Owen Eastwood

Owen Eastwood is a performance coach specialising in leadership and team culture, drawing on his Māori heritage and the principle of 'Whakapapa' to help organisations unlock belonging and shared purpose. He has guided elite teams including the European Ryder Cup squad, Chelsea FC, England football, Team GB, and NATO's Command Group, and recently completed an MBA with distinction whilst continuing to shape high-performance environments across sport and business. His acclaimed book *Belonging* explores how leaders can step beyond data and tactics to create the optimal conditions for people to thrive, transforming diversity into competitive advantage and empowering audiences to build resilient, mission-driven cultures.

When Owen Eastwood guided the European Ryder Cup team and Chelsea FC through their 2025 campaigns, he was simultaneously completing an MBA with distinction at the University of Canterbury, demonstrating the same rigorous pursuit of excellence he cultivates in others. Born in New Zealand to an Irish Catholic mother and a father of English and Māori heritage, Owen has built a global practice rooted in the principle of 'Whakapapa', the Māori understanding of belonging, shared purpose, and ancestral wisdom that underpins the All Blacks' legendary culture. Now based in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds, he continues to work with elite teams and corporate leaders who seek to transform their environments into places where people genuinely thrive.

Owen's client portfolio spans the highest levels of international sport and strategic leadership. He has worked extensively with England's national football team, including preparations for major tournaments, Team GB ahead of the Olympics, the South African cricket team, Scotland's rugby squad, NATO's Command Group, Harlequins Rugby, and elite ballet companies. His acclaimed book, *Belonging*, articulates his distinctive approach: moving leaders beyond the relentless focus on data, strategy, and tactics to ask a more fundamental question about creating optimal environments for mission success. Owen's belief that environment determines seventy per cent of behaviour shapes his methodology, which helps teams find their identity story, define shared purpose, envision future success, and turn diversity into competitive advantage. His recent MBA studies have deepened his capacity to integrate evolutionary insights about human performance with contemporary business thinking, equipping him to address the cultural challenges facing organisations in turbulent times.

Owen helps audiences step back from operational pressures to examine the conditions in which their people work. He challenges leaders to consider what truly enables teams to perform at their best, guiding them through practical frameworks that foster belonging and unlock collective potential. His speaking engagements move beyond inspirational rhetoric to provide actionable strategies for resetting culture, building resilience, and sustaining high performance over time. Whether addressing corporate leadership teams navigating post-disruption realities or sports organisations preparing for defining moments, Owen delivers insights that create lasting behavioural change. Audiences leave equipped to build environments where individuals feel genuinely connected to purpose, empowered to contribute fully, and capable of achieving extraordinary outcomes together. His work transforms how leaders think about their role, shifting focus from directing performance to cultivating the conditions in which excellence naturally emerges.