Performance by Design Creation Story

This is the story of how the PBD team came together. While the business officially launched in January 2018, there is a fascinating and long-standing history between each of the partners – and it makes for fantastic reading!

It all started with Gerard Murphy. Gerard has been a performance coach and consultant for the last 25-plus years, both in Australia and around the globe.

Emile Studham, a semi-professional Aussie Rules Footballer and Physical Education teacher, tracked Gerard’s success with great interest. When he launched his first company ‘Aussie X’ (now X Movement) in 2008 in Toronto, Canada, Emile immediately aspired to work with Gerard.

That opportunity presented itself in 2011, when Emile won a handshake deal on Canada’s Dragons’ Den with the founder of Boston Pizza. The deal resulted in Emile and his Aussie X team working with the Boston Pizza Marketing team. Emile reached out to Gerard who flew from London to Boston to support the team-building engagement.

The collaboration between the two allowed Gerard to work closely with the Aussie X team, which experienced rapid transformation through Gerard’s culture-building and high-performance processes.

For the next few years Gerard and Emile worked together periodically, with Gerard mentoring Emile through the development of the Performance by Design system. The duo consulted with many companies throughout Toronto, of all shapes and sizes.

Fast track to January 2017. Warren Everitt from MarketOne, a Melbourne-based digital marketing agency, employed Emile to conduct the Performance By Design program at his organisation. Success was immediate, transforming the team’s culture so well that Emile was sent to Bangalore to work with MarketOne’s India team.

In July 2017, Warren made an offer to Emile for the two to join forces. They would leverage Warren’s expertise in marketing and digital automation to deliver aspects of the system Gerard and Emile had been quietly perfecting.

By now the team had also connected to Paul Roos, after watching him on the TV show ‘Open Mike’ – in a broadcast interview, Paul had expressed a desire to work in the leadership and mindfulness space with his wife Tami.

Paul was immediately enthusiastic to the idea, adding that wellness could play a key role in the Performance by Design system. Tami has a 20-year history in the wellness space and brings with her an unmatched understanding of meditation and its impact on mental states. The applications to corporate teams and the Performance by Design system were obvious.

For the next few months, all five partners worked together closely to formalise the Performance by Design system: Gerard being the founder of the PBD methodology, Emile the enthusiastic workshop facilitator, and Warren acting as head of marketing, sales and finance. Paul’s unmatched experience in high performance sport and Tami’s knowledge of wellness round out the perfectly balanced team we have today.

Performance by Design is delivering results for some of the worlds largest companies – learn more about the unique Performance by Design system here.