Legacy by James Kerr

This is one of my favorite books on leadership. It is short and well written. It flows more like a novel than traditional business literature. The story of the New Zealand All Blacks, the most successful professional sports franchise in history, is a great case study of leadership and change management with application far beyond the world of sports.

'Better People make better All Blacks'

…and doctors, managers, fathers, sons, co-workers and friends.

The importance of clear cultural identity is a core concept of the book. Knowing who we are, as a team, and what our purpose is. And how accomplishing this at work creates halo effects that extend beyond the workplace, positively impacting many aspects of our lives. Hitting 'the number', maximizing profit or achieving increases in market share is not enough. What is your organizational 'why'? Once you define this, develop an environment that shifts accountability and ownership for realizing this purpose downwards through the organization. Performance and success will follow.

'Leaders Create Leaders'

What priority do you give to the development of your team? Do you create a continuous learning environment?

The truth is all cultures degrade over time. In the beginning, we often experience drops in performance as we feel our way through the unfamiliar. Then, once learning is established and positive feedback loops kick in, we start making progress. Rewards and praise follow. We feel invincible. This can decrease our sensitivity to evolving customer needs and competitive pressures. We double down on what worked and deprioritize learning. Then, we can lose the ball. We wake up one day and realize we missed a significant trend or opportunity and that our team isn't performing as well as it used to.

The key is to recognize when our team is at the top of its game, then to change the game, entering a new growth phase. Maintaining focus on continuous learning and development. To do this requires developing structured feedback mechanisms and building adaptability into your culture through values-based, purpose-driven leadership.

James Kerr presents a fantastic framework for how to do just that, portrayed in a narrative about the most successful sports organization of all time.