as featured in
Helping returning veterans rediscover their purpose
Purpose is something that as humans, we can lose and the loss of it can cause us to lose much more. How important is it to be resilient if and when this happens? Watch Heston speak at the recent TEDx event hosted in Cooks Hill.
The Footy Show
Heston talks leadership and high performance with Brad Fittler, Andrew Johns and Billy Slater on the Sunday Footy Show.
Public speaking
Find out more about Heston's public speaking and how to book him for your next event.
heston's campaign for accountability
Award-wining journalist Liam Bartlett presents this 7NEWS Spotlight special investigation into the four year campaign by Heston to successfully hold the ABC accountable.
“If we want a higher performance, we need a higher purpose"
– Heston Russell
[Extract from Author's Note]
I’ve written this book with the select segments of my life and career that I hope may provide value for anyone reading, regardless of your background or ambitions. All these stories are from my personal – first hand – experiences, to the best of my recollection. This is not commentary or the writings of a journalist. Here you will read things that would probably be better left out if I wanted to preserve my own reputation or save embarrassment. However, many of these experiences taught me ‘what not to do’ – lessons that I wish I learnt from someone else instead. Perhaps reading them here may make that difference for someone else.
For the young or aspiring military leader – this book should provide some insights into my accounts of learning, living, loving, succeeding and failing in ways that I hope may help you to develop faster, stronger, smarter and avoid the mistakes that I made.
For the person reading this who is or knows someone who is struggling with any part of themselves – like I did for so long in accepting and understanding my sexuality – I hope this book can bring the same opportunities.
I hope that this book may help anyone to achieve what I have now learnt is the greatest strength of any and all leadership – authenticity – learning to accept yourself and lead your own life.
Heston's STORY
Heston has already accomplished more adventures and achievements than many may live to experience. His life has required him to constantly push past his own perceived limitations and all the labels that society has tried to apply. Serving as an Officer within the Special Forces, he deployed on combat operations around the world with some of the most magnificent military fighting forces of our time. This has required him to lead by example and learn just how far the human body, head and heart can truly be tested.
He then went on to lead the selection and training of these elite individuals and teams and has regularly applied some of these learnings into supporting championship sporting teams, corporate executives and people from all walks of life.
Heston has also experienced mental health struggles including suicidal ideation in his adjustment to life outside of the military, finding new purpose and understanding his identity outside of this. He has made it his mission to help break down the stigmas surrounding these issues by fiercely advocating for physical & mental health initiatives and continuing to speak out about his own experiences.
Living by a daily-renewable contract, abiding by core values and appreciating that the difference between high-performance and elite is mindset, not skill-set, are key to Heston's philosophy on personal and collective performance.
Heston's Values: Responsibility - Authenticity - Integrity - Leadership - Service (the RAILS)
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Military Career
Highlights Include:
building barry's australia & singapore
In 2015 I was posted on exchange to the USA Special Forces for a year. Within the first month of my arrival I linked up with some friends in LA and took my first Barry’s Bootcamp class at the West Hollywood Studio - what I was to learn was the OG Barry’s studio opened in 1998. That Barry’s class was actually the first time I had sprinted since snapping my Patella Tendon in March 2014, and it’s safe to say that I was very impressed with the Barry’s concept and culture - the committed and likeminded people that it brought together in and out of the Red Room.
voice of a veteran
In 2020 Heston founded Voice Of A Veteran, a platform to better support the modern Veteran community, instigating action and promoting changes within the government systems designed to support Veterans. A key focus of Heston's work is to help the wider Australian community better understand the value of Veterans and common issues transitioning to civilian life.
Veteran Support Force
In 2021 Heston founded the ACNC registered charity organisation Veteran Support Force. VSF's mission is to support and create positive, long term, and measurable impact on the lives of all current and future Veterans, and the people around them, throughout the conduct of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
AVP
After gaining unique access and insights into so many areas of Government politics and departmental bureaucracy, Heston decided to form the Australian Values Party (AVP) and run for the Senate in the 2022 Federal election. After an unsuccessful result, the AVP has since shut down and Heston now applies his efforts and energy outside of seeking to be in politics himself.
Election scam exposed
The Veteran Games is a proactive health initiative designed to address key findings from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, and key failings within the existing Veteran support systems. After nearly two years of planning and development, Heston founded the Veteran Games in 2023 as a Charity event through Veteran Support Force. The testimonials from our competitors, sponsors, volunteers and family members in attendance were overwhelming, and reinforced the need for the Veteran Games to become an annual event in the contemporary Veteran calendar.
heston sued the abc - and won
After the ABC published false and defamatory articles calling Heston and his Platoon war criminals, he launched a campaign to hold them accountable for their lies. In October 2023, the Federal Court ruled against the ABC, and two of its journalists, awarding victory to Heston in the first every Public Interest Defamation Trial in Australia's history.
author
Heston has a passion for writing. He has created some children's books with his sausage dog son, Copper, and also now released his Memoir - Forging The Will To Fight. Check them out in the shop.
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