The New Zealand All Blacks national rugby team is regarded as the most successful team across all

sports,
with a win rate of nearly 80 percent and holding the number one world ranking for almost a decade. What
sets them apart is their emphasis on building strong mindsets, focus and a resilient attitude. They
encapsulated their culture into fifteen principles, representing the fifteen players on a rugby team.

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1. Sweep the Sheds – Be humble

As a new year unfolds, we become hopeful and optimistic that this year will see better days than the last
two, and that there’s light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. The most powerful lesson from the ‘annus
horribilis’ of 2020-2021, is that things do not go according to plan. The rate of change and disruptive
shocks are a part of a ‘new normal’ and survival depends on our ability to adapt and challenge our existing
practices – from running remote teams to closing billion-dollar deals over Zoom.

Whether you’re a leader in the airline industry or a vaccine-producing pharmaceutical giant – at both ends
of the outlook spectrum – one trait will be more crucial than ever to succeed and thrive – humility.

Many people are talking about how humbling 2020 was and how blessed and grateful we are to have
survived its turbulence. As leaders, specifically, humility took on a critical importance as we navigated our
teams through a global pandemic and economic slowdown. John Baldoni from the Harvard Business
Review summarized it as ‘a sense of humility is essential to leadership because it authenticates a person’s
humanity’.

With a pandemic that created physical distance between leaders and team members, humble leaders
found ways to be approachable, and be seen as “one of us” – inspiring their team members to trust and
follow them. This type of leader fosters a culture of collaboration and creates bonds of loyalty.

On the other hand, there were leaders who amplified stress and anxiety among team members by
reminding others of their leadership position and pulling rank to threaten their teams to work late nights
and weekends or risk losing their jobs during this recession.

Humility can be misunderstood. Some consider it as a weakness rather than a strength. Humility simply
means understanding your strengths and weaknesses and recognizing the strengths of others. It means
accepting what we do not know, sharing it with our team members and being open to other views.

When leaders demonstrate that they know they’re not perfect and don’t have all the answers, they create
an inclusive culture where everyone feels their ideas are valued. This inspires confidence, empowers team
members to be creative, and ensure that the team is focused on a common goal rather than jockeying for
individual position.

Sweep the shed – the All Blacks set this as the first principle – their prime directive: never be too big to
do the small things that need to be done. As rugby, like our teams at work, is a team sport, even superstars
like Richie McCaw took turns to “clean the changing rooms” as a way to stay grounded. What are the day-
to-day tasks that your team members do that you can take on, to reduce the hierarchical distance?
Examples can include making client calls, completing contact reports, or even cleaning up the pantry after
eating together.

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There are many other ways that we can embrace humility in our leadership and build up our teams’
confidence and energy levels. Consider this a starting point and let’s keep the dialogue as we hold each
other accountable to build our leadership skills further.

Kaore te kumara e korero mo tona ake reka – the sweet potato does not talk of its sweetness

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2. Go for the Gap – Never Get Complacent

When you’re on top of your game, change your game.

Many of us know the story of how Netflix disrupted the video rental service behemoth, Blockbuster with
their DVD-by-mail business. What is less known was the story of their gutsy 2011 pivot. Nine years after
their IPO and having been a Wall Street darling after increasing their share price by ten-fold in six years,
they decided to transform their business and move from renting DVDs delivered by mail on a per-title
basis, to an ‘unlimited content’ online streaming model. The CEO felt that DVD was a sunset industry and
younger consumers preferred to access content online. Their loyal DVD customers complained angrily,
and investors punished them for shrinking their revenue-per-customer – their share price crashed by over
70%. But Reed Hastings, the CEO was determined to make a sudden, massive change in the business
model rather than through incremental changes. He noted that many industry category leaders – from
AOL dial-up, Borders bookstores, and Nokia phones, never managed to maintain their leadership positions
when structural shifts happened. Today, Netflix is worth over twelve-times the peak before that 2011
crash.

In contrast, in Malaysia, for over twenty years, Astro dominated the cable and satellite pay television
market. Every competitor, from MegaTV, FineTV, HyppTV, ABN Xcess – tried to take on Astro but were
crushed. Astro had the best content exclusively – from English Premier League soccer, TVB Cantonese
dramas, HBO, Discovery, and other top channels. From 2015, internet television and video-on-demand
services started appearing. Astro was the first to launch Astro-on-the-Go, but they treated it as a side
offering. Customers needed to have a satellite TV subscription before accessing Astro-on-the-Go. But
pure-play video-on-demand services like Netflix, iflix, and Viu were drawing younger consumers away
from clunky cable and satellite services. Why do we still need satellite dishes and set-top-boxes when
mobile phones now have more computing power? Why wait for TV shows lined up in a channel’s schedule,
when consumers want to watch whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want. Investors
saw subscription pay television as a sunset industry and Astro’s share price has plummeted by over 70%
since 2015. Yet, till today, despite announcing their ‘digital transformation’ programme, moving to cloud
computing and ‘end-to-end agile’, implementing robotic process automation and other Industrial
Revolution 4.0 buzzwords, Astro are unwilling to disrupt their core business – the bulk of their revenues
still today come from satellite dishes, set-top-boxes and channels.

There are far too many stories of industry leaders falling off their pedestal because they hung on to
business models that made them successful in the past, especially in the mobile telecommunications
industry. One common factor has been the myopic focus on quarterly and annual revenue and profit
targets and their unwillingness to move away from the comfortable business model cash cows and commit
wholeheartedly to a new direction which would require large investments, initial losses, and most
importantly, unlearning lessons from the past and putting in the hard work and having the humility to re-
learn new skills from scratch.

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Humans are wired to prefer stability, predictability, and reliability. It feels safe. But in today’s volatile,
uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, seeking stability is the riskier option. If are not willing to disrupt
ourselves first, on our own terms – many players are lurking on the sidelines ready to pounce and take
over what we have worked hard to build and maintain. Taxi drivers and taxi companies have learned the
hard way. As have newspapers and traditional media companies. Why is it that upstart Tesla is leading the
electric and self-driving car revolution and not giants Volkswagen or Toyota? Why aren’t ExxonMobil and
Shell leading the renewable industry revolution? Why are none of the largest hospital companies market
leaders in tele-medicine? Why is the field of virtual meetings led by Zoom, and not any of the giant mobile
telecommunications companies who espouse human connection as their DNA?

Even great ‘innovators’ are not immune. Apple led the digital music revolution from CDs and mp3 files to
iTunes and the famed iPod. Yet, after liberating consumers from having to pay $15 for a CD album of 15
songs to being able to buy individual songs at 99 cents and stored on an elegant device, they missed the
shift to unlimited music streaming and have not be able to catch up to Spotify in the last decade.

And what will happen when your industry is forced to make way for a future technology that can be
deployed at a much faster pace, with deeper customer personalisation, and ten times cheaper? Will we
be ready to lead and change our game while we are on top, or dig in our heels and be forced out by more
nimble competitors that do not even exist today?

Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei - Aim for the highest cloud so that if you miss it,
you will hit a lofty mountain.

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3. Play with Purpose

Nearly two-thirds of employees surveyed by McKinsey & Company said that the COVID-19 pandemic
has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life and half of them were reconsidering the kind of work
they do. Millennials are three times more likely than others to reevaluate work if they cannot connect
their work to a strong sense of personal purpose.

Technological advancements of the twenty-first century have empowered consumers, employees and
citizens with unlimited information and ease of comparison. Companies can no longer win customers over
with an advertisement or a sales pitch. Most consumers will look for independent reviews and compare
each product or service with the many other options available. Governments are no longer able to dictate
the information that their citizens are exposed to as censorship tools get easier to override. Employees
too have many ways to compare different jobs, salaries, bosses and work cultures. With friends constantly
sharing on social media, there is a heightened sense of ‘fear of missing out’, or FOMO. Am I missing out
on a better opportunity or experience elsewhere?

Leaders therefore must adapt. Amidst shorter attention spans from a dizzying array of information, leaders
who help employees connect their work to a powerful purpose provides the anchor that grounds their
teams and unleashes higher levels of energy and engagement. When employees feel that their sense of
personal purpose is aligned with the organization’s purpose, they become more engaged and productive,
healthier, more resilient, and are more willing the recommend the company to others.

But many senior leaders have not given much thought to the individual purpose and values of each of
their team members. The topic is intensely personal, uncomfortable to discuss, let alone to actively
encourage. When it comes to building a ‘purpose-driven organisation’, most leaders only focus on the
company’s mission and objectives – to be an industry leader, to achieve a certain revenue or profit target,
or to help create an abstract ‘better future’ for consumers. Yet, they do not work on helping each team
member to relate this big corporate purpose to them as individuals. True champions see this as a
competitive opportunity. They make the time and effort to help employees connect the corporate mission
with their personal goals.

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One framework that can help to guide this conversation is the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which roughly
translates to the reason for getting up in the morning. We can define a powerful personal purpose by
finding activities or ‘work’ that lies at the intersection of where our personal passions and talents converge
with what the world needs and is willing to pay for.

The first element of Ikigai is ‘what are we good at’ – what are the skills, talents, and education that we bring
to work. Next, which of these attributes are the ones that are valued – ‘what you get paid to do’. If we have
skills and talents that are not marketable or commercialisable, then they are likely only hobbies or passions.
Similarly, if we are given a job and we don’t develop the skills necessary to do the job well, we will not
likely be able to retain that job and become successful.

The third Ikigai element is ‘what do we love to do’ – how would we spend our time if we did not have to
worry about money? While this may conjure images of just lazing on a beach, most of us will not likely be
able to do nothing day in and day out, every month and every year. Leaders who engage their employees
gain insights into the personal motivations of their employees. Helping them prioritise the different
interests through the different Ikigai elements will draw out their purpose. Activities that may be
pleasurable but are not valued by others cannot be sustained. The satisfaction will be short-lived and
could lead to feeling useless.

The final element is ‘what the world needs.’ The test would be issues that a team member cares a lot about,
that they read extensively on it, talk to people about it and may even be an active participant with relevant
non-government organisations. Examples could be literacy and education, public health, climate change
or poverty. It is possible to connect personal causes with corporate missions. For example, improving
internet connectivity can contribute to education and job creation, and working on cost efficiency projects
contributes to reducing resource consumption and lowering carbon footprint.

Leaders that encourage their team members to pursue projects, assignments, and roles where they see
how it fits into at least two or three of the Ikigai elements will build teams that are more committed to
their work. Team members should also be encouraged to share each other’s Ikigai so that they develop an
appreciation for individual values and motivations.

Aaron Hurst sums it up nicely: “purpose is not a noun; it is a verb. It is about how we work. We experience
purpose when we do something that’s greater than ourselves. We experience purpose when we push
ourselves and grow. We experience purpose as part of a community – a team”.

Ko te kaupapa o te koiora he kaupapa whai take - The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

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4. Pass the ball

It wasn’t long ago that many business leaders, particularly in quantitative fields like banking and finance,
engineering and technology, aviation, or pharmaceutical industries viewed terms like empathy and
vulnerability or trust and caring as fundamentally incompatible and irreconcilable with the serious and
technical world of business.

The COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 has created a seismic shift in business leadership. The traditional
business approach of setting strategy and business plans and applying disciplined, six-sigma operational
execution does not work when entire markets and industries are turned upside down, plans are thrown
out of the window and teams must learn to be agile, flexible, and curious. Top-down directive and
command-and-control leadership must make way for a coaching, empathetic and empowering style to
bring out the best in team members. Leaders that share the responsibility will create inclusive teams that
are not paralyzed by the fear of the unknown but embrace the opportunities of doing work differently
and creatively and become resilient in the face of extreme stress, pressure and frequent setbacks and
failure, and not succumb to burnout, depression, and debilitating anxiety.

While leaders now accept this new reality, the conversation is just getting started, and many are still falling
short in changing how they manage and lead teams. The All-Blacks principle of ‘Pass the ball’ speaks to
the importance of empathetic leadership and a coaching style that lifts each team member to become
future leaders themselves. But we must be careful that it doesn’t get too abstracted or contained to a
surface-level discussion. Unfortunately, the risk is that the conversations just stop at cries of “Be more
empathetic!”. We need to take it a step forward and recognize that empathy and coaching are technical
skills that can be learned and applied systematically.

Four specific areas that leaders can pass the ball to nurture the potential of their team members are
credibility, reliability, authenticity, and alignment of interest. These four areas will help team members to
gain the trust and respect of their colleagues and counterparts and set the foundation for their own
leadership journey.

Someone is credible if they have the knowledge, experience and familiarity to perform a particular role or
task well. This is projected from their past roles, lessons learned and insights that they share. Nurturing
credibility requires us to create opportunities for team members to take ownership of projects. Rather
than being directive or prescriptive, use one-on-one sessions to guide them through reflective questions
like “how are you making decisions?”, “what experience are you applying in this situation?”, “how are you
learning in this area”, and finally – “how can I help you?”

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Someone is reliable if they do what they say they are going to do. They hold themselves accountable for
things when they go well and when they go wrong. Nurturing reliability requires frequent feedback and
discussions on how expectations were aligned at the start and how the outcome of each team member’s
project will affect the collective team goal. If there are recurring missed deadlines or repeated mistakes,
leaders need to focus on problem-solving rather than finger pointing. One way is to use more ‘how’
questions like ‘how can we avoid this from recurring?’ rather than ‘why’ questions like ‘why did this
happen?’ which can stir defensiveness.

Someone is authentic when they say what they mean and mean what they say. They are easy to get to
know and they are clear about what they care about, what matters to them and what motivates them.
Authenticity is best encouraged through role-modelling vulnerability. Leaders should ask themselves
whether their responses are aligned with how they truly think and feel? Do their reactions in the workplace
match their reactions outside? Do they share enough about what matters to them and what motivates
them with their colleagues?

Finally, someone has strong alignment of interest when they are seen to act in the interest of the team
collective, sharing credit and empowering their colleagues. Leaders can help nurture this alignment by
role-modelling and encouraging everyone to use “we” rather than “I” when achievements are discussed.
Next is the generosity with distributing praise and even highlighting positive feedback when pointing out
areas for improvement. Leaders can then encourage each team member to articulate their personal goals
and values and discuss how their work scope and tasks can contribute to these personal goals either from
specific skills-building or networking opportunities.

Ultimately, building and nurturing leaders comes down to giving team members the space to speak up,
propose initiatives, and reflect and learn by themselves without feedback being spoon-fed to them. Great
leaders shine the spotlight on their people, not themselves. They take complete responsibility for
everything that goes wrong and give their team the credit for everything that goes right.

Waiho ma te tangata e mihi. -Leave your praises for someone else

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5. Create a Learning Environment

When AirAsia X was launched in 2007, then CEO of Singapore Airlines dismissed the viability of a long-
haul low-cost airline model because he noted that, unlike short-haul flights, everyone needs meals,
checked baggage and in-flight entertainment for long-haul flights. Yet, once AirAsia X proved that a large
greenfield opportunity existed, Singapore Airlines swiftly responded and launched their own long-haul
low-cost airline, Scoot. Innovations developed by AirAsia X like Quiet Zone or new routes launched were
also quickly replicated.

In May 2015, Netflix’s CEO, Reed Hastings announced that they would only focus on streaming video
and not offer download services. While streaming is more convenient for consumers with high-quality
internet bandwidth, it was a barrier for emerging markets subscribers that only had mobile services with
limited data quota. iflix from Malaysia pioneered a download-and-watch offline feature later that year
after solving two challenges: the engineering complexity of video compression to enable a movie to be
conveniently downloaded under one minute with only a 3G connection and securing permissions from
Hollywood studios. This feature accelerated iflix’s adoption in Southeast Asia. It got Netflix’ attention, and
in a year, the video-on-demand giant raced to introduce their version of download-and-view offline.

Today, most business innovations, product launches or creative ideas can easily be replicated by
competitors, especially larger ones with deeper pockets. Snapchat’s successful ‘transient’ social media
content attracted Facebook and Instagram to copy with their ‘stories’ feature. The only competitive
advantage today is the speed and agility to keep innovating and to not rest on the laurels of past successes.
At the heart of this capability is whether an organisation can create a conducive learning environment and
culture, where team members are able to speak up openly, contribute ideas outside of their daily work
scope, and organisational courage to move beyond prior successes and keep reinventing their core. The
following are three principles that guide leaders to build a learning culture and infuse a growth mindset in
their teams.

Call out ‘knower’ language in team meetings and rephrase ‘knower’ statements to ‘learner’ statements on
the spot. Knowers claim to know how things are, how they ought to be, and what needs to be done.
They give a lot of orders and ask very few questions. A Learner, by contrast, is curious and humble. They
are more inquisitive than directive. They consider other perspectives instead of imposing their own.
Typical knower statements include ‘this is the way it should be done. I’ve been in this industry for twenty

10
years’ or ‘that idea will not work here, we’ve already tried it before’. Leaders should encourage all team
members to call out these phrases irrespective of hierarchy and get the person to rephrase it in a learner
language: “from my experience, this is one way to address this situation. What other views should we
consider?”. Feedback is most effective when it is given on the spot.

The next step to foster a learning environment is enabling psychological safety. That’s when employees
can take risks at work without being punished. When teams feel psychologically safe, they are willing to
talk freely about their mistakes, and learn to prevent them and re-think the practices that cause them.
When they don’t feel psychologically safe, they hide their errors and more prone to repeating them. The
number one way that leaders shut down psychological safety inadvertently is when they say, “don’t just
come to me with problems. Come to me with a proposed solution.” Leaders may want their teams to be
constructive and not just whine and complain. But if people can only speak up when they have a solution,
you will never hear about the biggest problems that are too complex for one person to solve.

The third principle is to proactively encourage new ideas from the team and commit the resources to
implement the best ones. Leaders should audit all the key product or service features in the business and
all the strategic initiatives outlined in the annual business plan to see how many were initiated not from
the top leadership but from front-line teams. A true learning culture will blossom only when everyone
sees real examples of how ideas can come from anywhere in the organisation and be taken seriously by
the top decision-makers. Ideas will rarely be brought up naturally. Leading teams now use specific events
like quarterly hackathons where voluntary teams from different areas get together over 48-72 hours to
work on a business challenge to unleash curiosity and passion within the organisation. For this to be
sustained, leaders must commit to take the rough prototypes, refine and then roll out the best ones.
Google’s famous ’20-percent’ time is another way companies can foster learning and creativity at work by
giving employees the space and resource to experiment.

There are many other ways to nurture a learning and growth mindset. They are all predicated on leaders
actively creating the opportunities for team members to speak up, take chances without fear of failure,
and having the courage and vulnerability to have team members challenge current practices and strategies
before external competitors do.

Poipoia te kakano Kia puawai - Nurture the seed and it will blossom.

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6. No Dickheads

As this article is being written, the incident of AirAsia Thailand’s CEO being rude and cutting off his staff
at a virtual townhall announcing AirAsia’s acquisition of Gojek’s Thailand operations is ‘viralling’ through
the internet as tempestuously as the attitude he publicly displayed. If you missed it, this article provides a
good summary: marketing-interactive.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s founder, who also received tremendous public backlash for seemingly
condoning his colleague’s abusive behavior by smiling, has tried to explain Tassapon Bijleveld’s actions as
an airline CEO who is under tremendous stress after working tirelessly to save the airline that has been
ravaged by the pandemic, although Tony is clear that he is not justifying this behavior. Needless to say,
the public are overwhelmingly rejecting this explanation because airline CEOs are not the only one under
extreme duress, but we don’t see the restauranteur or hotelier who has had to shut down operations and
retrench staff, or medical personnel working for 48-72 hours non-stop for months, lose control and abuse
their employees.

Aggressive and bullying leadership, or as the All-Blacks call it, ‘dickheads’, that foster a hostile and
intimidating culture will lead to poor team performance. When teams feel psychologically safe, they are
willing to talk freely about their mistakes, and learn to prevent them and re-think the practices that cause
them. When they don’t feel psychologically safe, they hide their errors and more prone to repeating them.

At Google, the single biggest predictor of team high performance was not the talent on the team, not the
meaning and purpose that the teams experienced at work, but whether team leaders created psychological
safety. When this existed, the team members let their ideas and suggestions fly. When it didn’t, they bit
their tongues. You can think about psychological safety as a critical resource for preventing errors, for
promoting innovation, for creating a sense of inclusion. The challenge leaders face is ‘how do we create
psychological safety?’

What’s the number one way that leaders shut down psychological safety inadvertently? When they say,
“don’t just come to me with problems. Come to me with your proposed solution”. Think about a boss in your
career that regularly said that. How many of you have been told this by your bosses, or perhaps you’ve
even told it to your team members?

This leadership stance is understandable as leaders want their team members to be constructive, and not
just whine and complain. However, this is a dangerous philosophy. If people can only speak up when they

12
have a solution, you will never hear about the biggest problems that are too complex for any one person
to solve. The foundation of building psychological safety is making it ok for people to raise problems, even
if they don’t have a solution yet. This empowers employees that detect problems to speak up, even if they
lack to authority, the expertise, or the resources, to do something about the problem.

Besides clear bullying or abusive behavior as demonstrated by the AirAsia Thailand CEO, other more
subtle forms of ‘being a dickhead’ that undermines psychological safety include a leader’s biases and
prejudices.

Bias (“not meaning it”): Often called unconscious bias, it comes from the part of our mind that jumps to
conclusions, usually without our even being aware of it. These conclusions and assumptions aren’t always
wrong, but they often are, especially when they reflect stereotypes (e.g., gender, ethnicity, academic
qualifications). We do not have to be the helpless victims of our brains. We can learn to slow down and
question our biases.

Prejudice (“meaning it”): Unfortunately, when we stop to think, we don’t always come up with the best
answer. Sometimes we rationalize our biases, and they harden into prejudices. We justify our biases rather
than challenging their flawed assumptions and stereotypes.

Bullying (“being mean”): The intentional, repeated use of status or power to harm or humiliate others.
Sometimes bullying comes with prejudice, but often it’s an instinctive behaviour. There may be no thought
or ideology at all behind it. It can just be a plan or just an animal instinct to dominate or to coerce.

No leader wants to intentionally create a work environment where they can coerce everyone and demand
conformity. The problem is not a lack of good intentions. It is that we often do not want to notice the
problem because it is not clear what we are supposed to do to fix it.

Everyone has a role to fix this problem. Even an employee who has been victimized by a bullying boss,
should not just expect ‘top management’ to address the situation. When we expect others to change, we
wallow in our own misery and frustration because ‘hope’ is never a practical solution. A person on the
receiving end of bias, prejudice or bullying’s responsibility is to themselves first. They must remember that
they choose their response, even when their choices are hard or limited. Recognizing these choices,
evaluating their costs and benefits and choosing a proactive action can help restore their sense of agency.
There are many ways to ‘negotiate without power’ and we need to coach our team members to learn
these techniques.

Other colleagues who might witness workplace injustice should become an upstander instead of a
bystander – someone who proactively finds a way to support people harmed instead of just feeling bad
but not doing anything about it.

For the person who caused the harm, it’s important to accept the critical feedback as a gift. Listen to what
is being told, agree on specific measurable actions to correct the behaviour before it escalates further and
causes greater harm, and agree on a follow-up check-in process.

The main role for leaders is to proactively work to create a just culture, eliminating bad behavior and
reinforcing collaborative, respectful behavior. That means teaching team members not to allow bias to
cloud judgment, not to allow people to impose their prejudices on others, and creating consequences for
bullying to prevent discrimination, harassment, and physical violations from occurring on their teams.

Mai i te kopae kit e urupa, tatou ako tonu ai - The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that
you are not going to stay where you are.

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7. Embrace Expectations

The familiar management adage, ‘under-promise and over-deliver’ may work for underdogs who do not want
to be overwhelmed with expectations or sales teams who want targets that are easier to achieve or exceed.
However, real champions know that success in the long run is not measured by internally set targets, but
whether they can dominate their competitors consistently by setting uncomfortably stretch goals and
beating them: over-promise and deliver!

Champions like the New Zealand All Blacks, Nicol David or Usain Bolt know that their competitors put
targets on their backs, gunning to unseat them as champions. They remain champions not by under-
promising anyone but by setting unprecedented goals and targets beyond what their competitors can
imagine, and channel all their energy to deliver on them.

This mindset of embracing the highest expectations instead of trying to temper external expectations for
performance is even more crucial in business. Unlike sporting events where victory is defined at the final
whistle, finish-line or winning point, business operates as what Simon Sinek calls, an infinite game without
an ending. A player competing with a ‘finite mindset’, to reach a specific goal or target will eventually lose
against a player competing with an ‘infinite mindset’, who plays just to keep playing. The finite mindset
competitor eventually runs out of the will or resources to stay in the game. This is why, despite their
technical and equipment superiority, both superpowers, the mighty American and the Soviet militaries,
eventually lose out to the ‘infinite-minded’ Afghan rebels who fight to stay alive.

Of course, the finite game still matters. Achieving our end-of-the-year goal is important as a metric of
speed and distance, but it’s is not the end-all, be-all. It’s one mile within a marathon, and this marathon
never ends. Embracing the expectations of being at the top requires us to get comfortable with the
discomfort of pressure and the massive uncertainty of a stretch goal, year-in and year-out. That mindset
is what separates the gold medallist from the runners-up, more than any physical advantage or technical
superiority.

Take for example, Usain Bolt, the world record holder for the 100-metre sprint. If you brought him to an
empty Bukit Jalil stadium, and asked him to run the fastest that he can, he will not even come close to 10
seconds, let alone his world record time of 9.58 seconds. For him to perform his best, he needs the top
competitors racing next to him, to push him to his limit. He needs 100,000 spectators to watch the event
live in the stadium, cheering him on, and he needs 100 million people watching his race via live telecast,
to create enough pressure to perform his best. He embraces the expectation of uncompromising top
performance placed upon him.

Our instinctive impulse to ‘under-promise’ and lower expectations stems from our fear of failure. We don’t
want to let down others and we don’t want to let down ourselves. We don’t want to make mistakes, be

14
embarrassed and ashamed. Our brain’s survival instinct keeps imagining various scenarios that lead to
failure as a natural due diligence and comes up with multiple reasons why we shouldn’t put ourselves at
risk. While we prepare to avoid failure, making up things and going through all the scenarios we can
possibly conceive, we are spending zero energy preparing for what would happen if we succeed.

What if we planned and prepared for success instead? Our energy and focus tends to become reality, so
if we’re putting all our energy towards avoiding failure, chances are we're subconsciously manifesting it.
If that’s true, putting all our energy toward success may create a different scenario.

For most of our lives, we have spent so much time and energy trying to avoid failure. Reversing it by
planning for success, the very thing that we want, focuses our energy on it. When it does come, we're not
surprised or overwhelmed. Instead, it becomes a part of our plan. This shift can be life changing by limiting
our focus about failure and the “what ifs” and instead turning our focus towards what to do when we are
successful. We embrace the expectations of success.

Let’s come back to Usain Bolt. Champions like him use visualisation techniques to embrace expectations.
Prior to the start of the race, you can see Usain overcoming the doubts and fears of failure by actively
engaging his brain to visualise success. He runs his winning race in his mind before the actual race. He
imagines himself crossing the finish line in first place. He hears the roar of the crowds in his head, and you
can see him moving his arms and legs while he is waiting at the starting blocks. Similarly, top performers
in business apply the same visualisation techniques as preparation before an important presentation or a
difficult conversation with a boss or client. When we deliberately choose what our brain focuses on, we
override it’s natural impulse to gravitate towards worst-case scenarios of failure.

Ki te kahore he whakakitenga ka ngaro te iwi. Without foresight or vision, the people will be lost.

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8. Train to Win

If you play golf or tennis, or swim, you would have likely observed how children who pick up these sports
at a young age, are able to achieve a level of mastery that is the envy of adults who buy expensive
equipment and play these sports regularly and yet hardly get better after many years of playing the game.
The age factor is one important contributor, because our human brain is at its most malleable during our
formative childhood years.

How then do we get better at work, since most of us only start work in our twenties, after our brains have
past its most effective learning phase? Actually, Neuroscientists have now discovered that the brain’s
ability to learn new skills, or neuroplasticity, actually continues throughout our lifetime. It turns out that
what reduces our learning ability is we slow down the stimulus the brain needs to learn and improve.
Often at work, we are rewarded for consistency and we have set routines on how perform our tasks at
work each day. Our brain then becomes hard-wired the more we do our tasks repetitively and becomes
less able to change and adapt to new ways of working.

Unlike in sports where an athlete sees clear outcomes from their efforts in practice, whether from their
golf score for the day or lap times in a swim, at work, most of the feedback we get tend to be results or
KPI measures that are infrequent. These may be our quarterly sales performance, customer satisfaction
scores, or operational efficiency metrics. We think of improvement mainly in terms of putting in more
effort or acquiring better tools or processes. Many neglect another more important factor – our learning
or training method. Do we have a deliberate method to “get better at getting better” and how do we train
to win?

Champions like the New Zealand All Blacks don’t train or practice by only playing rugby games. They
conduct very specific drills that are repeated ad nauseum until the desired actions become intuitive. These
are very focused micro-actions, such as how to block a tackle from coming the left-side or practising place
kicks from different distances and angles. This focus and discipline leads to rapid and measurable
improvements. Similarly, top performance at work can be achieved if team leaders encourage their
members to break down key micro-actions and focus on improving specific skills or tasks. For example, to
deliver impactful client presentations, deliberate practice could include rehearsing the presentation
opening, to how to nail down slide transitions or even the standing or sitting posture (especially for virtual
presentations!). When leaders only give general feedback like “you need to get better at delivering client
presentations”, their teams are not able to act on it to clearly improve the next time. They do not
deliberately train to win, and yet are expected to magically get better just by putting in more effort but
doing things the same way. How are you or your team members deliberately training specific behaviours
and actions that will lead to measurable improvements daily or weekly?

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Next, winners train by doing exercises or taking on assignments that are just within the upper limits of
their existing abilities. They put themselves in uncomfortable situations where they have to push the
boundaries of their own limits. Going beyond our comfort zone requires deliberate effort. Winners commit
to learning one new piece of knowledge in the area that they want to grow further. They set reminders
and keep a log or journal of their weekly progress. Athletes and coaches know that achieving breakthrough
performance is better done by training with people who are better than they are currently. That’s why
many Southeast Asian athletes make sacrifices to live and train in Europe or Australia where they are
exposed to higher competition levels. Similarly at work, we increase our chance of growth when we
deliberately spend more time with people who perform at levels we aspire to. We find ways to work with
them on projects and commit to learning from them and matching their habits and routines.

Finally, top performers know that if they keep competing at the highest levels of intensity without regular
breaks, they will burn out. They learn to manage their energy levels. By being deliberate about taking at
least one rest day a week, and slowing down training intensity every four weeks, and having an off-season
to rejuvenate, they build up to reach their peak performance levels during the most important
competitions in a year. COVID-19 has shown leaders that employee burnout is real, and their teams have
been working late as boundaries between work and personal lives blur in work-from-home settings. Even
though employees work longer hours, productivity has declined. Winning leaders know how to manage
energy levels rather than manage employee time. By ensuring their team members get sufficient rest, they
will be able to complete a task in one hour that would take them three hours if they are tired and burnt
out.

Competitors train harder. Champions train smarter – more deliberate and focused, pushing the upper
limits of their existing abilities and working with higher performing colleagues, and using rest and recovery
to reach peak performance. They train to win.

Mai i te kōpae ki te urupa, tatou ako tonu ai – from the cradle to the grave we are forever learning.

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9. Keep a Blue Head

1. What emotion is this All Black player feeling?

2. What is 54 x 27?

For the first question, you probably answered frustrated, disappointed or stressed instantly. You analysed
scores of facial expression and body language variables despite the shadows in under a second.

For the second question, the answer is 1458. Even if you got the right answer, it probably took you
noticeably longer to answer this question than the first even though it involves fewer variables.

Why the difference? The answer won its

discoverers a Nobel Prize. Your brain has two
systems of thinking that together behave like
a Rider on top of an Elephant.

Knowing how these systems function will help you make better decisions. The elephant represents our
auto-pilot system. It is intuitive and emotional, fast and without self-control, and can be energetic and
strong-willed. The New Zealand All Blacks refer to this as our Red Head. The Rider, in contrast, is our
intentional system that is rational and analytical, slow, effortful and controlled, but also lazy – often
allowing the Elephant to do what it wants. The New Zealand All Blacks refer to this as our Blue Head.

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As leaders, when we are under pressure, our Red Head tends to be the first system that we engage. That’s
not necessarily a bad thing. You could be in a lot of trouble without your Elephant. You would not be able
to recognise when your colleague is angry or instinctively jump out of the way of a speeding car. However,
the reason your Elephant is so quick is because it takes shortcuts - psychologists call these shortcuts
cognitive biases or heuristics. Most of the time, these shortcuts keep you out of trouble but sometimes
they lead you into Thinking Traps.

Thinking Traps are systematic, predictable errors in thinking we all make especially when we are making
quick assumptions, i.e., when your Elephant is in control. Everyone’s Elephant tends to fall into the same
traps in similar situations.

Here are common leadership thinking traps.

All or Nothing. Under pressure and feeling the need to appear decisive, we can develop tunnel vision and
insist on only one solution or outcome. Look out for words like “always” or “never” when describing people
or situations.

Mind Reading. We can subconsciously jump to conclusions about how others might perceive us negatively,
even when we have not validated these assumptions, especially how our boss, clients or business partners
think of us.

Confirmation Bias. We analyse data, carry out market research or prepare business plan projections to
confirm a leader’s pre-existing views about a business opportunity, and ignore data points and
perspectives that do not validate that initial view.

Catastrophising. Natural risk aversion can cause us to focus on worst-case scenarios or over-thinking the
prospect of failure, causing us to filter out positive factors or upside potential from a person or situation.

In moments of pressure, the All Blacks use pre-set triggers to change from reacting impulsively (Red Head)
to responding intentionally (Blue Head). Richie McCaw would grasp his wrists and stamp his feet, literally
grounding himself, and recite his mantra, ‘clear thought, clear talk, clear task’ to engage his intentional
system.

Here are some ways to recognise our thinking traps and reframe them to respond intentionally.

1. Avoid quick judgements. If you make a quick judgement about a person, idea, or situation, it is likely
your Elephant is in control and potentially stepping in Thinking Traps.

2. Maximise focus. When the Rider is distracted, the Elephant is in control. If you are multitasking or if
your attention is elsewhere, you are more likely to fall in Thinking Traps.

3. Be conscious of timing. If you are hungry or tired, you are in Thinking Trap territory. Avoid big decisions
on an empty stomach or at the end of the day.

4. Be aware of your emotions. Find ways to deal with feelings that may lead to Thinking Traps before
deciding. e.g., postpone a decision if a meeting to discuss it gets heated.

It is hard for us to implement these by ourselves because we are not likely to be aware of our own thought
processes, but we can benefit from having a ‘sparring partner’ – a work colleague whom we trust and
respect. The act of explaining our thought process to someone else by itself helps to bring clarity to our
own thoughts and feelings. It’s important that we proactively nurture this relationship so that we feel
comfortable reaching out to our partner when things heat up and we need someone we feel safe to open
up to, and not feel that we might be judged negatively.

Another way that psychologists refer to as using an ‘anchor’ is to write McCaw’s mantra, or even just the
phrase ‘counter thought’ at our desk, to visually remind us to challenge our first impulsive reaction and try
to look at our situation from multiple perspectives. It's especially important that you're reminded over and

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over again: we don't adopt a new way of thinking overnight simply by flipping a switch. It takes a lot of
repetition to get rid of our old thinking patterns. It's like learning to play the piano — it's not enough just
to understand how a piece works; we need to consolidate what we learn through repetition and practice.

Ahakoa he iti kete, he iti nā te aroha – it is the thought that counts.

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9. Know Thy Self: Be Authentic

To paraphrase poet laureate Maya Angelou, people don’t follow leaders based on what they say, or what
they do, but how they make them feel. And specifically, whether the leader makes us feel connected with
the leadership direction, energized by the mission and purpose, and safe that we are being looked after.
Feeling connected, energized and safe stems from authenticity.

In today’s high-pressure business environment when things change at a furious pace, employees cannot
judge the factual or logical merits of the direction set by a leader because it’s virtually impossible to see
clearly. They thus rely on whether the leader is consistent, authentic and trustworthy. Is this someone
who does and says what they mean, and means what they say and do?

Typically situations where authenticity breaks down include when leaders do not take responsibility for
when things don’t go according to plan, deadlines are missed or projects go over-budget, and they are
quick to blame others without showing any accountability for their role in leading the team. Authenticity
also breaks down when leaders communicate in a rehearsed and contrived manner, appearing to be
reading a script vetted by lawyers or communications specialists instead of their own tone and natural
style.

As with any skill or competency, authenticity can be developed purposefully. Leaders should start by
asking how easy it is for their colleagues to get to know them. This doesn't mean giving them access to
your entire personal life, or mean you have to tell them everything about you.

Rather, do you respond in ways that align with how you truly think and feel? Do your reactions in the
workplace match your reactions outside? Do you share enough about what matters to you and what
motivates you with your colleagues? If not, why? There might be room to be more authentic on the job,
so that people aren't left guessing or assuming how you feel, what you think, what you'll do.

If you feel like someone is being inauthentic with you, you should talk about it. You don't have to accuse
them directly, but rather say: "I wouldn't have assumed you'd do or say X or Y. Can you tell me more
about why you did?" Be willing to be authentic with them, share what you’re excited about at the company
and what you worry about. Ask them to do the same in return. Having the wrong expectations about

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someone can sometimes masquerade as them seeming inauthentic, so check your own assumptions first.
How valid are they, really?

Perhaps the best way to be authentic: Stay in consistent, responsive communication. The prime example
here is a business unit head wanting to maintain the trust of her team members. Holding yourself to a
schedule for sending weekly updates and materials (before meetings) and recaps (right after) will enhance
your authenticity as a leader. Your stakeholders will know what's top of mind for you and why at every
beat along the way, and they'll trust you're on top of things.

When we do not communicate often and “expect the team to know what’s on my mind”, it will not only
make them think less of you in the moment — they also won't trust you as much going forward, because
who knows what you might be hiding or what's really going on. “I learned this the hard way,” said the CEO
of retail company dealing with the brunt of the COVID crisis. “Instead of being open about what I was worried
about, I thought I could work through all the issues myself and then share my solution. The end result was that
people who were important to me felt out of the loop and blindsided.”

A good approach is one CEO who sends weekly updates to his team like clockwork. Even if they're tiny,
they provide much-appreciated connective tissue between them and the company. He also uses it as an
opportunity to share a few personal updates from him and his team, and to congratulate team members
on important personal developments like anniversaries, birthdays, etc. This helps them acknowledge and
feel like they know each other even better as people, not just colleagues. It paints a fuller picture of what
matters to all of them inside and outside the office.

Providing time and space for social gatherings at work is crucial. When people feel like they truly know
each other, they trust each other more. Hosting team lunches, celebrating baby showers, and letting
people share what they value in their personal lives makes a distinct difference. One leader kicks off team
meetings with personal announcements accompanied by photos from employees' recent travel or of a
baby's first steps. All of this might sound like a nice-to-have, but it serves an important function.

Authenticity is particularly relevant when it comes to client service. The way you choose to communicate
with customers can either establish long-lasting trust or lose it forever — largely based on whether they
feel a real connection to you.

A CEO shared how she ordered a Christmas gift for her son from a small company. Immediately, she
received a note from their customer service channel stating: "We're so happy you ordered from us, but
unfortunately it looks like this gift will arrive after Christmas! We're incredibly sorry about this — we value giving
everyone the week around the holiday off, and we have a tiny staff. We hope you'll understand, and we'll discount
your gift in the meantime."

"I was so impressed that they took the time to explain, and I actually walked away feeling warmer thoughts
about the company because they provided a little window into how they treat their employees," she says.
"It felt personal, it came from an actual human being and not a faceless brand, and I could visualize the
people on the other end."

Keep this in mind as you devise customer engagement initiatives. Don't just be reactive — anticipate issues.
Make messages sound human. Have them come from named people. Be transparent when things go
wrong. Give people a chance to get to know you better. Be authentic.

He tangata ki tahi - A man who speaks once.

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11. Sacrifice: Go the Extra Mile

“Why would anyone want to be led by you?”

When this question is asked to groups of top business executives, the response is usually one of nervous
silence. Leaders have good reason to be scared. You can’t do anything in business without followers, and
followers in these “empowered” times are hard to find. Even more rare are team members who are willing
to go above and beyond their job scope, and go the extra mile to deliver exceptional performance. They
do so when they are energized and inspired by leaders who go the extra mile themselves to provide clear
direction, build trust and connection and uplift the team’s energy and morale – especially during the most
trying times of crisis and pressure.

The COVID pandemic has certainly stress-tested most leaders and organisations and either brought out
the best and amplified the worst. Under pressure, some leaders resorted to using fear – threatening
employees to work long hours and weekends or risk losing their jobs during a tough job market, or micro-
managing employees by expecting them to respond immediately to text messages while they are working
remotely during office hours, and even cutting pay and benefits to save cost. A Malaysian financial
institution even slashed bonuses and froze salary increments, but employees found out their top
management still awarded themselves generous bonuses that were disclosed in stock market filings –
crushing morale.

The upstream oil and gas industry faced strong headwinds in 2020. Global oil prices plummeted as demand
slowed down substantially, forcing companies to slash costs to survive. Operators had to institute 14-day
quarantines before workers were sent to offshore rigs, and then another 14-days before they are allowed
to return home after completing their offshore stint. Instead of a usual 14-days work and 14-days off
rotation pattern, workers had to remain offshore for 28-35 days, plus 28-days for both quarantine
windows, but still only have 14-days at home – to keep the rigs operational and costs manageable. Most
workers were distressed and anxious to be away from their families for unusually long time periods. Yet,
there were extraordinary leaders that rose to the occasion and inspired their teams to go the extra mile
during these intense periods. They applied the following attributes:

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1. Lead from the front: Even though as executives they were not needed on the offshore platforms,
the leaders underwent the same extended rotation patterns and accompanied their teams to the rigs,
being directly visible and showing that they were all on the same boat together.

2. Keep a cool head: Despite emotions running high, these leaders remained soft-spoken, focused on
listening to understand and connect instead of ‘listening to reply’.

3. Be transparent: they speak directly without lies of omission. At the first signs of problems, they share
bad news or criticism early and they don’t let issues fester or cover up. When leaders gloss over
issues brought up by employees, it generates mistrust among the team who will wonder what else is
the leader lying about.

4. Care for employee wellbeing: They recognised that their workers were mainly stressed about being
away from their families, and organised various initiatives to help families – from company arranged
transport to send and pickup children to school or day care facilities, organised shopping and laundry
services that could be paid for later, and even medical and psychological support services for family
members. The additional costs were small compared to the productivity gains from highly engaged
and appreciative workers.

5. Demonstrate vulnerability: These leaders knew that asking for feedback from team members rarely
work. They start by openly identifying their specific shortcomings and their fears, and invite team
members to confirm if they see it too and ask for specific actions they should take to become better
leaders. Employees are much more comfortable responding to a specific example than being asked
to offer general feedback to their leader. They also admired leaders who are still open to learning
and improving themselves, compared to ‘know-it-all’ leaders.

6. Exhibit optimism: What sets extra mile leaders apart from mediocre leaders - every time, is a passion
and enthusiasm for what they do. Their attitudes are positive and their temperament is even-handed.
Even when problems or failures happen, they use “how” statements like “how can we prevent this
from happening again?”, focusing on solutions rather than “why” statements like “why did this happen”
which connotes blame and fault-finding.

A leader that goes the extra mile become role models that inspire their teams to also do the same because
they feel that they are part of a winning team and this is how winners think and behave. They show –
through their actions, that they are prepared to do anything themselves that they expect their team
members to do, and that they will stand up for their teams and not leave anyone behind, when it matters
the most.

Mehemea karekau ana he whakakitenga, ka mate te iwi – In these challenging times where there is
uncertainty, leadership is called to be both visionary and clear.

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12. Invent your own language

Although we may not realize it, language and the specific words used within our team on a regular basis
have a major impact on our team’s culture. The language we use acts as a moral compass for our people,
influencing how they think, act and feel in different situations.

Some examples include the language used in your company’s mission, purpose and values statements, but
also in company mottos, both old and new. In this way, leaders can play an essential role in shaping and
influencing the kind of culture you’d like to create.

Consider Facebook. In 2014 it changed its motto from “Move fast and break things” to the much less sexy,
“Move fast with stable infrastructure.” Though it may seem like a small change, this signalled a big step in
the company’s maturation.

While initially Facebook greatly valued its young hacker roots, it later realized that the bugs created
through this type of work ethic were actually causing more problems in the long run, making it more
difficult to provide quality service to its users. In changing its company motto, it aimed to guide the way
in which its people worked and approached problems at the company.

Language doesn’t just impact the way people behave at work, it also impacts the types of processes and
company rituals we create.

For example, Zappos is known for the extreme lengths to which its customer service reps have gone to
make its customers happy. Unsurprisingly, its number one core value is to “Deliver WOW through service”
and its mission is “delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors.” Through its mission and
values, Zappos tells its people that the number one indicator of a job well done is customer happiness. As
a result, 75% of its business comes from repeat customers.

This strong customer-focused language is backed by the types of processes and rituals it has created.

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Reinforcing its commitment to delivering quality service, Zappos has a specific hiring process where
prospective candidates do not meet their hiring manager until they pass the culture-fit assessment by a
different leader. All new hires then undergo a vigorous 4-week customer service training program, where
they are famously offered $4,000 to quit. This unconventional onboarding process is designed to weed
out people who will not fit the Zappos mindset. Team leaders are then mandated to spend 10%-20% of
time on team building activities that reinforce their mindset each and every week.

The acid test for whether the language used in a company’s mission and vision statements, values or value
proposition, is truly alive and immersed in its culture, is two-fold: First, whether there are clearly defined
impact measurements that are tracked, reported and discussed instead of just metrics that focus on
internal performance like revenue, profit margins or market share. Second, is whether the phrases are
used daily as part of day-to-day decision-making, problem solving and conflict resolution in the team.

AirAsia X operationalised AirAsia’s famous slogan: ‘Now Everyone Can Fly’, into four purpose pillars: Scale,
Affordability, Reliability, and Convenience. To enable everyone to fly, they needed to have as many aircraft
and destinations as possible (scale); they needed to be the most affordable airline in the world; they
needed to be a world-class reliable operator; and their services needed to be convenient and easy to use.
The team defined four goals: to reach USD1 billion in revenue (scale), to achieve USD2 cents per-seat-
per-kilometre unit cost (lowest in the world), for their aircraft to be in the air three-out-of-four hours (75%
aircraft utilisation), and for four-out-of-five seats to be filled with happy customers (80% load factor). This
1-2-3-4 set of measures made it easy to remember and served as a guide for decision-making. When
teams proposed new initiatives, they had to present it in a way that showed how the proposed ideas
would contribute to, and enhance at least one of these four measurable purpose pillars.

Slogans in posters and annual reports are easily forgotten, but if they are used daily as part of decision-
making, they can have a profound effect on the company’s culture and performance.

E mohiotia ana a waho kei roto he ana – One cannot know from the outside what is contained within

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13. Ritualize to Actualize

Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.

Inspiring leaders establish rituals to connect their team to its core narrative, using them to reflect, remind,
reinforce, and reignite their collective identity and purpose. Rituals are activities that you do consistently
that you give meaning to. Think of something you do regularly at a certain time in a certain way. You’d
feel strange if you stopped doing it. That’s a ritual.

Rituals usually have three attributes. First they have meaning and intention. The most common intentions
for rituals include welcoming a new member to a team, regular communications to share issues or ideas,
learning and development, or celebrating successes. Second, there’s typically a regular cadence, either
daily, weekly, monthly or at each specific recurring occasion. Finally, it goes beyond its practical purpose.
For example, everyone at insurance company Prudential, greets each other or clients and visitors with
‘good morning!’ no matter what time of day it is. It may not be practical but it signifies the cheery and
upbeat mood of starting a new day. High-energy sales organisations commonly have rituals like ringing a
bell or playing upbeat songs whenever a new deal is closed.

To identify a powerful ritual, the first question to ask is when do people feel most connected to the team or
organisation’s identity? If you’re not sure what the answer is, ask your team. Start there, because often,
teams will have a ritual, but perhaps they don’t call it that. Once you’ve reinforced and celebrated this
ritual, and made it a priority, you can begin to look for other opportunities for rituals. As leaders, we should
ask ourselves where we can put rituals into our organizations to generate more psychological safety, to
connect to the purpose, and to enhance retention and performance in our teams. Beginnings and endings
are prime rituals real estate. It’s important to over-communicate and create rituals that serve to almost re-
recruit and re-energize people on an ongoing basis.

During the pandemic, people realized how much they missed many of their workplace rituals, even though
they may not call it a ritual. They realise it when the felt a sense of loss and dis-connection from their
team and colleagues when they switched to remote work. A CEO of a bank shared that one of her rituals
was that every morning she chaired a stand-up meeting with the senior management team, and there
were nine of them, for 15 minutes. They did it remotely during the pandemic. The ritual had three parts.
She’d go around and have everybody check-in and just give a ‘green’ (I feel great today), ‘yellow’ (I have
some issues), or ‘red’ (I need help) status. Everybody would then share something they were stuck on. Not
to fix it, because this meeting is only 15 minutes, but to tee up a follow-up meeting with the relevant

27
people later in the day to resolve them. Then, one person shares a story where they have seen anyone in
the organization living one of the values. Another company has a ritual to end weekly meetings with a
short exercise called Thorn, Rose, Bud. Each person shares a thorn (something that’s upsetting them); a rose
(something they’re happy about); and a bud (something they’re looking forward to). It takes just five additional
minutes to the meeting but people feel much more connected with each other.

In Asia, meals can be significant rituals that strengthen relationship bonds. At Motley Fool, a financial
advisory firm, new recruits are asked if they have had their ‘welcome coffee’ with either Tom or Dave, co-
founders of the company. At Chipotle, a fast-casual restaurant chain, employees at each outlet sit down
together for a meal at 10am, before opening the store at 10:30am – after working together since 6:30am
to prepare the kitchen and dining area for the day. The morning ritual helps connect the shift team
members as humans before each busy day.

It’s never too early or too late to start rituals or traditions in your team. When Morton Schapiro was
appointed as President of Northwestern University in Chicago in 2009, an institution of over 150 years
old, he was surprised that there were hardly any rituals there. He initiated a new one which he coined,
“March Through the Arch” where each new incoming freshman class would march through the Arnold
Weber Arch, Northwestern’s iconic entry gate. In the first year, hardly anyone participated. He learned
that it was not practical because of car traffic and the following year, the roads were closed for this event.
By the third year, virtually every new student proudly participated in this ‘tradition’ and many believed
that they were following in the footsteps of their predecessors, without realising that they were actually
the early pioneers of this modern tradition!

Rituals can also help executives overcome feelings of anxiety before key events like a big presentation,
like how top athletes psych themselves before a big match. Tennis star Serena Williams bounces the ball
exactly five times before her first serve and two times before her second serve. Common practices include
wearing special clothing like a unique shirt, tie, or pair of socks on the day of the big presentation, wearing
a special perfume or cologne that’s a different scent from another used on regular days, or listening to
one specific song to uplift one’s mood. Each of these actions engages our senses and signals the mind
that it’s “go” time and reframes nerves into cues to be ready for action.

Which rituals help your team to come together, celebrate each other, and pump each other up to perform?
If you don’t have one specific routine, start a new one today!

Ki heke iho ra I nga tupuna, katahi ka tikia – Should it be a practice handed down by our forefathers, then it
would be correct.

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14. Be a good ancestor: leave a legacy behind

Plant trees you’ll never see.

Building an enduring team or company that outlasts the competition and withstands the test of time
requires leaders that are stewards for the future. They think not just in terms of performance in the
next quarter, year or five-year strategic planning period, but in terms of effects that last for
generations. They are prepared to take short-term hits in financial performance for the sake of doing
what’s right for long-term success. These leaders are more concerned with their character than their
reputation, because character is who they really are, while reputation is merely what other people
think of them.

Two of the highest impact areas where leaders can leave a legacy beyond their tenure in an
organisation, besides defining an inspiring vision and mission – which often are done by the original
founders - are in creating a culture that nurtures leadership talent from with machine-like regularity
(e.g., a CEO factory), and to put in place practices or routines that create enduring competitive
advantages.

In professional sports leagues, teams that consistently win the most championships are those that
have the deepest talent development infrastructure and systems that regularly feed their top-tier
teams. Often, this goes all the way to grassroots levels where promising young school-going
teenagers are identified and enrolled in their development programmes, to ensure a steady pipeline
of talent, without needing to pay top-dollar to buy the best available talent in the market. These
‘hired guns’ often only stay for a few seasons before leaving for better contract terms.

An important indicator for companies is whether at least 80% of their top management teams were
internally promoted as opposed to external hires. Leaders that build enduring legacies emphasise
strong graduate hiring programmes and put in place structured talent development systems where
high potential candidates are identified within their first five years in their career, and given an

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accelerated growth track – promoting when internal candidates are only 60% ready for the next
level, and only very selectively resorting to hiring externally. Employees at companies that hire and
promote more internal candidates also stay 41% longer than workers at companies with lower
internal hiring rates, according to LinkedIn’s 2020 Global Talent Trends report.

In addition to the profound impact of grooming leadership talent that can lead the company way
beyond a leader’s tenure, the other area to leave a legacy is to create a movement that rallies
everyone in the organisation to fight relentlessly against an injustice through daily actions.

One of the most inspiring leadership legacies was Paul O’Neill’s turnaround of Alcoa. When he was
introduced to investors and the media as the new CEO of the Aluminum Company of America, a
storied blue chip giant in 1987, they were unimpressed because he did not focus on any financial
metrics to cut cost or drive up revenues of the troubled company, but only wanted to talk about
improving worker safety. Many investors sold shares as they felt he was the wrong CEO choice.

By the time he retired in 2000, the company’s net income grew to five times the amount when he
first joined, and their market capitalization increased by US$27 billion. All that growth occurred while
Alcoa became one of the safest companies in the world. Before his arrival, almost every Alcoa plant
had at least one accident per week. Once his safety plant was implemented, some facilities would
go years without a single employee losing a workday due to an accident. The company’s worker
injury rate fell to one-twentieth the U.S. average.

The key to Alcoa’s turnaround was not safety per se, but obsessing over something important, a
“keystone habit”, as Charles Duhigg calls it. For O’Neill, it was safety, but a company can get
comparable results from obsessing about solving customer pain points, innovation (like Apple),
operational excellence, employee engagement or some other goal that the whole organisation can
tangibly rally around towards the company’s success.

When he passed away last year in 2020 due to cancer, the flood of remembrance tributes still recalls
his legacy of creating an uncompromising safety culture. His former colleagues remember his stance
that safety cannot be a “priority” but instead must be a precondition, something that is not traded
off against other priorities. Priorities change, especially when the going gets rough. But safety is
enduring, as was his legacy.

Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua - As man disappears from sight, the land remains.

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15. Write your legacy: Make your mark

Although the original meaning of the 15th All Blacks principle is about embracing the blank pages of your
team’s story through outstanding performance that adds to the richness of its legacy, the act of writing
itself, can be immensely powerful as an act of leadership development.

Research has documented that outstanding leaders take time to reflect. Their success depends on
the ability to access their unique perspective and bring it to their decisions and sense-making every
day.

Extraordinary leadership is rooted in several capabilities: seeing before others see, understanding
before others understand, and acting before others act. A leader’s unique perspective is an important
source of creativity and competitive advantage. But the reality is that most of us live such fast-paced,
frenzied lives that we fail to leave time to actually listen to ourselves. Gaining access to your own
insight isn’t difficult; you simply need to commit to reflecting on a regular basis, ideally daily or at
least once a week during a quiet time, in the morning or during the weekend without interruptions
from demanding work tasks.

There’s strong evidence that replaying events in our brain is essential to learning. While the brain
records and holds what takes place in the moment, the learning from what one has gone through –
that is, determining what is important and what lessons should be learned – happens after the fact
during periods of quiet reflection. Also, when we slow things down and reflect, we can be more
creative about solving seemingly inscrutable problems. Take, for example, a technique called the
“second solution method”. If a group was struggling to come up with options to solve a tough
problem, they would brainstorm to identify a list of possible solutions. Before switching to
prioritizing, making items specific, etc., they try to identify all possible options. The best approach is
to tell the group to take a break and when they reconvene, to ask, “What else occurs to you?”
Inevitably, this simple question resulted in about 50% more items, often of higher quality. The break
that took place between the first and second rounds was more important than the question. A journal
is an effective, efficient, private way to take a similar break.

Journal entries should provide not only a record of what happened but how we reacted emotionally;
writing it down brings a certain clarity that puts things in perspective. In other cases, it’s a form of
mental rehearsal to prepare for particularly sensitive issues where there’s no one to talk with but
yourself. Journals can also be the best way to think through big-bet decisions and test one’s logic.

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While personality, style, and situation cause different approaches, some guidelines have proven
useful for the best results. Notes should be made as soon as possible after an event from which one
wants to learn – ideally the same day. Waiting more than 24 hours seems to sacrifice specificity
about details that made the most difference and why they happened.

An entry should begin with the primary outcome – the headline that best captures the major result.
Then, list the essential reason for that outcome; an always-subtle root cause made apparent by
asking “why?” five times to peel back each layer, revealing what came before. Third, recall the
emotions that affected decision making and why they flared. Last, identify what you can learn from
the whole experience and what you can do differently next time.

With so many benefits of keeping a journal, why do so few leaders do it?

• It takes time, a most precious asset. Because a journal requires reflection, it’s best done
during quiet periods, which are rare for any leader.

• Sometimes, keeping a journal requires reliving something one would just as soon forget.
Even though a vital step in learning, it’s unpleasant.

• Because many leaders prefer to rapidly move on to the next challenge, reflection is not
high on their list of things they enjoy or have much experience with.

• Like any tool, it takes time to perfect the best way to use it. The methodology offered here
did not happen right away, but came after many trials and errors.

These are minor drawbacks compared to the benefits. Slowing things down leads to better-thought-
through, more effective judgement and to learning what to do more of and what to change. One
result, as important as anything, is an increase in the satisfaction that should come from being in
charge. A personal journal should be part of any leader’s toolkit.

The boldest business leaders who have gone on to write their memoirs into best-selling leadership
books that become the epitome of tangible legacy that is passed on to their teams include Indra
Nooyi, former Chairperson and CEO of Pepsico, Virgin Group’s Richard Branson, Bob Iger, CEO of
Disney, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Carly Fiorina. Their personal journals and notes became
the foundation for the books that they wrote.

E kore e taka te parapara ona tupuna; tukua iho kia a ia. He cannot fail to inherit the talents of our
ancestors. They must descend to him.

Read more of Azran’s views on leadership, growth and personal develop at www.30daysand30years.com

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