Dr Steve Ingham

Keynote · Coaching · Author

Increasing the probability of success.

Most teams chase outcomes. Elite teams design for probability.

Three decades of performance science from inside the British Olympic system. Now applied to senior teams at Google, McLaren and beyond.

Dr Steve Ingham delivering a keynote on stage
Photo · Thomas Graham

Trusted by leadership teams at

What clients say

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill

Olympic Heptathlon Champion

Throughout my career Steve has made innovation and ideas useful. He has been my go-to scientist for preparation and performance.

The keynote

Increasing the Probability of Success.

Most teams chase outcomes. Elite teams design for probability.

One keynote, delivered four ways. The central idea — that success has a probability you can design for — runs as the spine through every version. Each audience gets a talk shaped to their work and the moment they're in.

Drawn from three decades supporting Olympic champions. Refined for boardrooms and senior teams.

A 2-minute extract from a recent corporate keynote

Four movements within one talk

Four signature moments. Built to land in any room.

  1. 01

    Probabilistic thinking

    The science of success under uncertainty. What the world's best do when outcomes aren't in their hands — and how to bring that posture into business decisions.

  2. 02

    Goal setting that changes behaviour

    Why most goal-setting frameworks reward the wrong behaviours, and a model that survives contact with reality.

  3. 03

    Decision-making under pressure

    How elite performers think clearly when the stakes are highest — and how senior teams can rehearse for it before the moment lands.

  4. 04

    Leadership behaviours that scale standards

    What leaders model is what gets repeated. The observable behaviours that turn a personal standard into an organisational one.

Format

  • 30–60 minute keynote, with optional Q&A
  • Extended keynote plus 90-minute workshop
  • Bespoke executive sessions, in person or virtual
Read the full keynote brief

The body of work

Three decades inside elite sport.
Now applied to senior teams.

  • 30

    Years inside elite sport

  • 1,000+

    Athletes supported

  • 200+

    World & Olympic medallists

  • 6

    Olympic Games delivered

Recent events

In the room.

Steve Ingham keynote — The Partnership 2025, with Jessica Ennis-Hill on screen
The Partnership · 2025
Steve Ingham keynote at the Concorde aviation venue
Steve Ingham on stage with audience and athlete imagery on screen
Steve Ingham on stage — 'Increasing the probability of success' slide
Steve Ingham presenting beneath a Concorde aircraft
Steve Ingham keynote — 'Insights from Supporting Champions'
Full conference audience at a Steve Ingham keynote

Selected from recent corporate, partnership and conference engagements.

Working with Steve

Three ways in.

One body of work — performance science from inside elite sport — applied at three depths: a keynote, one-to-one coaching, or extended advisory with leadership teams.

Case studies

The work, in detail.

All case studies

Testimonials

Throughout my career Steve has made innovation and ideas useful. He has been my go-to scientist for preparation and performance.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill

Olympic Heptathlon Champion

  • There are very few people I would consider an insider to our efforts to win at successive Olympics. Steve was one of them.
    Sir Matthew Pinsent
    Sir Matthew Pinsent · Four-time Olympic Champion
  • Steve's approach strikes the right balance with tough challenges that are achievable. Five stars — long-lasting experience.
    Patricia Corsi
    Patricia Corsi · Chief Marketing & Digital Information Officer, Kimberly-Clark (formerly Bayer Consumer Health)
  • Brilliant, just brilliant. Just what our team needed.
    Rim Abida
    Rim Abida · Google
  • Steve is my go-to trusted, proven, innovative and performance-focused partner.
    James Cracknell
    James Cracknell · Two-time Olympic Champion
  • I was thriving at key times and could go into my vacation without being burnt out.
    Jean-Pascal Tricoire
    Jean-Pascal Tricoire · Chairman, Schneider Electric
  • Steve's ability to make those experiences completely relatable to the everyday working world sets him apart.
    Emma Huepfl
    Emma Huepfl · Former Co-Head, CBRE Investment Management EMEA Credit Strategies
  • Steve provided a superb insight into the impact on outcomes through performance coaching.
    Anouska Ramsay
    Anouska Ramsay · HR Director, Santander
  • Steve gave a thought-provoking, inspiring and engaging speech at our Staff Away Day.
    Robert Camp
    Robert Camp · Scowns
Dr Steve Ingham — studio portrait

About Steve

Performance science, built from the inside.

I spent thirty years inside the British Olympic system — first as a sport physiologist, then leading the science operation behind Team GB at Athens, London and Rio. I worked with more than a thousand athletes, including over two hundred World and Olympic medallists.

I now apply that work to senior leaders and the teams they run. Clients include Google, McLaren, Pfizer, Bayer, Capgemini and Warner Bros Discovery. I teach at Warwick Business School and Saïd Business School (Oxford).

I'm the bestselling author of How to Support a Champion. A second book, What Persists, is coming next.

How it works

Booking Steve takes three steps.

  1. 01

    Enquiry

    Tell me about your event, audience and the message you want them to leave with. We talk for thirty minutes.

  2. 02

    Shape the emphasis

    I match emphasis and examples to your audience. Where useful, I'll preview the framing with your organiser.

  3. 03

    Deliver

    Keynote, workshop, or both. In person or virtual. Followed by a short note on what to do with what your team heard.

Tell me about your event — and the message you want them to leave with.

Start an enquiry

Books

A body of work in performance science.

All books
How to Support a Champion — book cover

Bestseller · the flagship

How to Support a Champion

The art of applying science to the elite athlete

In 1998, Sir Steve Redgrave looked across a lab and asked: “Are you going to make me go faster?” The question reshaped Ingham's career. Drawn from thirty years inside elite sport with athletes including Redgrave, Pinsent, Sotherton and Ennis-Hill, this is a book about what it actually takes to support people pursuing the summit of their potential. The science matters. So does trust, judgement, adaptability, and the willingness to be useful when it counts.

Self-published, 2016 · 8,000+ copies sold

Also by Steve

Coming next

What Persists

21 Lessons from the Leading Minds in Performance

Drawn from 169 conversations on the Supporting Champions podcast — Olympic champions, fighter pilots, neuroscientists, surgeons, coaches, performers. A field report from the front line of performance, distilled into twenty-one lessons told in the guests' own words.

Coming soon.