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Justin Langer Leadership On And Off The Field

What does it take to lead the Australian cricket team?

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Published about 2 months agoDuration: 1:151961 timestamps
1961 timestamps
What does it take to lead the Australian cricket team?
And how do you change the way you coach
to deal with the different personalities
that you need to connect with?
G'day, it's Luke Darson.
The idea of self-improvement and leadership
both on and off the field
has been a lifelong passion of mine.
With one of my oldest friends,
we created a leader collective
and have had the privilege of working
with thousands of leaders in education,
sport, industry and the arts
that have helped shift to what we see
as the 21st century style of leadership
where everyone has a voice.
In this podcast,
we hear stories from these iconic leaders.
I was lucky enough to speak
with Australian sporting legend
and the current Australian cricket coach,
Justin Langer,
about how he leads an elite sporting team
full of players with different personalities
and how he takes that leadership off the field.
Well, this is a great honour to speak
to one of the finest sportsmen
that Australia has ever produced
at any sport at any level
and who has now gone
on to be an incredible coach
of the Australian cricket team.
Our speaker, Justin Langer,
whose record speaks for itself.
But the thing that stands out to me,
scoring more first-class runs
than anyone in cricket history
is just a remarkable achievement.
JL, it's a great pleasure
to chat to you today.
Thanks, Luke.
Let me put it in perspective, though.
It took Don Bradman about 100 games
and it took me about 1,000 games.
So they'll keep that one in perspective, OK?
Not many people have a list
where Don Bradman's number two
and they're number one, though, JL.
So it doesn't matter
how long it took to get there.
It's a remarkable,
a remarkable achievement.
Perhaps I want to jump to,
you know, you debuted,
I think you're 22 years of age,
1993, the West Indies in Adelaide.
And you go on to play
in one of the greatest teams of all time
with just extraordinary
once-in-a-generation type players.
We're talking about leadership today
in a world of collaboration.
What was the leadership like
for you as a young man
walking into that environment?
I remember Johnny Wilkinson,
the great rugby union player.
And he was once interviewed
by Michael Parkinson.
Michael Parkinson asked him
a similar question.
He said,
why did you become a great player?
And I remember Johnny Wilkinson saying,
he sort of thought about it for a while.
He goes,
Michael,
you are the changing room
that you walk into.
And what a great way to sum it up.
I mean, I,
and I think that's why
I'm so passionate about leadership now.
I walked into a change room
where Alan Borda was the captain.
Mate, tough, tough, tough.
And Bob Simpson was the coach.
And whoa, he was tough as well.
And then you talk about David Boone,
who's become a lifelong friend.
I was actually rooming with Boone
when his father died
of a sudden heart attack.
So these lifelong,
you know, friendships that come,
but just leadership, leadership.
And then we had Mark Taylor,
who was the captain.
And then Steve Waugh, of course.
I mean, Steve Waugh,
if he asked me to run
through a brick wall right now,
I'd run as hard as I could.
That such was my respect for him as a coach.
As a leader.
Then, of course, Ricky Ponting.
You know, great leaders.
And John Buchanan, the great coach.
That's why I was so passionate.
I love leadership
because I was so fortunate
to learn from some of the great leaders
in my sport.
And, you know,
to be in that change room was unbelievable.
I remember talking to Paul Roos
and he had, as a player,
he had a list of things
that annoyed him about
the way AFL footballers,
a legendary AFL footballer, Paul Roos,
played 350 games,
one of the all-time greats.
But there was a lot of things
that were done
that he just didn't think
were the right way.
And when he went on to become a coach,
he had that list
and he kept it with him
that he would never do as a coach.
Was there anything
that you thought
you could do better as a player
now that you're a coach?
Oh, I think
what happens as a player
is you learn.
I mean, that's where
and you learn from success.
You learn from failure.
You learn from watching champions.
You learn from watching
the people who don't quite make it,
who have got great talent.
So you learn.
You just learn and learn.
And then I think what happens, Luke,
is that
and my main advice
for any aspiring leader
or any leader
and they'd understand
is you've got to know
what you stand for.
So I guess in my learnings
from the people I dealt with
and what I experienced as a player
and what I'd read
and people away from the game
is what I stood for.
And like Paul,
I spoke to Paul yesterday
as well,
just as a mentor
or for some advice
and a few things about our team.
But I know exactly
and I often say to people,
you should be able
to write on a table napkin
what you stand for as a leader.
And when you do that,
then you know
what you don't compromise on.
You know what your players
know what is expected.
And then from there,
you've got a good foundation
to move forward.
So have you actually got that, JL,
like your purpose
and who you are?
You can see that
and visualise that
and write that down.
This is Justin Langer as a leader
and this is what I stand for.
Is that something that you look at?
I can tell you right now.
It's like,
if I look back,
back on my playing days,
I knew exactly what I meant.
And I think what I've learned
is the champions in life,
whatever they do,
their great art
is to simplify things.
So if you had asked me
what my philosophy on coaching is,
currently with the Australian cricket team,
our main goal
is to make Australians proud of us.
After what happened in South Africa
a few years ago,
and I say to our players,
if you wake up every single day
with thinking of nothing else,
make Australians proud.
Because that includes your mum
and your dad
and your grandparents
and your mates
and the wider public.
So one,
we make Australians proud.
We develop great cricketers
and great people.
Because it's one thing
to be a great cricketer,
but it's very, very hard
to make Australians proud
if you're not a great person as well.
And the other thing is about in sport,
your career finishes
at quite a young age.
So developing as a great person
is important as well.
And I say,
we do that by the values
or the behaviours of professionalism,
of humility,
of honesty,
of learning
and of mateship.
And that's what we're about.
And that's, you know,
and I talk about it all the time.
And, you know,
I can go into a lot more detail
on all those behaviours or values.
I can go into more detail
and make Australians proud
of great cricketers and great people.
But that's what I stand for.
And that's what I don't compromise on.
And that's the foundation
for my leadership.
In this current team.
Yeah, that's such a, you know,
an amazing thing to hear you share that.
And it just sounds so clear.
And you can hear the passion
come out in your voice.
And you mentioned that Alan Borders
and then you played with the Shane Warnes
and, you know, Glenn McGraths
and Gilchrist.
And the list goes on
of just these remarkable players.
And you probably would think
that's just an environment
you can't lose
and everything's happy.
But those teams still have
their great challenges
and there's factions within teams
and there's, you know,
certain people,
have better relationships
than others.
How did great teams
with great players
deal with that sort of adversity
along the way?
Well, yeah, I mean,
there's no doubt.
I mean, we have challenges
every single,
because we're all human
and humans are complex, right?
We can get complacent.
We can get flat.
We can, you know,
that goes on.
There's a couple of things
to this question.
One is,
I've learned as a coach
is that every single person's different.
So you gotta treat everyone differently.
So, and I,
I've learned that
and like you got four kids,
like I've got four kids
and what I've learned
from being a dad
is that I've got four daughters
that come from the same place,
same upbringing.
They're all so different.
So the reason I say that
if my kids are all different,
all my players are gonna be different
and you're gonna treat them
all differently, right?
And a lot of,
a lot of the mistake
a lot of coaches,
a lot of leaders make
is they try and treat
everyone the same.
We can't do that.
Shane Moore is very different
than Adam Gilchrist,
who's very different
than Steve Moore,
who's very different
than Glenn McGrath.
Maddy Hayden and I,
who are,
we're very different as well.
So the trick is
to know what the,
to know what the expectations are
and then let everyone
within those boundaries
be themselves.
And, and if they step outside of that,
well, then there's issues.
But the,
that's the challenge
is to treat everyone differently
and with respect
and let them weave their magic
in their different style.
Yeah, you and Maddy Hayden scored,
you know, more runs in partnership
than anyone,
than anyone in,
than anyone in the,
in Australian cricket history,
the fourth most of all time.
And, but as you said,
there's differences
even in that great relationship.
And did you have your blues?
Did you have your moments
where you guys had to sit down
and thrash it out,
the two of you?
Yeah, every now and then,
but we had a few out in the middle,
but no, actually,
we didn't have our blues.
We just, because we had such trust
and respect and love for each other,
we had to every now and then say,
mate, come on, pull your head in.
You've got to concentrate
or I'd say, mate, come on, come on.
And that was all about our,
the communication,
our relationship.
But I'm not sure about you,
I've got four daughters
and please,
for all the women
who are listening to this,
and I love my daughters
more than anything else,
but I know you, Das,
but my mates,
I've got my mates
since I'm a kid
and my mates in the team,
we don't really argue much.
We just get on with it.
We don't agree on everything.
Whereas girls,
my gosh, my daughters,
the fighting they have,
and then they've got
their girlfriends at school
and oh, man,
it's one of the great lessons of all.
I don't know how they do it.
But so we didn't have
that many arguments,
but we disagreed
on a lot of things
or we talked it through
and, you know,
we got on with it.
I do need to ask you
about the father
of four daughters.
I've got one,
the beautiful Sienna,
who I love,
but the three boys
are a fair bit
less complicated,
I'd say,
than a 15-year-old daughter.
And I look at you
and think,
geez, there must be
some amazing moments
in the house
because the father-daughter
relation to me
is completely different.
It's just so special
and she, you know,
I almost feel like
it's a different parent
and it's almost,
you can't compare it
to parenting boys
and you love,
but God, it's complex, mate.
How do you deal
with four girls?
How does your self-leadership
work on the home front?
There's two things
I learned as a dad
for daughters.
One is how I treat my wife
is very, very important
because how I treat my wife
is how they'll expect
to be treated by men,
which is very important.
The second thing is,
and the number one,
probably in any leadership,
one is vision.
So you know what you stand for,
but two is example.
And the greatest gift
I can give my daughters,
not only how I treat my wife,
but my example to them.
And I think about that thing,
if I'm trying to make them
proud every day,
then I'm doing the right things,
I'm living the right way
and that's hopefully
the example that they'll learn.
So example and knowing
what you stand for,
your vision,
are as important as a dad
as they are as the coach
of the Australian cricket team.
Yeah, beautifully said.
Such a great, great example
and everyone can relate to that
on the home front.
It's not always easy,
but the example,
kids pick up on the example,
you know,
you can have all the words in the world,
but they follow the example so closely.
I want to just pivot,
Jay, I know you're involved
in a collaboration
I want to ask you about,
which, you know,
pretty exciting thing you're doing
with a handful of other coaches.
You mentioned you're on the phone
to Paul Roos,
but I know regularly
you catch up with a group of coaches.
John Worsfold
has a legendary Western Australian,
maybe the greatest AFL leader
in Western Australian history.
Ben Rutten is the current coach
of the Essendon Football Club.
Trent Robinson,
an NRL Premiership coach
for the Roosters two times.
Matt King is his assistant.
Will Weaver,
who's gone on to the Houston Rockets.
Don Pike is a legend of the West as well
and a great mate of yours
who's just finished coaching
the Adelaide Crows
and now the Sydney Swans.
And a group of you
initially planned to get together
for about eight sessions,
but I understand eight months later
you're on a Zoom
or a Microsoft Teams
every fortnight.
Why do you take the time
in your incredibly busy schedule
to collaborate with people
outside of your sport?
It's like medicine.
Honestly, because what happens is,
and Luke, you can see
the painting behind me,
but I've just had a big,
next time we speak,
I've got the,
I've got it here
because I've just been,
the man, anyone out there,
the man in the arena
by Theodore Roosevelt,
and that's going to literally
go on this whole wall.
Yep.
Because the reason I say
it's like medicine,
it's so nice to be able
to talk to different men
who walk in your shoes.
We all have the same challenges,
we all have the same criticisms,
we all have the same emotions,
but not many people really get it.
But they all get it.
They're all head coaches
and to be able to just talk
and, oh, I'm glad
it's just not me feeling like that.
And just that one thing
we don't do great as Aussie men,
and I've learned this
over the journey,
is we don't speak enough
and to have great mentors
or great mates
who you can speak to
about things that are topical
or things that relate to you.
I know we spoke earlier,
about your physical
and mental health
and to be able to talk it out
as an Aussie bloke
and to be able to talk to those guys,
oh, it's just gold.
It's honestly like medicine.
I love it.
We have a laugh,
we get serious,
we talk about some serious points,
but great mentors.
I wouldn't be here now
talking to you
without great mentors in my life
and certainly those guys
are turning into great mates
and great mentors for me.
Beautifully said,
Theodore Roosevelt,
the man in the arena.
It's one of the most,
prophetic statements
I think people like you
who spend your life in the arena.
What sort of specific things
can you get into
a little bit of detail, JL,
that something's happening
in your world
and just to be able to bounce it off
someone who's dealing with it
at the same time,
what sort of examples work for you?
Oh, wow.
Well, I talked about the other day
when we caught up,
I talked about some of the challenges
we've got through this COVID period,
for example,
in AFL,
being on the board
of the West Coast Eagles.
I'll never forget, Luke,
that,
we had the first game
of the AFL season,
as you remember,
Adam Simpson had got me to,
I was going to,
due to speak to the West Coast boys
the morning before the game,
give them a bit of a rev up
and the night before on the Friday,
we had an emergency board meeting
and I had my jaw on the table
when they were telling me
the implications
of what could happen
if this COVID takes off
and the AFL season
doesn't go ahead.
And I went,
man,
like,
I couldn't believe
what I was hearing.
So,
and from there,
we've seen what's happened to COVID.
Now,
the challenges,
the reason I say that
is to be able to talk
to Trent Robinson
from Rugby League
or Wushart
or Don Pike
or Ben
or even Will
from Basketball
made,
like we're going,
and to be able to talk about that
and then the challenges
and the complexities
that go with it
and how we deal with it
and how the guys dealt with it
in the hub life
and how we've dealt
with it in the past
to be able to talk about that.
The other day,
I talked about the hysteria
of losing
and the guys
and that's where
we talk about the man
in the arena
and the critics.
There's so many critics
and with social media
and media out there now,
you know,
how do you deal with it?
Our players find it really hard
to deal with.
How do we deal?
So,
they're the sort of topics
we talk about.
We talk about list management.
We talked about
how the guys came back
after that six weeks
or eight weeks,
how they did their training,
like their physical training,
what they did to get them ready
for the AFL,
we had to do that
with our fast bowlers.
I mean,
the topics
that come up,
leadership,
how do we keep
the progression of leadership,
the question of culture,
those things,
I mean,
we can talk about that
for hours.
So,
they're the sort of subjects
that come up.
Sometimes it's formal,
sometimes it's very informal
and it's very conversational.
I take reams of notes
and,
you know,
that just helps me
to develop
as a coach
and a leader
and as a person.
JL,
the old style of leadership
was hierarchical.
I'm the boss
and I've got my subordinates
and you take your instructions
and,
you know,
I probably grew up
in an AFL environment
where that was
pretty much the norm.
You know,
you didn't get a lot of,
I suppose,
collaboration from a player
back to a coach
or vice versa
or you certainly didn't see
a lot of it.
Why are you passionate
about that model, JL?
Why do you see,
you know,
collaborating with other equals
as beneficial?
The hardest thing
about leadership,
is you've got to make
the decision.
Right?
So,
the reason I love collaboration
is because,
and I've got some,
look,
I've got some guys
inside our tent
and outside of our tent
that I talk to a lot
about cricket decisions,
for example,
but ultimately,
the leader has to make decisions.
But to be able to talk
to people who I trust
is very,
very important
because when you make a decision
and you want to make sure
you're not being blinded by,
you know,
whether it's loyalty,
or blinded by
what the media is saying.
So,
I've got a number of people
who I trust,
like I say,
within the camp
and outside of the camp.
and that's crucial,
mate,
because you want to verify
your decisions,
but ultimately,
you have to make the decision.
I just love listening to you
every time you speak.
It's,
you know,
yesterday I reached out
to Paul Ruse
or I was in town,
so I wanted to learn from,
you know,
what about your learning?
How do you go about doing that?
Is it always looking,
if the opportunity
to learn from someone else?
Yeah,
I've been,
I've always been a reader.
I read a lot
and I have,
and I've got this great room
out the back,
Darcy,
you'd love it,
mate.
It used to be,
when we built this house,
it was a,
when I was still playing,
it's a five by five metre room,
which was like my old,
the old tin shed
that I had in the old house
before we knocked it over
and it turned into my gym,
right?
So,
I'd train up there
and anyway,
the very first day
we moved into the house,
I got a permanent mark
on it,
and wrote across the door,
the pain of discipline
is nothing like
the pain of disappointment
and I picked that up
and my wife went,
what have you done?
This is a beautiful new house.
Anyway,
that room now has turned
from over the 20 years
we've lived here,
a five by five
to a 10 by five metre room,
which then became my study
and my gym
and now it's a 15 by five metre room.
So,
and you should see it,
the whole walls
are covered
in permanent marker
that I've written about
of lessons of my life
that I've learned from people
and it's just,
and now my daughter lives up,
my 24 year old daughter
lives up there.
So,
I said,
whatever you want up here,
darling,
but you cannot touch the walls
because one,
I'm going to sit in the middle of it
and I'm going to write a book
about lessons I've learned.
and I've always said,
I hope the last day I coach,
I'll still be,
I'll still recognise myself
as a novice coach.
So,
in other words,
I want to keep learning
and in the COVID period,
my gosh,
some of the people I learned,
you've got to be,
have the courage to reach out.
I'm fortunate in my,
in my role
that I can reach out to people,
but I love talking to people.
I love learning.
I love my journals.
I take that many notes
and a lot of it goes up on my walls,
whether it's quotes or scriptures
or poems or lessons.
And it's a really,
it's an inspiring place
to be up,
up the back there.
We'd love to see a photo of that,
Jay.
Oh,
that'd be brilliant
without getting
the personal information away.
But,
can I go back to
the hard decisions
you've got to make?
You're an Australian cricket coach.
You've got to tell someone
they're not coming on tour.
They're not in the side.
You're on the receiving of that yourself
as every sportsman is at some stage.
How do you deal with,
with those conversations?
One of the first things
that Sir Alex Ferguson said to me,
literally in three minutes,
and I don't even know how it goes.
Justin,
truth works.
What?
He goes,
truth works.
Two words.
I thought,
there's my next tattoo.
Truth works.
It's written up
and they're back up
in my back room.
But,
these things are really hard, Luke.
But what I've learned,
one of those values
we talk about
in our behaviours
is honesty.
It's not just honesty,
meticulously honest
with yourself.
A lot of people aren't,
as you know,
but you've got to look
at the Australian way
as I know
is to look
someone in the eyes
and tell them the truth.
And that's the best way.
At least you can sleep well.
They know where they stand.
They know where they're going.
And I promised my dad
when I became a coach,
I promised my dad
that we would be,
we'd go overs
with communication,
honest communication
to our players
because my experience
as a player
is often it was just,
you either read it
in the paper
or I just go
and make more runs, son.
Okay,
no worries.
We'll do that.
So,
the pact with my dad
is I'll always be honest
with my players
and it's a part
of leadership
that you learn.
It's a part of
it's a learned skill actually.
Believe it or not,
you know,
you get nervous
but also
the great Wayne Bennett
once told me
just remember Justin,
you're not dropping them.
They're dropping themselves.
You've just got to communicate
that they've been dropped
because you don't get rid
of people
who are performing well
or who are good people.
You're just the one
who's got to tell them
because they drop themselves
99% of the time.
Yeah,
as you said at the start,
sometimes a simplification
is brilliant,
isn't it?
And you can tell
from that message
and it is a bit
uncommon sometimes.
I can remember being
in environments
where the truth
was a pretty hard thing
to find.
I loved the Amazon
eight-part test series,
The Test,
produced by Adrian Brown
who's a friend of mine
and a great film producer
and sat down
with the whole family
and they loved it.
It was just an incredible,
brilliantly produced
and we got a great
insight into you
and I thought you came across
as you sound,
you know,
vulnerable and open
and, you know,
collaborative and raw.
What was that experience like
opening yourself up
to the cameras in that way?
Well,
when I did my very first
press conference
as the Australian
cricket coach
and there was a lot going on
with what had happened
in South Africa,
I got in the taxi
and I went
and it was a whirlwind
24 hours
and I got in the taxi,
I flew to Melbourne,
did the press conference
and I'm driving back
to the airport
and there's a guy
named Andre
with a camera
and he's just,
he's asking me questions
and I'm getting filmed
and I thought
it was just for
the CA website
or another part
of the press.
Anyway,
we get to the first tour
and there's Andre
and I'm going,
and I had no idea
we were doing a documentary
and Andre was literally
with us
everywhere
for the first 18 months
and I honestly,
mate,
it was really confronting.
I was really,
really nervous
how it was going to come out.
I was going to be nervous
how the team
would be perceived.
I'd be nervous
how I'd be perceived
but, look,
they did a great job
and the feedback from it
was extraordinary.
It's going to be
a great archive for me
because you are
opening yourself up
and,
but I was thankful
how it came across.
I was really nervous
but it came across well.
One of the funny things,
I still remember
standing at the front
and I rang Adrian
and said,
two things happened.
First,
we were able to watch them
before they came out
and after the first
or second episode,
my third daughter, Sophie,
she got this funny look
on her face
and she said,
Dad,
this is the first time
I've ever seen you angry
in my life.
I can't believe you get angry
and I said,
so one,
that was hopefully
a compliment for me
as a dad
but that's what happens
at work,
you know,
sometimes
and the second thing was
there was an episode
where Nathan Lyon
had just missed
the run out
for Ben Stokes
in that amazing test match
with Ben Stokes.
We lost an unlosable
test match.
I kicked the rubbish bin
and I said,
I said,
mate,
you can't put that in.
I said,
people think I'm a psycho.
Please don't put that in.
He goes,
yeah,
but do you see
what you did next?
I said,
what do you mean
what I did next?
Nathan Lyon
has missed this run out
and my God,
we're going to lose the Ashes
and what do you mean
what I did next?
I kicked the rubbish bin.
I look like a psycho.
He goes,
yeah,
but mate,
with three runs out,
you picked up all the rubbish
and you put it back in
and you talk about humility.
There's humility right there.
I went,
oh,
anyway,
okay,
so they left it in there
and the amount of people
that said to me,
mate,
what about when you
kicked the rubbish bin
and then you picked up
the rubbish?
I said,
stuff,
but yeah,
it turned out
to be a great documentary.
It was confronting.
I was nervous about it,
but they did a great job.
And that was one
of the great moments,
wasn't it?
To see,
you know,
that rawness in you,
mate,
and to see it come out
the way it did
and is it something
that you do more of?
Because for me,
as someone who loves
learning like you,
I just sat there
and just absorbed in it
and,
for me,
it's such a gift
that you've given other people.
Traditionally,
the doors were closed
on sport
and it wasn't something
that we were able
to see through.
And I look back
and think,
wouldn't you love
to go into
Vince Lombardi's
locker room
from,
you know,
the legendary NFL coach?
Wouldn't you love
to hear more
of Sir Alex Ferguson?
You got a great lunch,
but wouldn't you love
to have these
time capsule pieces?
Is it something
you see as you're
being more open to?
Yeah,
we're certainly
looking at it.
We're definitely
looking at doing it again.
I mean,
the Michael Jordan
documentary,
how good was that?
There's so many
great documentaries.
I'm sure it's
the way of the future.
But to be honest,
at the end of it,
after,
and Andre became
our cameraman,
he was one cameraman
and he was actually,
he's actually
a stand-up comic,
so he became
part of the team.
He's told the joke
of the day
every day
for a year and a half.
How he did that
has got me,
but he become part of it
and that's how I operate.
You talk about collaboration.
If you come into
any of my teams,
you become part
of the family.
I think you have to,
you've got to treat people
with respect
and with love
and make them feel special.
So he did that.
I'm sure we'll do it.
I'm sure it's the way
forward in the world,
but we also know
that it comes
with a price.
I mean,
every single day
of your life,
you've got someone
filming everything you say.
It's tiring.
Yeah.
But we've learned
from the last one
and yeah,
I mean,
if people want it,
then that's usually
how it works,
isn't it?
Well,
great.
Great experience
for Andre the cameraman
to be able to tell
the joke every day
in the Australian
dressing rooms.
He did a remarkable job.
You saw in that documentary
and just hearing
your schedule
before we started talking,
JL,
and your schedule
for life,
really,
as a young cricketer
you've been travelling
the world
and you married
your childhood sweetheart,
Sue,
and your four daughters.
So how do you
manage that?
How do you get
the balance right
between achieving
what you have achieved
and continue to achieve
and,
and the family time?
Well,
there's a couple of things
here now is
staying connected
now is nothing
more than an attitude
because we've got,
I mean,
the fact we're sitting
here now
doing this interview,
I'm in my office,
you're,
you're in your office there.
I mean,
communication,
staying connected
is purely an attitude
and I learned this
when I was 16 years old,
I went to England
for the first time
and I ran a school boys tour
and my mum
saved up her cash
to send me there.
It was amazing
and in that time
I got a hundred at Lords
and,
you know,
like,
I don't remember
one thing about the hundred.
I don't remember one ball.
I don't remember anything
but what I do remember
is after the,
after the innings
I ran around
to the red phone box
which is between
the main oval
and the nursery oval
and I reverse charged
called on my mum and dad.
I said,
mum and dad,
you don't believe,
so it was probably
three o'clock in the morning
back in the,
oh, is everything all right,
darling, what's happened?
I said,
mum,
I got a hundred at Lords
and they're so proud of me,
right?
I just remember that feeling
and it's driven me
every day since
and I spoke to my,
until my mum died
three years ago,
I spoke to my mum and dad
every single day
and I do with my wife
and my kids
every single day since
because,
and back then
it cost a lot of money
to,
but I said,
if there's one sacrifice
I'll make,
I will always stay connected
to my family.
So,
and now with FaceTime
and Skype
and everything,
staying connected
is an attitude,
so that's one thing.
Two,
I remember Steve Waugh,
I asked Steve Waugh
a similar question,
probably when Jesse,
my first was born,
I said,
and he had three kids
and I said,
how do you do it, mate?
He said,
well,
I look at it like this,
if I'm going to sacrifice
being away from my family,
I'm going to put everything
into being the best batsman
in the world.
I'm going to put everything
I can into being the best
I can possibly be
because they'll get benefit
from that
and if I'm going to make
the huge sacrifice
of being away from my family,
I'm going to put everything,
I'm going to make
some sacrifices myself.
So,
that was great advice.
So,
I stay connected
and I make sure
that they're proud of me
by me doing the very best
I can,
either as a player
or now as the
Australian career coach.
Beautifully said,
JL.
So,
every day on tour,
all four daughters,
you'll make sure
you touch base
and it's fantastic.
It's not a day,
there is not one single day
that I don't,
I'm not in contact
with my whole family.
Now,
look,
I do it with my mates as well.
I stay in touch
with my mates.
I mentioned
when we spoke about
health before,
Darce,
is there's two things
I know in life
that you've got to look
after your health
and your relationships
because after I finish
playing cricket
or after I finish
coaching the Australian
cricket team,
the things that are going
to be most important
to me are my family
and my mates
and my health.
So,
you've got to be on that
every single day.
So,
okay,
and the Australian
cricket team
that you talked about
before,
literally,
they are like
my brothers.
I speak to
Pano,
Hados,
Gilly,
McGrath,
Steve Waugh.
I speak to
Warnie a lot.
They are literally,
Jason Gillespie,
they are literally
like my brothers.
I spent more time
with them
than I do
with my blood brothers
and,
you know,
I'll never take
that for granted.
Great joy
of team sport,
isn't it?
The experiences
you had to have
those lifelong
friendships,
to me,
the greatest
takeaway from sport
and what a privilege
to have those
friendships for life
as you just
described.
Just quickly touch
on your health,
JL,
because you did
have in 2019
the World Cup
a serious
health issue
and can you
tell us about
what happened
and how you've
dealt with that?
Yeah,
before I do that,
I'll talk about
these mates to us.
My best mates
in my life
to this day
are my mates
from the
Warwick Black
Footy Club.
When I was a kid
and we won
six flags together
and they're still
away from me.
I'm from cricket.
They're my best friends.
So the bonds
and the friendships
from sport,
they are literally
Can I ask you,
the Warwick Black
Footy Club,
six premierships,
that sounds like
a good junior club
you're running there,
JL.
What sort of AFL player
was young Justin Langer?
I loved it,
but then I went
to England,
like I said,
and I decided,
imagine being
a professional
cricketer one day.
Steve Rosich,
who was the
CEO of the Dockers,
he was like
the prodigy.
He was like,
what a player.
When he was a kid,
oh,
so we've been
mates ever since,
but they're all
my best mates.
So those bonds
that are formed
through sport,
team sport,
oh,
that's why I love
sport so much.
And getting back
to the health,
you had a serious
health self-issue.
Can you share with us
what you've done
to get yourself
right again?
Yeah, I did.
I kept having all these.
I got,
when I was in England
last year,
I developed
these issues
in my left ear
and I,
now as I know it,
is tinnitus
and then I got
this vertigo
and I literally
had a day in bed
after the World Cup
where,
and it was the day
before we were
announcing the Ashes squad.
We had all these players
and I literally
wake up at three o'clock
in the morning
and the room was spinning
like I was blind drunk
and every time I sat
and I couldn't,
I couldn't stand up
and I slept
for 24 hours
and then
I was having,
feeling all seasick
and,
and I honestly
felt like I was
like drunk
and hazy for,
and then I thought
I had a brain tumour
because my dad
had a brain tumour
in his left ear
when he was about my age.
So,
oh man,
I was stressing out
and then,
and I felt,
and the other thing
about being an Aussie bloke
is I kept putting
the mask on every day
so that was taking up
not just the physical side
of it was affecting me
but also the mental side
because it was so tiring
having to put the mask on
and sort of act
like nothing was wrong.
So,
I've got great advice.
I met some,
some great medical,
medicos
who have helped me
and they've put me
on some medication
and they've helped me
with some different
lifestyle things
to,
to make sure I stay
on top of it
but it's no good
when you're going through it.
Jay,
I've got six questions
for you on
what we think
makes up the dimensions
of,
of great leadership
and can I start
with the first one?
What does self-leadership
mean to you?
Self-leadership,
I go back to that
initial quote
that probably
one of the mottos
of my life,
the pain of discipline
is nothing like
the pain of disappointment
and I think
you've got to lead
by example.
You've got to make
disciplined choices
because it never
makes sense to me.
There's an old saying
to us,
if you preach
excellence
and walk mediocrity,
you're nothing
but a common liar
and what I've learned
in life,
anyone can talk
a good game.
Anyone can talk tough.
Anyone can talk
but actually doing it.
There's another
great mate of mine
who's from the SAS,
Brett Warner,
once,
said to me,
JL,
just remember,
most people can live
the dream,
not many people
can live the reality.
So a lot of people
want the green beret
or the baggy green cap
or the bulldog's
jumper
or drive a Mercedes Benz
or live in a mansion.
Most people can dream
about that,
not many people
can live the reality
of what it takes.
So I guess
example
and self-awareness
and self-discipline
is crucial
in self-leadership.
And how do you
positively impact
others in your environment?
Believe it or not,
to me,
the most important thing
about leadership,
one of the most important
is caring for people.
Caring for people
and making people
feel special.
And sometimes
you come across
as the tough guy
but I know that
and sometimes,
look,
I've talked a lot
about mentors,
Dars.
Some of the mentors
in my life
have been the ones
who have been toughest on me
but to this day,
the people I respect
and admire
and love
and my best friends.
So the reason
they were tough on me
because they cared for me.
And so caring for people
is to me
how you show people
great leadership.
How do you go about
creating and sharing
your vision?
Well, you've got to be
strong with it
and one,
again,
it's easy to anyone,
you'll appreciate this,
I'm sure.
Every pre-season
and I did it
for 25 years,
you have a pre-season
and you all sit around
and this is our mission state,
we're for these
and these are our values
and for 24 hours
or two days
or three hours
and you put them on
big fancy posters
around the walls
and you sit there
and you sing Kumbaya
and you all feel happy about it
and you all think
this is great
but guess what?
It actually means nothing
because unless you live it
every single day,
it's like toilet paper,
the fancy mugs
and the fancy tattoos
and the fancy posters
in your gym
and around the walls
mean nothing
unless you live it
every day.
So to me,
that's the key.
The key is to live it
every single day
and it's hard
and everyone wants
to be popular
but you've got to live it
every single day.
It's a very,
very important part
of selling your vision.
You can say it
but then you've got to live it.
And what's your approach
to learning and improvement?
I think you've guessed here
that it's an everyday thing.
One day when I retire,
I hope I'm still saying
I'm a novice coach,
you can never,
ever stop learning
and the greatest learning
comes from living it
and learning about winning,
learning about losing,
bouncing back.
We've just had a test series
where we lost to India.
You know, a series,
you could say we should have won
and my gosh, it hurts
and you crawl into the cave
for a while
and then you've got to
dust yourself off.
I learned it as a player
and the greatest learning
of my life
is that when it's happening,
it's horrible,
it's a horrible feeling
but the best,
I look at it as a 50-year-old now
and the times I was dropped
or the times I failed
was I learned the most about myself.
I had a choice.
I could either quit
or I could get better
and one week ago,
we got beaten
and I asked myself the same question.
What are you going to learn from it?
Do you quit or you get better?
And, you know,
life is the greatest teacher
and if you surround yourself
with great people
and great books,
then you literally learn
every single day.
Every single day of your life.
How do you communicate
with clarity?
Honesty.
Clarity comes from honesty.
I honestly believe that
that if you look a person in the eye
and tell them the truth
and sometimes that's hard as well
and everyone says,
oh yeah, I want to tell the truth.
Oh, really?
It's that easy, is it?
But it actually is.
My nana, my great nana,
she used to say,
you've got a choice.
You can either tell the truth
or you can tell a lie.
At that moment,
you've got a choice
which one you're going to do.
It's much easier to tell the truth.
If you might not think it at the time,
but it is because you sleep well,
you don't have to have a good memory
because you just tell the truth.
So honesty is clarity.
Beautifully said.
How important is collaboration
and how do you do it?
Yeah, collaboration's important,
but recognise that the people
you collaborate with
should be the ones you trust the most
because ultimately your head's on the line.
You're the one who's going to make the decision.
Decisions always have implications.
So show people respect,
listen to their opinions,
but then understand as a leader,
you have to make the decision.
You have to make the call.
It's the most important thing about leadership.
You have the courage to make the tough calls.
JL, thanks so much for sharing your time.
It's been a great pleasure to listen to you
and I feel informed.
I feel inspired.
I've got lots of things to take away from our chat
and you're certainly doing your job
of making Australians proud
of the Australian cricket team.
It's become a great sanctuary
to watch cricket under your leadership
and I'm sure you'll be doing that too.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And to have followed you from a very young age
and to have seen your incredible success
and to know a bit more about your journey now
has been a great experience.
So thanks so much.
I really appreciate your time today.
No, thanks, Luke.
I've loved it.
Thanks, mate.
Empowering Leaders was presented by me, Luke Darcy,
produced by Matt Dwyer
with audio production by Darcy Thompson.
To start your leadership journey,
I encourage you to go to elitacollective.com,
take our Empowering Leaders Indicator tool
and understand the impact you have on your environment.
Join us at Elita.
To learn, lead and collaborate.
Listener.
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