Fans of the Victorian Football League’s Fitzroy Football Club once watched as Wayne Linton sped down the field, chasing down the other team’s attackers. Today, people all over the world rely on his skills not as a footballer, but as a psychotherapist and life mentor for individuals seeking to break free of destructive habits, patterns of thinking, and mental health issues. Since the end of his career in football, Wayne Linton has been on a decades-long journey to finding his life’s calling, going from teaching at a secondary school to eventually starting his own psychotherapy practice and collaborating with global leadership consultancy Beyond Unity.
After playing his final football game in 1978, Wayne spent an entire two decades as a secondary school teacher from 1979 to 2006. In the midst of his teaching career, Linton developed a passion for psychotherapy and mental health treatment, which led him to study and complete a Diploma of Psychotherapy. He then went on to start his own private psychotherapy practice at the Colac Hospital in Victoria in 1998. He received a steady stream of patients, helping them with issues such as addictions, depression, and anxiety. He became especially interested in cases that were deemed too difficult to help, empathizing with and counseling individuals suffering from the most challenging mental health issues.
His work in psychotherapy led to him also developing an interest in the topic of leadership, which was connected to his existing knowledge of psychology and human behavior. This interest led to private consultation sessions with Steve Tappin, CEO of Beyond Unity, in 2017. This initial connection eventually blossomed into a full-blown partnership, with Steve and Wayne collaborating on the leadership event “Global Women of Inspiration,” which was held in Maui, Hawaii in the same year they met.
Since their initial collaboration, Steve and Wayne have held leadership events in locales as diverse as the United States, the United Kingdom, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Wayne’s native country of Australia. In Mongolia, they held an event for the country’s 30 leading female CEOs. Through these events, Steve and Wayne assist global and local CEOs with their personal and business performance, teaching them to be effective leaders who transform their company’s internal cultures.
In addition to these projects, Wayne has also co-authored a book, The Awareness Code, with Steve. Influenced by Eastern and Western philosophies, the book analyzes leadership traits, concepts, and mindsets, drawing a distinction between negative and positive leadership and teaching business leaders to be more aware of their own personal leadership styles. Wayne also co-created the BIG (Beyond Incredible Group) Program, a development program for current and upcoming leaders. The program has counted members from countries such as Zambia, Italy, the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Brazil, and Mongolia among its ranks.
Wayne Linton’s life is an illustration of the countless possibilities someone can explore at the end of one career and the start of another. From a professional athlete to a psychotherapist with a global reach, Wayne has found new interests and passions to pursue throughout his life, providing a blueprint for professionals who wish to explore new possibilities in a new field or industry.
