ADVISORY & EXECUTION SUPPORT
FOR SPORTS, FITNESS & LIFESTYLE BUSINESSES
Working with owners, boards, and leadership teams on execution.
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What We Do
Global Sports Advisory is the independent advisory practice of John Gearing.
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John Gearing works directly with owners, boards, and leadership teams in sports, fitness, and lifestyle businesses on strategy, execution, and international growth. The focus is on decision quality, execution risk, and organisational effectiveness at senior levels, particularly where complexity and scale increase the cost of error.
ADVISORY FOCUS
CEO & Executive Decision Support
Direct advisory support to CEOs and senior executives navigating high-stakes decisions, transitions, and inflection points. Acting as an independent sounding board where clarity and judgment matter more than consensus.
Board & Governance Advisory
Independent operating perspective for boards and shareholders on strategy, execution, and leadership effectiveness. Focused on governance that improves outcomes rather than process or optics.
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International Expansion & Partnerships
Advisory on international growth, including market entry strategy, partner selection, governance, and control. Designed to avoid the common failure modes of expansion: misaligned partners, weak economics, and loss of operational control.
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Operational Efficiency
Targeted work to identify and remove friction, waste, and structural inefficiencies that undermine execution, accountability, and performance.​
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WHO JOHN WORKS WITH
Founder-led and PE-backed businesses.
Boards and owners requiring independent operating judgment.
Leadership teams scaling across markets, brands, or geographies.
ABOUT JOHN GEARING
John Gearing is an operator and advisor with senior leadership experience in global sports and lifestyle businesses across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.
His background includes executive roles with Adidas, VF Corporation, and Kontoor Brands, with responsibility for market entry, brand turnarounds, and large-scale operational growth. Today, he works independently with owners and boards on strategy, execution, and governance.
John holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, with executive education in leadership at INSEAD and private market investments at Saïd Business School. His formal training covers leadership, governance, capital allocation, and private-market decision-making.
John is the author of The CEO Mirage, which examines the leadership myths, incentives, and distortions that quietly derail businesses. The thinking behind the book underpins his advisory work.
More on the book at www.ceomirage.com
CONTACT
For advisory enquiries: gsa@johnbgearing.com