This article was corrected November 11.
Phil Kearns, the former Australian rugby union captain, has some advice on how a team within a corporation should work. The World Cup winner is a managing director in corporate finance at Investec Bank (Australia) Ltd..* Kearns says everyone should play the role that is required of them.
“Everyone has to do their job,” he says. “There are a lot of different roles in an organisation, just like on the rugby field there are forwards and backs. If the forwards can’t get the ball, it doesn’t matter how flashy and fast the backs are, the backs can’t do their job.”
A company must be realistic in its goals just like a rugby team. Russia’s goal in the 2011 World Cup was probably not to win the tournament but to lose to Australia by less than 40 points, says Kearns.
When a company focuses on a goal, it should, like a good rugby team, not look at the scoreboard, he says.
“Forget about the scoreboard and do your job,” says Kearns, who has been working for Investec six and-a-half years.
*(Phil Kearns title is corrected in the first paragraph.)
