By Robert Miller | Portfolio Manager at NAOS Asset Management

It is often said there are parallels between business and sport. This book abides by that theory and aims to provide learnings from one of the most successful sporting teams in history, and also explains how this can translate into the business world.

When assessing companies at NAOS a key factor we look for is the quality of the leadership team and the company’s culture. Quite often these are qualitative measures which need to be assessed over time, they are likely to have a significant impact upon a company’s performance over the medium to long-term.

The culture which has developed within the All Blacks is both through action and mindset and is very much focused around humility, teamwork and instilling leadership within all members. Examples mentioned in the book include a mindset of only being a ‘caretaker’ of your position and leaving the team in a better place than when you started. Also, interestingly the players would be the ones to clean up the playing sheds after a game, rather than leaving it to someone else.

Whilst companies may not have the finite nature of wins and losses like a sporting team would, we believe the values behind a successful culture can be transferable regardless of industry.

Link to book