Sean Fitzpatrick: Fmr All Blacks Captain, Inside the mind of one of rugby's greatest leaders

This week we’re delighted to welcome Sean Fitzpatrick to the show. Sean was capped 92 times by New Zealand, 51 of those as captain. A World Cup winner and key member of one of the best rugby union teams, he is recognised as one of the greatest All Blacks of all time. Sean is more than the sum of his rugby achievements. He has been an integral part of bringing the now famous All Black culture to wider sport and business. Key ideals such as ‘sweeping the sheds’ and ‘play where your feet are’ have been brought to life in James Kerr’s excellent book ‘Legacy’ (putting the link at the bottom of the bio. Not an ad but you have to read it if you haven’t already!) We often look at how numbers, revenue, media engagement etc builds value in sport. Sean explains how mentality and values are the first building blocks in creating the brand that people want to buy. This is also about rugby more broadly. Sean’s perspective on the role of private equity investing in international rugby having been involved in Silver Lake’s minority acquisition of the All Blacks demonstrates the value that lies within the sport. But it begs the question, why is the sport still struggling? On today’s show we discuss:

1. The All Blacks Culture

- What does it mean to play for one of the most iconic badges in the world of sport?

- The life of a rugby player before the game became professional in 1995.

- How the culture of the All Blacks transcends sport, and the value that can be extracted by people living a life away from the field.

- ‘Play where your feet are’, ‘when you’re at your best, change it’. What do these sayings mean and what was the role of mindset in creating one of the greatest international teams of all time?

- It’s about the team, not the individual. However is this changing in today’s game with the need for ‘celebrity’ that wasn’t there before?

‘I don’t believe in work life balance’; you have to be 100% in.

2. Sean & Performance

- Winning the first Rugby World Cup in 1987 and the story of transitioning from domestic rugby to the international stage.

- The danger of complacency; how being the best can lead to a team dropping their standards. When this happened to Sean in the early 90’s, how did they turn this around?

- The 1995 World Cup in South Africa is now an iconised occasion in sport and popular culture; what was it like to be on the other side of that famous final and Nelson’s Mandela’s aura.

- Being asked to return to the All Blacks fold on two different occasions having decided to move on.

3. The Business of Rugby

- The increasing role of private equity in both teams and leagues across the game; why are they investing millions? What do they see as most valuable?

- A lack of global superstars is holding the sport back; the game needs individuals like Jonah Lomu to bring it to the front of the attention economy.

- Experiential is the key to driving value. Create amazing experience and capitalise on a reported 1 billion engagement with the All Blacks brand.

- Building a global IPL/F1 tournament series would bring the entertainment and excitement to the club level like we haven’t seen, but are the barriers to doing this insurmountable?