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DNA Resilience
DNA Resilience is a genetic test for individuals looking to cope better under stressful or demanding conditions, or lead more effectively in business, sport and life.
DNA Resilience can help enhance your mental, emotional and physical health, and inform lifestyle strategies that enable you to live up to your fullest potential, overcome stress and excel in everyday life, from work to home
At thirteen, Richard Sutton was told he had limited aptitude across the board. He should consider a practical career. He didn't even know what that meant.
He chose to reject it.
That decision set him on a path from a naval base in Saldanha — where a single moment during a Springbok match changed how he spoke to himself — to the highest levels of sport and business.
But the work he does today isn't about motivation. It's about what happens to people under pressure.
Because most professionals don't break. They narrow.
Thinking tightens. Perspective shortens. Emotional control slips. And over time, performance — no matter how experienced — becomes inconsistent.
For more than 25 years, Richard has worked at the intersection of elite sport science and human leadership, building systems that expand capacity under pressure. He is the Founder of The Performance Code and Director of SuttonHealth, advising executives, teams, and organisations operating in complex, high-stakes environments.
His work has taken him from Olympic gold-medal campaigns and world No. 1 athletes to leadership teams at organisations including Boston Consulting Group, Capitec, FNB, and Primedia — helping them improve decision quality, emotional control, and consistency when it matters most.
He is a four-time bestselling author of Stressproof, The Stress Code, Thrive, and Shift Happens — a body of work that reframes resilience as capacity: the ability to think clearly, stay stable, and sustain performance under load.
Alongside this, he developed the world's first applied genetic framework for performance and created The Stress Code App — a real-time diagnostic platform used inside organisations to measure and build resilience where it counts.
His Shift Happens podcast brings this work to a global audience — long-form conversations with CEOs, athletes, artists, and scientists that go beyond the achievement to unpack what actually happened: the moment the narrative broke, the tools that made the shift possible, and the lessons that transfer directly to anyone navigating pressure and change.
Richard's mission is precise: to help people expand how they think, respond, and perform under pressure — and to prove that extraordinary is built, not born.
He was written off at thirteen. Everything since has been the answer.
Resilience can help you to unlock your fullest potential; it is a consummate skill that can be developed and grown throughout your life. This book reveals all the practical tools you need: