About Wayne Pearce
Wayne’s reputation as a professional rugby league player and coach precedes him. His rise from humble beginnings growing up in the inner Sydney suburb of Balmain to become an International rugby league player is one of those great inspirational stories that never fails to stir the Australian spirit.
Wayne’s many rugby league accomplishments include being voted ‘Players player of the tour’ for the undefeated 1982 ‘Invincibles’ Kangaroo Tour, winning the Harry Sunderland medal as Australia’s best player in the 1984 test series against Great Britain, and captaining the New South Wales Origin team to the first ever clean sweep in 1986.
Wayne later coached the Blues in 2000, when he became the only person to both captain and coach a series clean-sweep in the history of State of Origin. More recently, during the COVID-19 global pandemic, Wayne was instrumental in assembling and leading the NRL's 'Project Apollo' team.
Wayne’s contribution to rugby league and the community was sighted when he was honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1988. These days his undying passion for the game of rugby league is still fuelled in his role as an inaugural member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.
Wayne’s strength of character and commitment to optimal performance is also now fervently focused on the corporate world.
He is directly involved in all services provided by Wayne Pearce Advantage and his aim, when working with an organisation, is to help it transform from a place where people simply turn up and do their job to a place where they want to do their very best as individuals and as a team.
Over the past thirteen years, Wayne has built up an impressive list of clients such as Bunnings, Harvey Norman, Telstra, ANSTO, Commonwealth Bank, John Holland and Coates Hire but you will never catch him resting on his laurels.
Wayne is an innovator who continues to refine his programs in pursuit of best practice methodology. Just as he did during his legendary rugby career, Wayne stays ahead of the game by applying the latest research in psychology and neuroscience so his clients get the best possible outcomes.
Wayne was a truly captivating speaker who was both dynamic and entertaining. He made an immediate connection with the audience by relating his stories and experiences to add context to important leadership concepts. He spent significant preparation time with me ensuring his content fitted the audience and our needs. The feedback received from attendees was excellent and Wayne definitely set the pace for the conference, we couldn't have chosen better."
Scott Sanford (Conference coordinator NSW Department of Education and Communities)
We booked Wayne to work with our senior management team in a full day seminar and once the session began, Wayne immediately connected with the team and was able to maintain a high level of engagement throughout the whole day. His ability to understand where the team wanted to go and then provide powerful thought leadership through a balance of appropriate management theory, practical exercises and life experience stories was exceptional. Every team member took home some very useful insights to help them get better results from their own teams."
David Goodfellow (GM Elders Rural Services)
We found Wayne's session at our annual conference in Vanuatu to be outstanding. In fact all 152 attendees came away with a powerful set of tools and strategies to overcome the self-doubt and obstacles that arise when striving to achieve personal and professional goals. He was awesome and received a standing ovation from the audience."
Matt Adams (Director of Sales and Marketing- Niagra Therapy Products)