Legacy

by James Kerr

rugby, like business and like much of life, is played primarily in the mind.

Exceptional success requires exceptional circumstances.

Let someone else praise your virtues.

SWEEP THE SHEDS Never be too big to do the small things that need to be done

Successful leaders balance pride with humility: absolute pride in performance; total humility before the magnitude of the task.

The challenge is to always improve, to always get better, even when you are the best. Especially when you are the best.

While the country is still watching replays and schoolkids lie in bed dreaming of All Blacks’ glory, the All Blacks themselves are tidying up after themselves. Sweeping the sheds. Doing it properly. So no one else has to. Because no one looks after the All Blacks. The All Blacks look after themselves.

A collection of talented individuals without personal discipline will ultimately and inevitably fail. Character triumphs over talent.

Only by knowing yourself can you become an effective leader.

‘Winning takes talent,’ John Wooden would say. ‘To repeat it takes character.’

Collective character is vital to success. Focus on getting the culture right; the results will follow.

Performance = Capability + Behaviour

So, if you develop your people, your business is going to be more successful. It’s just a matter of creating an environment where that becomes a happening every day.’ Every day?

Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

Our values decide our character. Our character decides our value. Values provide the bedrock of belief.

‘What is my job on the planet? What is it that needs doing, that I know something about, that probably won’t happen unless I take responsibility for it?’ Buckminster Fuller

Let the questioning continue; the ability of the person is in asking questions. A culture of asking and re-asking fundamental questions cuts away unhelpful beliefs in order to achieve clarity of execution. Humility allows us to ask a simple question: how can we do this better?

Never be too big to do the small things that need to be done.

Leaders create leaders.

Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. It is quick to apply, and useful for everyday decision-making.

Momentum swings faster than we think.

Go for the Gap When you’re on top of your game, change your game. —— I orea te tuatara, ka puta ki waho. When poked at with a stick, the tuatara will emerge. (A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions.)

‘for he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother’.

Leaders connect personal meaning to a higher purpose to create belief and a sense of direction.

If our values and beliefs are aligned with the values and beliefs of the organization, then we will work harder towards its success. If not, our individual motivation and purpose will suffer, and so will the organization.

‘Humans, by their nature, seek purpose – a cause greater and more enduring than themselves.’

‘The goal was never to beat the competition or to make a lot of money. It was to do the greatest thing possible, or even a little greater.’

‘people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it’.

If you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat and tears.’

‘He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.’

‘All I was doing,’ says legendary former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick, ‘was trying to make it a better team to pass on to the next generation. And in saying that,’ he continues, ‘the underlying word would be winning. We have to continue that legacy.’ They have to play a bigger game.

Contributing to the success was the implementation of a leadership group . . . The players gained a great understanding and respect for each other as they developed. They grew to understand they had similar challenges as international rugby players and these challenges were better handled collectively than individually. This brought togetherness – they were ‘one’. They . . . went to ‘war’ for each other.

‘My army won because they knew what they were fighting for,’ said Oliver Cromwell, ‘and loved what they knew.’

‘The best sports people in the world practice more than they play,’

To be good at something takes practice, and lots of it.’

Excellence is a process of evolution, of cumulative learning, of incremental improvement.

‘Always challenging the way we do things, both as an individual and as a team – how can we do things better?’

one of the pillars of the All Blacks environment is that it is devoted to learning; the management are students of the game, constantly looking for the edge.

‘Just because it’s common sense,’ he says of the process, ‘doesn’t mean it’s common practice.’

‘Races are won by a fraction of a second,’ wrote John Wooden. ‘National Championship games by a single point. That fraction of a second or a single point is the result of relevant details performed along the way.’

‘It’s not the mountains ahead that wear you out,’ said Muhammad Ali, ‘it’s the pebble in your shoe.’

The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening.

‘We need people who will work hard and work hard for their brother,’ says Gilbert Enoka. ‘We know that is a pretty good formula – because that way you get contribution.’

For the Strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

‘It’s about thinking about the team’s interest before yourself . . . if it’s not good for the team, don’t say it and don’t do it.’

‘For everyone to go in the same direction,’ says Andrew Mehrtens, ‘you’ve got to have strong links in the team. If there are weak links then you will have guys going off in different directions and that’s no good for anyone.’

John Wooden said that a player who makes the team great is better than a great player. The All Blacks say: ‘No one is bigger than the team.’

‘I challenge myself to be the best basketball player every moment I’m playing the game,’ Michael Jordon tells MVP.com.

Aim for the highest cloud, so that if you miss it, you will hit a lofty mountain.

The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening.