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Beyond High Performance: What Great Coaches Know About How the Best Get Better
In Beyond High Performance , Jason Jaggard, along with the coaches of Novus Global and the faculty of the Meta Performance™ Institute, pull back the curtain to reveal the coaching tools they use to help the best get better. Their groundbreaking research shows there are two types of great leaders and those who achieve success once and then plateau or decline, and those who achieve success over and over again. Leaders who are able to consistently and enthusiastically reinvent themselves do so not because they are more talented or have more access to resources, but because they choose to see the world differently than everyone else and create a distinct kind of culture. Full of ideas and insights drawn from years of behind-the-scenes coaching and training with some of the most famous leaders and companies in the world of entertainment, government, business, and nonprofits, Beyond High Performance will forever expand the way you see yourself, the people around you, and your capacity to succeed at the things that matter most.
280 pages, Hardcover
Published July 18, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 3, 2026
I picked up Beyond High Performance because I have spent much of my life trying to figure out how to become a little less high-performance. I move fast, think big, push hard, and sometimes overwhelm the people around me. I expected a book like this to tell me to slow down.
Instead, it challenged me to think bigger.
One of the central ideas is that the answer for a high performer is not necessarily to become less driven, but to become a “meta performer”—someone who keeps expanding what is possible while also becoming more coachable, more intentional, more generous, and more sustainable.
There were so many ideas that stayed with me. The discussion about high performers becoming simultaneously overwhelmed and bored was painfully accurate. I loved the distinction between “rowers” who simply work harder and “sailors” who learn to look for the wind. The section on empowered versus disempowered language was excellent. And one question in particular really stopped me: instead of asking, “What do I want from this person?” ask, “What do I want for this person?”
That is a profound leadership shift.
I also appreciated that the book doesn't glorify endless hustle. It challenges ambitious people to think seriously about coaching, relationships, recovery, rest, energy, risk, failure, and the people they allow to “work on” them.
One of my favorite ideas in the book is that the greatest thrill comes when something that once seemed impossible eventually becomes normal—what used to be impossible becomes “Tuesday.”
That is the kind of leadership and life I want to pursue.
This book gave me language for things I have felt for years, but it also challenged several of my blind spots. I highlighted constantly, took pages of notes, and came away with a long list of questions I want to keep asking myself and my leadership team.
If you are already a driven, high-capacity person, this book isn't primarily about how to accomplish more. It is about how to grow beyond the limitations that often come with success.
Highly recommended.
Instead, it challenged me to think bigger.
One of the central ideas is that the answer for a high performer is not necessarily to become less driven, but to become a “meta performer”—someone who keeps expanding what is possible while also becoming more coachable, more intentional, more generous, and more sustainable.
There were so many ideas that stayed with me. The discussion about high performers becoming simultaneously overwhelmed and bored was painfully accurate. I loved the distinction between “rowers” who simply work harder and “sailors” who learn to look for the wind. The section on empowered versus disempowered language was excellent. And one question in particular really stopped me: instead of asking, “What do I want from this person?” ask, “What do I want for this person?”
That is a profound leadership shift.
I also appreciated that the book doesn't glorify endless hustle. It challenges ambitious people to think seriously about coaching, relationships, recovery, rest, energy, risk, failure, and the people they allow to “work on” them.
One of my favorite ideas in the book is that the greatest thrill comes when something that once seemed impossible eventually becomes normal—what used to be impossible becomes “Tuesday.”
That is the kind of leadership and life I want to pursue.
This book gave me language for things I have felt for years, but it also challenged several of my blind spots. I highlighted constantly, took pages of notes, and came away with a long list of questions I want to keep asking myself and my leadership team.
If you are already a driven, high-capacity person, this book isn't primarily about how to accomplish more. It is about how to grow beyond the limitations that often come with success.
Highly recommended.
August 3, 2023
The author turns the analysis of performance on its side by postulating a set of questions.
Current management models view performance as a pyramid of levels: low, mid and high.
Low performers ask themselves, “What is the least I can do to keep my job?”
(Normal) Mid-level performers ask themselves, “How can I do a better job?”
High performers ask themselves, “How can I be the best?”
The author posits a new question: “What’s the problem with being a high performer?”
High performers resist feedback, resent being asked to do more, are simultaneously overwhelmed and bored, resent other employees who are not up to their standards, are jealous of others who surpass them and are no longer coachable.
So, if high performance is a bottleneck what’s beyond high performance?
The authors define meta performance in terms of the athlete. The first three questions all have finite answers. However, the athlete asks, “What am I capable of?”
The meat of the book pursues the answer to the athlete’s question.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in leadership or self-development.
Current management models view performance as a pyramid of levels: low, mid and high.
Low performers ask themselves, “What is the least I can do to keep my job?”
(Normal) Mid-level performers ask themselves, “How can I do a better job?”
High performers ask themselves, “How can I be the best?”
The author posits a new question: “What’s the problem with being a high performer?”
High performers resist feedback, resent being asked to do more, are simultaneously overwhelmed and bored, resent other employees who are not up to their standards, are jealous of others who surpass them and are no longer coachable.
So, if high performance is a bottleneck what’s beyond high performance?
The authors define meta performance in terms of the athlete. The first three questions all have finite answers. However, the athlete asks, “What am I capable of?”
The meat of the book pursues the answer to the athlete’s question.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in leadership or self-development.
July 12, 2023
I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book reads like an advert for the two companies that are run by the author. Some of the ideas contained within the boom are interesting, but it begins by discussing the 10,000 hour idea from Malcolm Gladwell - a theory that has been universally panned as wildly inaccurate and a gross generalisation.
Once you get past the context setting, the book picks up a bit, and there are some practical questions to ask yourself and ideas fo consider.
Overall, it's not a bad book, it just feels quite self-c9ngratulatory and very keen to appear academic, using often unnecessarily complex sentences to make a simple point. Good ideas, just somewhat lacking in execution.
This book reads like an advert for the two companies that are run by the author. Some of the ideas contained within the boom are interesting, but it begins by discussing the 10,000 hour idea from Malcolm Gladwell - a theory that has been universally panned as wildly inaccurate and a gross generalisation.
Once you get past the context setting, the book picks up a bit, and there are some practical questions to ask yourself and ideas fo consider.
Overall, it's not a bad book, it just feels quite self-c9ngratulatory and very keen to appear academic, using often unnecessarily complex sentences to make a simple point. Good ideas, just somewhat lacking in execution.
August 21, 2023
A really good overview of the Novus Global vision and ethos, which I have found very helpful in my own life. Prior knowledge did help in understanding the contents better, there’s a lot of depth that can be gotten into after an initial read has familiarized the concepts.
July 22, 2025
As someone who resonates with being a high performer, I felt very seen on page 1 of this book. I loved the idea of meta performance - what is beyond high performance. This is a book I will continually come back to for inspiration and motivation.
July 1, 2024
Nobody thinks a coach is needed until they have one, great ‘lessons learned’ collection about how high performers get even better.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews