Charlie Hodgson on Mindset, Resilience and the Secrets of High-Performance Teams

Charlie Hodgson stands out as one of the most accomplished fly-halves in English rugby history—racking up a record-breaking 44-point debut, captaining Sale Sharks to their first Premiership title, and retiring as the all-time leading Premiership points scorer.

Now a Motivation & Inspiration speaker, Charlie delivers powerful insights on leadership, high performance, and resilience—drawing from his 16 years at the pinnacle of the sport and successful roles in performance coaching and corporate leadership.

In this exclusive interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, he explores what elite sport can teach us about teamwork, mindset, and overcoming adversity—lessons equally vital in business, personal growth, and beyond.

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Q1. From your experience at the very top of the game, what do you see as the non-negotiable principles behind building and sustaining a high-performance team?

Charlie Hodgson: “Well, suppose we’ve all been part of teams at some point in our lives. Maybe it was on the field, in an office, even with our families. We’ve all seen, I think, the difference between average teams and ones that really operate at the highest level.

“I think what makes the difference is ultimately around getting the right people on the bus. It sounds really simple, it’s easy to say, but actually really hard to get right. And for me, it’s having the right people within your organisation and the link to the values and the behaviours expected of them.

“I will share a short story because back in 2010, I mentioned this coach before, Brendan Venter. They had a huge clear out of players because they were middle of the table. They kept offering lots of money to players who were deemed superstars, but actually they weren’t producing what they perhaps should be.

“And Brendan looked at this and he came in and spent hours and hours watching players individually. He watched how they trained, how they prepared, how they interacted with others. He had a clear image of the type of behaviours that he desired of everybody.

“Basically, those that fitted his way stayed and those that didn’t left. And I think many businesses have values written all over the walls of their office. But I guess the question is, how many can really truly say they live by them each day? I really believe that Saracens did and that, as I say, was probably one of the reasons why they became one of the most successful teams in Europe.”

Q2. Rugby careers are full of highs and lows. How important is mindset in determining whether a player thrives under pressure or fades away?

Charlie Hodgson: “Have you ever wondered why two people given the same resources, opportunities, challenges, end up in completely different places? One thrives and one struggles. And I think the difference there is around mindset.

“I know that I was involved with young players when I first started off my career. We were both offered the same opportunity. We both did the same training, but yet there was something slightly different in our approaches and I became very focused on what I wanted to achieve. I think the distraction for other people became too much, which is kind of why their careers disappeared and went into an abyss really.

“For me, it’s around mindset and the ability to bounce back from really, really difficult situations. I’ve experienced a huge number of those setbacks in my career. Most notably, probably very early on when my kicking performance wasn’t great and I got absolutely hounded by the media for a long period of time, by opposition players for a long period of time.

“But the ability to bounce back, whilst it took me a long time to really understand how to do that, was probably one of the reasons why I managed to last 16 years in a professional rugby career.”

Q3. Setbacks are part of both rugby and life. What practical strategies do you share with others about handling failure and using it as a platform to improve?

Charlie Hodgson: “I think the first thing is it’s actually just accepting that it’s okay to fail. We all make mistakes. Sometimes people can come down hard on others that do make mistakes, but actually the only way that we grow, according to Carol Dweck and her growth mindset, is that we need to fail. It’s kind of a prerequisite for life in general. We have to fail, so we do learn from those mistakes and we move forward.

“The second thing is, don’t make excuses. Quite often we can blame others. We can blame situations. We can blame environments. We can blame external factors, which of course do have their play. But for me there’s an element of taking hold of it from a personal point of view, a personal perspective, and understanding: well, what can I do differently next time?

“Thirdly, I would say seeking support and asking for help. I’m as guilty as anybody for this — I will try and fix problems by myself without seeking support and seeking help. So that’s a key thing for me.

“And then the final thing is around perspective. There’s a huge question that I’ve always asked myself from a young age as a player: will it matter next week? Will it matter in a month? Or will it matter in a year? Chances are, when you start to gain some perspective on those things that have happened, you’ll realise that it’s not that bad.”

This exclusive interview with Charlie Hodgson was conducted by Chris Tompkins of The Motivational Speakers Agency.