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On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Tim Oberg, CEO of parkrun Australia, about creating a healthier and happier planet, building communities, and parkrun moving a nation. We also delve into his leadership style, CrossFit, anxiety and empowering volunteers.
Tim Oberg – Moving A Nation
Tim Oberg is a charismatic CEO who is inspired to build a healthier and happier planet for his kids, has created a movement that has seen people run 38,771,680km and is a proud mental health advocate. He is a successful entrepreneur, devoted father, passionate cross-fit athlete, an anxiety sufferer, and a man who is driven to move a nation.
Tim has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Human Movement Studies and Bachelor of Education in Secondary Education Teaching from the Queensland University of Technology, and a Masters of Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University.
His career has included the roles of Managing Director of The Tourman, Managing Director of The Celebrity Planet, President of Active & Healthy Alliance Gold Coast, CEO and Founder of parkrun Australia and has recently commenced a role as Strategic Director Asia Pacific of parkrun international.
parkrun Australia
parkrun is now the largest mass participation sporting activity on the planet. In Australia alone there have been 62,765 events organized by 365 locations, involving 589,122 runners who have completed 38,771,680km. The average person has attended 13.2 parkruns.
Tim talks about:
- His first entrepreneurial venture as a Mobile DJ during university.
- How he became “Tim the TourMan”.
- Guinness World Record for the largest pub-crawl.
- The challenges and opportunities of starting your own business.
- People first style of leadership.
- Not being afraid to employee people better than you.
- Starting parkrun in 2010 after meeting founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt.
- parkrun moving a nation
- Far less about the run and far more about the community connections.
- Making friends, health and happiness with parkrun.
- Volunteers gain as much at parkrun as those who participate as walkers and runners.
- How parkrun has assisted the growth of running clubs.
- Can the parkrun mentality be successfully transferred to other sports?
- Why volunteering has been so successful in parkrun.
- Volunteering is not about sacrificing, but giving.
- How a panic attack and anxiety has changed his life.
- Starting meditation and developing a toolkit to manage anxiety.
Active CEO Performance Tip
Own Your Own Mental Conversation – Everyone has a commentator inside their head which owns the voice that you can easily over-consume your version of the truth. The voice that is observing criticizing your own actions, behaviours and thoughts can blur your view on the world. You need to own your own thought-chatter and ensure that it has perspective and clarity. The more we tell ourselves something, the more it becomes in grained and leads to our own truth. If that truth is negative by nature, then it can have a profound affect on your mood, opinion and the ability to make clear and appropriate decisions. Be objective and look at home you can ensure the conversation is positive and open.
Tweets
“What they are doing is making friends, it is a friendship things, you are making friends with new people in the community. Reconnecting with friends and family who you may have not seen for a while or even seen for a week.” Tim Oberg talks about the drivers of parkrun, on the active CEO Podcast.
“Creating a healthier and happier planet.” Discussing the parkrun mission with Tim Oberg, on the active CEO Podcast.
Resources Mentioned in this show:
Tim Oberg LinkedIn
Tim Oberg Twitter
Tim Oberg Facebook
Tim Oberg Instagram
parkrun Australia www.parkrun.com.au
parkrun Australia Facebook
NRG2Perform www.nrg2perform.com
Craig Johns craig@nrg2perform.com
Craig Johns LinkedIn
