Preview
  • Belonging

  • The Ancient Code of Togetherness
  • By: Owen Eastwood
  • Narrated by: Toby Webster
  • Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (53 ratings)

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Belonging

By: Owen Eastwood
Narrated by: Toby Webster
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Publisher's summary

THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER THAT INSPIRED THE ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM

In BELONGING Owen Eastwood reveals, for the first time, the ethos that has made him one of the most in-demand Performance Coaches in the world. Drawing on his own Maori ancestry, Owen weaves together insights from homo sapiens' evolutionary story and our collective wisdom. He shines a light on where these powerful ideas are applied around the world in high-performing settings encompassing sport, business, the arts and military.

Whakapapa is a Maori idea which embodies our universal human need to belong. It represents a powerful spiritual belief—that each of us is part of an unbroken and unbreakable chain of people who share a sacred identity. Owen places this concept at the core of his methods to maximise a team's performance.

Aspects of Owen's unique approach include: finding your identity story; defining a shared purpose; visioning future success; sharing ownership with others; understanding the 'silent dance' that plays out in groups; setting the conditions to unleash talent; and converting our diversity into a competitive advantage.

Whakapapa. You belong here.

©2021 Marama North Consulting Limited (P)2021 Quercus Editions Limited

Critic reviews

"Gareth Southgate's secret weapon." (Guardian)

"A copy of Eastwood's new book, Belonging, was given to every England player when they reported for duty at the European Championships." (Telegraph)

"How Maori belief is driving the England team to seize the moment'." (Sunday Telegraph)

What listeners say about Belonging

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Stunning

This book offered so much in so many areas of life and leadership. The fact that it has an Aotearoa (New Zealand) background and numerous sports stories makes it highly relatable for me as a Kiwi.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to consider what they are doing to grow the sense of belonging in all spaces they tread. Thank you. Ngā mihi ki a koe mo to aroha, mo to manaaki, Mr Eastwood

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Excellent insights, stories and learnings!

Really loved this audiobook! The stories and insights Owen shares help us to better understand the importance of cultivating belonging for the greater good in all areas - sporting teams, corporate cultures and communities. His experience is incredible and the stories that support the teachings super engaging. I love the ancient wisdom he shares and being from Aotearoa NZ myself I am grateful to learn lessons on cultivating belonging to better serve youth /rangatahi and communities. This is so timely for our world right now - I want to listen to it all over again!

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Best book of 2022

Outstanding delivery of an ancient concept. Refreshing and insightful Owen does a masterful job of balancing art and science.

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Practical and mystical at the same time

Wow. Not sure how to write a review that does this book justice. The storytelling is beautiful and has a mystical quality , yet the science is sound and the process understandable and able to be replicated. A generous book

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Life Changing

As an elite sports coach who lives outside the box to build teams, I have been looking for this book my entire career.

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Good storyteller but problematic meta-narrative

Eastwood is a good storyteller. He tells lots of interesting accounts of his work with top teams around the world. I enjoyed hearing his origin story and cultural perspective. I also found many helpful ideas for building a good team culture. That said I found his overall arguments unpersuasive. He seeks to tell a meta-story for all mankind rooted in evolutionary psychology. I find it all extremely speculative, but wrapped in the language of science for credibility. How many times does he say ‘science says’? That reminds me of how my uncle used to always say, ‘the Bible says’ and then he’d just say his own thoughts. He speaks of science as if it’s a monolithic institution speaking with one voice, but the discipline is not that clear cut. He also touts an ancient, intuitive way of being. I happen to value that as well. But he makes many, many statements like ‘our ancestors intuitively knew this.’ How does he know this? I think it’s b.s. What access does he have into their intuition or mental processes? Perhaps they were engaging in a thoroughly sense-oriented and highly rational approach? We don’t know. I find his amalgamation of ancient ways together with ‘science’ very problematic. But then I find the whole discipline of evolutionary psychology very problematic. He doesn’t speak for my ancestors. From what I know of my ‘ancestors’ they would reject Eastwood’s views. Overall, there are a couple of chapters that I’ll revisit and take away notes, but I reject his overall presentation.

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