused and organised in my life, my daily calendar and my headspace, making me more effective in my role.
The result is that I can now categorically say that 'I am confident', 'I am capable', 'I am worth it', and I actually believe it now! Thank you so much Mark.
Toni Robins
Client Service Consultant
___________________________________________________________________________
We engaged Mark to examine the means by which our team could remain focussed in continuing to develop winning business opportunities. Of particular interest to us was how to get more from a team of professionals distinct from their individual contributions.
Mark convinced us that his experience in coaching elite athletes had direct application both in coaching professionals to continue to aspire and goal set for themselves, and in how to better mould a team ethos. We noticed an immediate change in attitude of our staff (and indeed myself) after our sessions with Mark and we now more fully appreciate the mindset that differentiates champions from competitors. I agree with Mark that winning is at the end of a very long process of discipline and Mark's anecdotal observations of attitude and application are revealing.
Mark Ford
Gener Manager
Wholesale Funds Management
Armstrong Jones (NZ) Ltd ___________________________________________________________________________
Under Mark’s coaching Ian Ferguson and myself won four World Championships medals and three Olympic medals. I have nothing but respect for Mark and his abilities. His personal drive and commitment is equal to that of any Olympic Champion.
Paul MacDonald MBE
Olympic & World Champion
18 years ago I approached Mark to coach me in aerobics, 18 years on Mark has not only helped me achieve national and international competition success but was there as business coach and mentor at the inception of my business right through to where it is today.
Mark has consistently supported me and the business with the right tools, information, motivation and humour. I love his no-nonsense approach, our discussions offer diverse opinions and options to consider without judgement and I've always appreciated his ability to know when to allow me space to learn the lessons potentially the harder way first or allow me time to fully understand his insights he offers. I believe the success of REDed today is in large part due to Marks excellent guidance as I navigated new situations from building the business from scratch to negotiating contracts, securing the right team, expanding and his forte - goal setting for the future. Mark not only offers excellence in his business coaching and mentorship but is immediately likeable and you just know you can't help but be friends with this honest, experienced, motivating and charismatic guy.
I know I will continue this relationship well in to the future. One conversation with Mark is better than a double shot of coffee.
Dale Pope
Director
Raw Energy Dance Education
Sydney
Mark Sutherlands coaching services have been used by us for five years and have helped us grow our business by providing individuals with a coaching experience that is personal as well as team oriented. The franchisees are motivated by the personal coaching and each other to succeed. This program fits well in our overall comprehensive training program and provides our franchisees with a high performance edge. In the middle of the recession Marks team of franchisees achieved 19% growth in the mortgage market. This is an outstanding achievement.
Di Te Tamaki
HR and Development Manager
New Zealand Home Loans
From the very first conversation Mark showed he was different from the other coaches I had encountered. First he congratulated me on staying in business for eight years - "you must be doing something right", an immediate boost to my morale and confidence. I explained about the other four business coaches and that I was feeling exhausted and had lost interest in my work. He assured me he never gives up! Mark has a refreshingly direct approach, he tells it like it is and quickly sees solutions to what appear insurmountable problems. Mark has been a very motivating influence for myself and the staff - we are all excited about achieving personal and business success.
Sue Birch
Director
NZ Back Care Clinic ___________________________________________________________________________
Through his skills Mark was quickly able to bring out the passion and desire for success in my team. He talked at their level, and through relating his own experiences, Mark was able to gain absolute trust and credibility with the team. Mark brought an outside view to our business which was critical for us in terms of the direction we were taking.
Graham Meecham
Local CEO - Personal Banking
ANZ Hamilton City ___________________________________________________________________________
Mark has a great pragmatic and straight forward approach to performance planning. He has provided me with a new outlook on how to plan, work and influence within my organisation.
Tony Fenton
Communications Manager
Environment Waikato ___________________________________________________________________________
We had been looking for some time to find a coach who not only understood our business but also us as a couple in business together, and the dynamics that this bring with it.
We have been delighted with the results and focus that we have achieved with Mark's guidance, as well as his no-nonsense approach to business coaching. We have learnt many valuable lessons that will stay with us for a long time.
We both would recommend Mark to anyone who is need of guidance and/or support in their business. The investment that we have made in this service has been invaluable and the increased results that we have made have been fantastic.
Richard and Nikki Taylor
Directors
ICG Recruitment Pty Ltd
Queensland
It was by chance that Mark and I met and a timely chance. I was in dire straits with personal performance and an inability to take positive control of my work life. Mark challenged my excuses (would not let me off the hook) and provided me with tools that allowed me to work on solutions myself. Once I started to gain small successes, my motivation and clarity about what I could achieve gained momentum. Eyeballing the successes (no matter how small and unimpressive) is the key. While I was in the state of being 'out of control', I missed all the small things that really matter which ultimately made the big things too hard. The ongoing coaching and interest in my success provided me with back up and positive reinforcement.
Anne Worthington
Manager Human Resources & Change
Carter Holt Harvey - Kinleith
With Mark’s considerable help, we have transformed the way we feel and disentangled ourselves from the pressures that were once around us. We have been challenged by Mark ‘to be the best’ and learnt to understand that ‘we are the best at what we do’. This has instilled a new confidence in the way that we work and as such how we perform. We have developed a Goal Mountain and are much clearer about where we are going and feel considerably better for it. Mark challenges you and what you believe. He challenges you to think and then offers real practical advice to bring on positive change.
Mark has been to the very top in sports coaching - taking athletes to Olympic Gold Medals, where the differences between winning and losing are in attitude and planning. The similarities to business are obvious and the more I look the more I see it. I therefore feel very fortunate that I have had the opportunity to have the help of a world-class coach.
It goes without saying that I would recommend Mark Sutherland to any business that wants to achieve increased performance in any area of their environment.
Scott Mathieson,
Owner, Director.
Working In Ltd (NZ)
Working In Ltd placed second in the Deloitte Fastest 50 and were finalists in the Best Places to Work
After the two-day meeting with the other business owners, I am energised and I believe in my business again. No more surviving....we must WIN! I am very excited about the next 12 months, and I plan on being very much a Gold Medal business in the next 12 months starting today!
Stacey Jones
Business Owner
NZ Home Loans
Rotorua
Mark's enthusiasms for life, people, coaching and motivating people are apparent on first meeting. Mark developed a pathway to success for me: primarily showing me how to use my natural gifts to enhance my business practice and how to tread confidently when the pathway was new and daunting. With Mark, I initiated a 'BEST WAY' system for myself. I continue to use this every day.
Margaret Martin
Owner, Director
Ascal Laboratories NZ Ltd
We have been running our business summits around New Zealand for 10 years, and this year our survey feedback on Mark Sutherland’s high performance presentations was conclusive. Mark was simply the best speaker we have had in that ten-year period.
Will Yates
General Manager
Genetic Technologies Pioneer Brands
Mark, your GOAL MOUNTAINS has been a great insight into setting and laying out the pathways to goals in a very fundamental but useful approach. I now use them for my business building plans; there are small mountains for small goals, bigger mountains for bigger goals. I think this strategy is applicable for setting out all kinds of goals - physical, personal, financial, emotional, career, social, and spiritual. The challenge ahead is great! But I enjoy scaling the mountains each new day!
Venn Venn See
Business Development Manager
Deutsche Post Global Mail
The kick in the butt coaching from Mark Sutherland has made me accountable to myself, helped me to identify what is important in my consultancy, how to target my market, create activity goals each week, develop new products, and boost my confidence. My business is growing, I am happier and I am achieving my goals
Sharon Main
Mortgage Broker and Finance Consultant
Aspire Brokers, Auckland
Your presentation was the most dynamic and powerful that I have seen. The content matched perfectly with our business direction and the inspiring references to sports ensured 100 percent attention from everyone present. I have spoken to most of the 40 attendees of the conference and, without exception, everyone enjoyed and felt motivated by your performance. I would have no hesitation in recommending your services to anyone seeking motivation and direction for their company and staff.
Kane Jones
National Sales Manager
SMC Pneumatics (NZ) Ltd
"Guest speaker was brilliant."
"Great to hear Mark Sutherland - very inspirational."
"Mark Sutherland was the highlight."
"Enjoyed the guest speaker, he was very inspirational."
"Keep the guest (motivational) speaker - a great session."
Comments from staff at Deloitte seminar
"Excellent & motivating."
"Outstanding."
"Very motivational and inspiring and lots of fun."
"Great ideas and comments - definite a winner!!"
"Fantastic – would love more of that."
"Inspiration and motivation are not an oversupply issue."
"Invite Mark to give the keynote speech at our conference."
Comments from staff at the Sovereign Sales Summit
Mark’s energy and “straight talk” challenges people to go the extra mile in identifying and pursuing whatever they identify as “best” for themselves, for their organisation and for the community of which they are a part.
UNITEC staff who participated in one of Mark’s motivation and goal setting workshops particularly valued Mark’s top down approach for achieving goals.
Once goals were set, participants were asked to identify “right now” actions and to take a first step towards their goal during the lunch break.
By using sports analogies and loads of enthusiasm, Mark reaches everyone in the room and fires them up!
Anita Jenkins
Human Resources
UNITEC
To enter into a commitment with Mark Sutherland is to get 100% of his energies in order to help you achieve your goals. His planning and motivational skills are second to nothing I have experienced.
David Sherwood
Director
Brighouse Interiors
I really appreciated your two day workshop last week. Have taken away a lot of valuable ideas and techniques for self management... Sometimes you feel as though you are swimming against the tide but then a helpful current like yours can carry you through. When I mention to other service providers that top athletes use similar techniques to win through, there is a heightening of interest and a "must be all right" type of response.
Paul Liddy
Operations Manager PACT
Dunedin
Mark I wish to congratulate you, on behalf of the Board of Women's Golf New Zealand, and thank you for your vital contribution to the Queen Sirikit Cup win. As in many undertakings in life, good preparation is the key to ultimate success, and never more so than in the sporting arena. After your work with the team during the build up, and then as manager during the event, you must take a great deal of satisfaction and pride for the team’s success.
Sue Bunt
Chairman
Women’s Golf New Zealand
I guess if you want to be the best you need the best. I needed help with direction and a proper schedule. Mark became someone I trusted and I will never forget the way he believed in me.
Sandy Barwick
Ultra Marathon, World Record Holder
Mark has exceptional skills in motivating and organising the athletes into the programs set. It is not always easy to get tired athletes out onto the water to do yet another session, but Mark is a good task master and we get the work done.
Ian Ferguson
Olympic & World Champion Canoeist
The travel industry is a very competitive and stressed environment, but I am now in more control of my schedules, time management, stress management and goal achievement strategies due to attending the Gold Medal Performance Business Seminars, so much so that I have recommended them to my colleagues.
David Williams
Director
House of Travel
Christchurch ___________________________________________________________________________
Mark Sutherland played an integral part in my athletic career leading up to the pinnacle of my sport, that is, to become World Champion. There are many qualities Mark has that puts him amongst the best coaches of this world. Qualities such as knowledge, consistency, enthusiasm, confidence, honesty and integrity.
Katrina Egan Dip Phys
World Surf Ski Champion ___________________________________________________________________________
E3 – Executing Executive Excellence Program
Below are the thoughts of participants in this programme from Carter Holt Harvey Tasman and Kinleith, and from Farmers Mutual Group FMG.
Initially I thought we lost momentum with spreading out the modules, however, I now believe this has been the best way to achieving good results.
Personally I have benefited enormously from this programme. My passion has been revived and I am very grateful you came along when you did. Cheers and best wishes.
Excellent no nonsense engagement. Pragmatic focus. Lots of “food for thought”. Common sense tools of practical use. Great presentations. Good fun.
Enjoyed doing the E3 programme. Lots of good insightful exercises and experiences. It is good to do soul searching and check reality as a group. Thanks to Mark for facilitating the programme effectively.
I really enjoyed E3. At the start I thought it was just another leadership course, but now realize it was up to me to make things happen. Mark you are an inspiration to me and thanks for your help and encouragement.
Positive result. Never boring. Enjoyed attendance.
CHH Tasman
Finally someone came along and worked with us as people.
The method and style of delivering excellent in every respect. Topics delivered with the base data and an extremely good slant toward reality. No simple / easy answers – you get what you put in.
Thoroughly enjoyed the “no frills” approach and humanity / humour of Mark. The most worthwhile course for years!!
I had reservations at first to this course to the point that I was not going to attend. I have enjoyed it. Have tools to work with. It has given me a lot of confidence. Thanks.
Because of the simple and bullshit free approach of E3 it has clarified my approach and made life seem a whole lot simpler. (Years of complicated management theory blunted my enthusiasm.)
Best content I have witnessed over last 10 years.
CHH Kinleith
I think I achieved more than I gave myself credit for! A positive programme undertaken at a very busy time. Future follow up sessions would be beneficial.
Excellent. The programme has been a wakeup call in a number of areas, both personal and business. I have made changes in both areas, which have assisted me greatly.
Great programme, really enjoyed the time out to work with the executive away from the work environment.
Great programme. Took something away and have implemented from each session. I will refer back to the modules on a regular basis to ensure I continue to improve my team and myself. Thanks for a really interesting and thought provoking year!
FMG