What happens when a strength and conditioning coach at the very top of professional rugby has his worldview turned upside down?
In this episode of Perfectly Flawed, I sit down with Craig White—award-winning leadership coach and mentor who’s spent over 25 years working with elite athletes, including the British & Irish Lions, Wales Rugby, and the Leicester Tigers. At the height of his career, a trip to Thailand changed everything. Immersed in meditation and mindfulness, Craig began a journey of deep personal transformation that would eventually lead him to guiding men’s retreats in the UK and Peru and back to the rugby grounds - bringing an entirely renewed approach to performance and what it means to be a leader and a man in today’s world.
Our conversation explores:
💡 Craig’s response to the phrase toxic masculinity—and why it’s more complex than we think.
💡 How rugby’s “macho” culture can be integrated with compassion, sensitivity, and insight.
💡 Why men need to access their full emotional range to lead authentically.
💡 The unifying thread between sport, leadership, and self-awareness.
Craig is now committed to helping men redefine success—not just in sport or business, but in life. Through his work and his podcast, Dare To Be Different, he’s challenging outdated norms and inspiring a new, more expansive model of masculinity: strong and sensitive, competitive and compassionate.
🎧 Tune in for an honest, challenging, and uplifting conversation on what it really means to be a man.
Craig White is an award-winning leadership coach and mentor who has spent over 25 years coaching elite athletes, including British & Irish Lions, Wales Rugby and other international teams. Now, he helps men access their full emotional range, lead with authenticity, and live more meaningful lives. His work blends sport, leadership and personal transformation. Craig is also the host of Dare To Be Different, a podcast exploring the personal transformations of influential male leaders.
https://craigwhitecoaching.com
https://craigwhitementoring.com/podcast/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-white-performance-coach/