Coaching Culture with Ben Herring

A lot of people talk about “culture” like it’s a slogan. Dan Elsom lives it, by building a brand-new representative rugby team for the British and Irish expat community in Australia, then turning it into a real platform for players who want more than a club season and a few match fees. This chat gets into the real work: selection standards, coaching alignment, logistics, media, and why making something legitimate matters when you want players and supporters to buy in. We also dig into the bigger vision behind the Heritage Cup, a new annual fixture that pairs British and Irish Expat Rugby with the Pacific Warriors to celebrate the heritage that shapes Australian rugby every weekend. Dan shares what it means to create unity across different backgrounds, how you build a “we” fast with limited prep time, and why exposure through live streaming can be a game-changer for semi-pro talent across the Shoot Shield and beyond. The most human part of the story is what happens off the field: cold outreach for sponsors, self-funding before there’s proof, juggling the stress of launch while raising a newborn, and learning the hard way about the admin nobody warns you about. We close with the charity partnership with Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), honoring Dan’s mate Max Oliver, and why purpose makes the grind worth it. If you enjoy conversations on leadership, team culture, grassroots rugby, and building community through sport, hit subscribe, share this with a rugby friend, and leave us a review. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Watching pro rugby on TV can make school rugby look intimidating, but the truth is far more hopeful and far more practical. We’re joined by Tim Murdy, Director of Sport at Shawnigan Lake School, to talk about how a youth rugby program becomes a place where kids feel safe, challenged, and proud. Tim explains why rugby is a powerful shared experience for younger students, especially in a boarding school setting with athletes arriving from many countries and sporting backgrounds. We get specific about how to coach beginners without overwhelming them: small-sided games, fun-first progressions, and a skills-based approach that teaches passing, catching, tackling, and decision-making for every body type. We also tackle the hard questions parents ask about contact sports. Tim breaks down how qualified coaching, controlled contact teaching, and prescriptive refereeing reduce risk, and why it’s essential not to compare 13-year-olds to professional athletes. From there, the conversation widens into coaching culture and leadership. Tim shares his definition of excellence: preparation and performance for competitive pathways, and an excellent experience for every student. We explore fundamentals under pressure, training intensity, using wrestling as a safe tool for body control, and the long-term impact of opening your school’s doors to visiting teams and national programs. Subscribe for more conversations on coaching culture, share this with a coach or sports parent, and leave a review with the one idea you’re taking into your next training session. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

A lot of people talk about “culture” like it’s a slogan on a wall. We wanted something more real, so I sat down with Campese Maafu, a three-time Rugby World Cup prop and 63-test Flying Fijian, to hear what actually holds teams and people together when pressure hits. For Campese, culture is values plus standards, fueled by faith and the responsibility of “upholding your name” for your family, your community, and everyone watching you from back home. Campese’s journey is just as gripping as his definitions. He walks us through representing Fiji with Tongan roots, the family pride that comes with international rugby, and the unforgettable moment of debuting against his own brother in the scrum. Then the story takes a turn most fans don’t expect: he retires, becomes a plumber, finishes his apprenticeship, and learns how coaching shows up in everyday work through patience, communication, and repetition with apprentices who all learn differently. That repetition mindset becomes the engine of his coaching career, from schools and clubs to one-on-ones and pathways, until he gets the call to join the Fijian Drua as a professional coach. We dig into what the Drua means for Fijian rugby, why young players see rugby as a path out of poverty, and the hard shift from village-style rugby to professional behaviors like nutrition, recovery, strength and conditioning, and set piece pride in scrummaging and mauling. If you care about rugby coaching, leadership development, and building a high-performance culture without losing your humanity, you’ll take a lot from this one. Subscribe, share it with a coach or player who needs it, and leave a review, what’s one standard you want your team to live by this week? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Winning is loud. Development is quiet. And in school rugby, the noise can crush the very kids we are trying to help. I sit down with Roddy Dean, one of Scotland’s leading schoolboy rugby coaches and longtime Director of Rugby at Merciston Castle School, to unpack what actually builds a lasting coaching culture, especially when expectations, parents, and tradition all pull in different directions. We get into Roddy’s Borders upbringing and how being surrounded by elite players and strong community values shaped his discipline, humility, and leadership. From there, we dig into what he calls a real coaching superpower: observation. Not “watching film” observation, but noticing the kid who is off, the teammate who is acting out, or the player who needs an arm around the shoulder before it becomes a bigger issue. Roddy connects emotional intelligence, relationships, and standards with a simple test: how do you behave when you think no one is watching? Then we go practical. Roddy explains the “golden triangle” that aligns coach, parent, and player, why multi-sport development beats early specialization for most young athletes, and how tours and community experiences can educate for life, not just rugby. We also break down how Merciston shifted from chasing trophies to focusing on process and pathways, and why fun is not a bonus but the foundation for performance. If you coach youth sports, lead a school program, or parent a young athlete, you’ll leave with frameworks you can use this week. Subscribe, share with a coach who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

A packed stadium, free entry, a brand-new team built across borders, and a cold email that ends with Northampton Saints landing in Colombo. We talk with Saabir Cader, the founder behind the Asian Pacific Lions, about how Sri Lanka rugby became the perfect home for a world-class showcase and why belief matters more than permission when you’re trying to build something that doesn’t exist yet. If you care about rugby culture, sports leadership, and what it takes to create opportunity, this story hits hard. We dig into the side of Sri Lanka that many rugby fans never see: a school rugby ecosystem drawing thousands of supporters, a proud 147-year rugby history, and a national culture that unites through adversity. Then we get honest about the bottleneck after schoolboy rugby, where huge participation doesn’t automatically become club rugby, professional pathways, or high performance systems. Saabir shares what changed after COVID, how corporate backing affects player development, and why smarter structures are essential for Asian rugby and Pacific rugby to keep more talent in the game. From there, it’s the nuts and bolts of making a major event happen: securing sponsors, earning trust without a track record, assembling players from Japan, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond, and building a team culture in weeks. We also talk about bringing in legends like David Campese, what World Rugby could do differently to support developing rugby nations, and Saabir’s long-term plan to connect education with elite rugby opportunities so even one young player can break through. If you enjoyed this, subscribe to Coaching Culture, share this with a rugby mate, and leave a review so more people can find stories about building the game the right way. What part of Saabir’s approach would you copy first? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

A captain’s job gets real when the message is hard and the stakes are higher than one person’s pride. Jamie Henry joins us to talk about the uncomfortable side of professional rugby: selection, disappointment, and the quiet way a results-driven environment can make players feel like decisions are personal. We dig into what actually earns respect inside strong teams, why “no one is bigger than the team” only works when it shows up in daily behavior, and how leaders keep trust intact when not everyone gets what they want. Jamie’s story runs through Japanese rugby culture, where respect, elders, and the group come first. He shares how the senpai kohai dynamic shaped him, and why he chose to redefine respect on the field as full-blooded effort, not hesitation. That one shift has big implications for multicultural squads, communication under pressure, and building a shared standard without erasing anyone’s identity. Then we go deep on the Asia Pacific Lions, a new Asia Pacific rugby project designed to create real professional rugby pathways for Asian players outside Japan. Jamie explains the mission, what it is like captaining a team that includes seasoned international stars, and how the Lions pulled off an inaugural match in Colombo, Sri Lanka against Northampton Saints. We also explore Sri Lanka as an underrated rugby hotbed and what success should look like ten years from now: Asian players earning chances in top leagues because this platform existed. If you care about rugby leadership, team culture, and growing the game across Asia, hit subscribe, share this with a rugby mate, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

What if the strongest teams aren’t built by hype, slogans, or “high performance” talk, but by a few clear rituals everyone can count on? I sit down with Dave Askew, deputy principal and First XV coach at Auckland Grammar School, to get a behind-the-scenes look at how one of New Zealand’s most storied schoolboy rugby programs builds culture that holds up under pressure. We talk about the daily assembly as the “big hall” that creates belonging, recognition, and a shared start line for 2,000-plus boys. Dave explains why predictability and tradition matter, especially for students who don’t have stability at home, and how a consistent structure can unlock confidence and ambition. From there we get practical with “school rules plus one,” the idea that representing a premier team is a privilege and that leadership starts with doing the basics better than anyone else. We also challenge the language that creeps into youth sport. Dave avoids the term “high performance” because of the pressure it puts on teenagers and the way it can scare off volunteer coaches. Instead, we explore “high care” as a better north star, along with a Plan A versus Plan B approach that keeps education and long-term career options at the center while still supporting big sporting dreams. If you coach school sports, lead a team, or care about building resilience and anti-fragility, you’ll take away tools you can use immediately. Subscribe for more conversations on coaching culture, share this with a coach or parent who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway: how do you define success when your team loses? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Rugby can fill a stadium. Culture can shape a life. We sit down with Sean Erasmus, head coach at Paul Boys High School, to unpack what it takes to build a values-led rugby program inside one of the most tradition-heavy environments in the world. His core idea is simple and demanding: culture is a living thing, and if we do not feed it and prune it every day, it drifts into something we never intended. We get specific about what that looks like with schoolboys who face modern pressure that previous generations never had to carry: social media commentary, public hype, agents, contracts, and criticism that follows them home. Sean explains why banning phones is fantasy, how to talk about Instagram and TikTok head-on, and how to keep a teenager’s identity from swinging with every compliment or pile-on. He also makes the case for vulnerability in leadership: when we are willing to be real in front of the boys, they learn they can be real with us. Then we zoom out to the system side of coaching culture and rugby leadership: how you scale consistent standards across dozens of teams, how you “coach the coaches,” and why you should match coaching styles to each age group’s needs. We also tackle the hardest stakeholder question in schoolboy rugby: parents. Sean shares a clear framework for respectful conversations, honest selection feedback, and boundaries that protect families on both sides. If you care about team culture, schoolboy rugby, leadership, and developing young men in a high performance environment, this one will stay with you. Subscribe, share it with a coach or parent, and leave a review if it hits home. What’s one value you wish every coach would lead with? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

The Ranfurly Shield isn’t just a trophy. It’s a pressure cooker that turns every home match into a final, pulls entire towns into the story, and asks players to carry something heavier than a scoreboard. After Northland’s first Shield win since 1978, head coach Ryan Martin joins me to explain how his group handled the moment and why the celebration and the responsibility can actually fuel performance instead of distracting from it. We dig into Ryan’s simple coaching framework for big games: confidence equals belief times evidence. Belief comes from the language you use and the “white noise” you remove when the week gets loud. Evidence comes from what you’ve trained long before the spotlight shows up, including the repeated reps that create quick skill retrieval when fatigue and nerves hit. Ryan shares how a single photo, two minutes of silence, and a few carefully chosen words can set a tone that speeches never reach. From there we get practical: shock and awe without chaos. Ryan breaks down why two or three trained surprises like an unusual lineout setup or a bold tap move can rattle a structured defense, and how he stores ideas in a personal coaching library for the right opponent at the right time. We also talk training design, including the “cliff face” drill for earning momentum, and why pad holders must act like mini coaches if you want standards to rise across the whole squad. Finally, we go deeper into coaching culture: leading with care, catching people doing something good, clipping heroic moments, and using haka and kaitiaki guardianship to build identity that lasts through media attention and mid-season celebrations. If you coach rugby, lead teams, or just love what sport can do for a community, you’ll take something usable from this conversation. Subscribe for more coaching culture conversations, share this with a coach who has a big game coming up, and leave a review to help more people find the show. What’s one piece of “white noise” you want to remove this week? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

If someone had to “explain” your culture to a new hire, would it fall apart the moment pressure hits? Ross Neal joins us to get brutally practical about what culture actually is: what you do and how you do it, so clear that a person could sit in your environment for a week and tell the truth about it. From pro rugby locker rooms to corporate leadership teams, Ross shows how culture is built in the small moments leaders leak through mood, reactions, and what they choose to reward. We dig into the research-backed behaviors that separate high-performing teams from polite, underpowered ones. Ross breaks down information elaboration, the habit of asking sharper questions that clarifies intent and improves decisions, and why it often disappears in top-down, military-style environments. We also talk psychological safety as a facilitator, including simple “real world” tests you can run in one-to-ones to see if people truly feel safe enough to say, “I don’t understand.” From there we get into coaching and management mechanics: how to use silence to pull thinking out of the room, why process over outcome matters most when things go well, and how a neutral review keeps standards consistent whether you win or lose. We also explore why structure often beats coaching, how onboarding accelerates “speed to excellence,” and what business and sport can steal from each other on recruitment, buy-in, and meeting design. If you lead a team and want better decisions, more ownership, and a culture people can feel, press play then share this with a colleague. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s one small change you could make this week that would get your team asking better questions? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

A championship season can tempt coaches to talk only about tactics, but the real story sits in the spaces between school, sport, and growing up. We sit down with Tim Rapp, head coach of Newington College First XV and Australia U16 head coach, to unpack how a winning schoolboy rugby program is built on values, relationships, and the daily experience players have when they arrive at 3:40 pm carrying the rest of life on their shoulders. We get practical about coaching culture: why “the last classroom of the day” matters, how your tone can either pull kids back into the game or push them out of sport, and why turning corrections into questions often lands better than a lecture. Tim shares how he balances high standards with empathy, the five to one approach to positive versus corrective feedback, and the reality that players need boundaries they can explore inside. We also break down how Newington’s “All In” theme evolved from a simple idea into a school-wide connection point through poker chips, service, and recognition that reached well beyond the First XV. Along the way, we talk leadership, delegation, and building an environment where assistants can grow into bigger coaching pathways too. If you care about youth sports coaching, school rugby culture, player development, and keeping teenagers in sport, this conversation is a blueprint. If it helps you, subscribe, share it with a coach who needs it, and leave a review with the one language change you’re making this week. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

You can spot a coach on the sideline in seconds. What’s harder to see is everything they carry home afterward: the player who’s struggling, the conversation they should have handled better, the pressure from parents or committees, the fear of judgment, and the constant need to stay calm for everyone else. That hidden weight has a name, and once you name it, you can finally do something about it. We’re joined by Stu Edwards, newly appointed Finland head coach and author of The Invisible Load, based on his first-class honors research into stress factors and mental health support systems for rugby union coaches. We talk about why the emotional experience of coaching looks surprisingly similar from grassroots to the professional game, and why “just be tougher” misses the real issue. Stu breaks down emotional labor, the coaching swirl that distorts your lens, and why coach wellbeing is not separate from performance but sits underneath it. We also get practical about solutions that don’t require massive budgets: intentional support systems, clearer expectations, mentoring, peer support, and a trusted sounding board you can use before things hit crisis mode. A huge thread running through this conversation is confidentiality and psychological safety, because if coaches don’t feel safe, they won’t speak honestly and support arrives too late. If you coach, lead, or support people who do, this one will change how you see the job. Subscribe, share this with a coach who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Buy book here https://a.co/d/04plUJ1h Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

“Culture” is the most overused word in sport, and we’ve both heard it used as a lazy explanation for everything from blowout losses to surprise championships. So we put the uncomfortable question on the table with Ben Darwin from Game Line Analytics: is culture a load of crap, or is it just misunderstood? What follows is a grounded, data-informed look at what culture actually looks like when you strip away the mystique and focus on behaviors you can see, coach, and repeat. We dig into normative behaviors and why they’re often mistaken for some special team aura. Ben makes the case that stability and retention create the conditions for cohesion, and cohesion is what removes ambiguity on the field. When people stay, they learn each other’s timing, roles, and cues, and execution gets cleaner under pressure. We also talk about the darker side of the story: teams can win while carrying bad behavior, and those problems often surface later when results slide and the “culture” narrative flips overnight. From there we get practical: why copying successful teams can backfire, why you should build a progression instead of stealing someone’s endpoint, and how smart leaders use meetings, visuals, and technology to close understanding gaps quickly. Ben also shares coach-ready advice like learning a new sport to remember what it feels like to be a beginner, and deliberately unlearning a skill to appreciate how hard change really is. If you care about team culture, leadership, cohesion, and performance in rugby and beyond, this one will sharpen your thinking. Subscribe, share it with a coach or captain, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

You can know the “right” answer as a coach and still miss the point if your environment pushes people in the wrong direction. That’s the thread we pull on with Al Rogers, who spent nine years as an All Blacks analyst during a golden run, then moved into coaching across Super Rugby, international rugby, and Japan. We get honest about what actually changes performance: not a wall of slogans or a spreadsheet of stats, but the daily culture you create and the behaviors you reinforce when things get hard. We start with a simple coaching habit that most people skip: being open with other coaches. Al shares why post-game conversations with opposition staff can be the best feedback you’ll ever get, even when you’re rivals. From there we define culture as the environment that shapes behavior and talk about how pressure reveals what’s real. Al brings vivid examples from Pacific Island teams where laughter, music, and fun are not “extras” but central tools that keep energy high and anxiety low when it matters. We also go deep on clarity and curiosity as competitive advantages. Elite coaches simplify the game so athletes can get out of their own way, master the fundamentals, and ignore the noise. On the analytics side, Al explains why data needs context, how stats should start conversations rather than end them, and how simple tools like traffic light self-ratings can expose misalignment quickly while building trust. If you care about coaching culture, leadership, rugby coaching, high performance, and sports analytics that actually helps people, this one will give you practical frameworks you can use immediately. Subscribe, share this with a coach who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

The hottest debate in any team sport is selection, and we get why it drives people crazy. From the stands, it looks like a simple list of the most talented players. From the coach’s seat, it’s risk management, culture building, and performance under pressure all rolled into one call. That’s the contrarian idea we’re unpacking: selection isn’t about picking the best players, it’s about picking the best team. We walk through three practical filters that shape real coaching decisions. First is trust: can we count on you to prepare, do the little things, and stay steady when the moment tightens? Then we dig into influence, because every player shifts the environment, whether they mean to or not. The right presence lifts standards and belief. The wrong presence turns bad habits into “normal” and spreads excuses fast. Finally, we talk about fit and context. A player can be incredibly talented and still make the group worse if they don’t match the game model or disrupt cohesion. We also share a quick recruiting check for character: ask someone from the player’s current team if they’d be a good fit and listen carefully to the first second of their answer. If you care about rugby coaching, team culture, leadership, and building a squad that actually performs together, this one will change how you watch selections. Subscribe to the Coaching Culture Podcast, share this with a coach or captain, and leave a review with your take: should selection reward talent or protect the team? Send us Fan Mail Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Pressure doesn’t usually change a coach with one big blow. It changes you slowly, one compromise at a time, until the season ends and you realize you’ve been walking around in fog. Joey Mongalo joins us for a contrarian round of questions on coaching culture and leadership, starting with a deceptively simple one: are holidays just as important as seasons? From tornado-speed weekly cycles to the need for pockets of quiet, we talk rest and recovery as a performance skill, not a reward you earn after you’re already depleted. From there we get into player development and the uncomfortable truth about control. Coaches can create dependency by owning every decision, every clip, every answer. The alternative is autonomy: shared review and preview, players building their own “program away from the program,” and an “individual first” mindset that actually serves the team. If you only do the generic team session, you might get away with it in a team sport, but you’ll get exposed when the moment is yours. We also unpack why winning teams stop winning, looking at evolution at the organizational level, leadership transitions and the baton pass, and what happens when selection becomes a given. Then we take on modern leadership myths: can nice leaders win, should leaders show weakness, and what vulnerability looks like when AI can provide endless information but can’t provide trust, psychological safety, or real human connection. If you care about high performance coaching, authentic leadership, accountability, and building a resilient team culture, this conversation will give you language and practical angles you can use right away. Subscribe, share this with a coach or leader who needs a reset, and leave a review with the biggest idea you’re taking into your week. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

A Champions Cup-winning rugby attack coach who never played professional rugby should not make sense and that’s exactly why Noel McNamara’s story matters. We sit with the uncomfortable truth that the “perfect CV” is often overrated, and the real separator is how you think when an opportunity is risky, unglamorous, or confusing to everyone around you. We dig into what stood out most from Noel’s journey: a very low fear of failure and a willingness to say yes early. One move leads to the next, from New Zealand to South Africa to France, and suddenly the career looks inevitable even though none of the individual steps looked “reasonable” at the time. That launches a bigger reflection on the trap Justin Welsh describes: a chain of sensible choices that builds momentum, makes future decisions automatic, and eventually makes changing direction feel reckless. For coaches chasing a professional coaching career, that chain can quietly pull you away from the work and life you actually want. We close with three practical takeaways for ambitious coaches in rugby and beyond: back yourself before other people back you, chase learning not status, and choose adventure over comfort. If you’ve been waiting for permission, waiting for the perfect job, or trying to keep everyone else comfortable with your choices, this is your nudge to trust your gut and build your path on purpose. Subscribe, share this with a coach who needs it, and leave a review with the boldest “unreasonable” step you’re considering. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Winning a major trophy is supposed to be the moment, but Noel McNamara doesn’t romanticize it. He explains why a title can feel like relief for ten minutes, and why the harder, more meaningful work starts immediately after: rebuilding energy, sharpening clarity, and chasing improvement in a world where success keeps moving further away the moment you get close. If you coach rugby, lead a team, or care about high-performance culture, this is a grounded look at what it takes to stay ahead without burning out. We get practical about coaching leadership and player ownership. Noel shares how the best coaches and best players “work it out together,” why collaboration still requires real accountability, and how a team culture breaks when feedback only travels one direction. We also dig into the language of coaching: simple cues, clear principles, and creating learning environments that force problem-solving instead of passive listening. One story captures it perfectly: showing up with 21 slides, being told to bring three, and realizing connection beats information every time. The conversation also goes deeper than tactics. Noel talks about regrounding, staying connected to home, and why fun matters even in elite professional rugby. We explore development metrics that actually last, like whether young athletes still want to play after a season with you, plus the discipline of instant feedback that helps people change behavior now, not next week. If you enjoy honest coaching stories and specific leadership tools you can use immediately, subscribe, share this with a coach or manager who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. What’s the one habit you’d change to help your team get better tomorrow? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Some teams win because they have better players. Leicester Tigers, at their best, won because they had a culture that could survive anything, including brutal training, relentless internal competition, and the pressure of living up to an identity everyone could see from the stands. We sit down with Geordan Murphy, Leicester player, captain, coach, and senior leader across 23 years at the club. Geordan tells the story of arriving from Ireland on what was supposed to be a three week trial, then being thrown straight into first team training with Lions and internationals. We dig into what made that era so formidable: standards that never blinked, competitiveness that stayed on the field, and the idea that you can earn your place by being different, not just bigger. Geordan also shares how he used creativity, skill work, and rugby IQ as his edge in a world that worshiped strength. From there we get into the nuts and bolts of coaching culture and leadership: why “the behaviors you accept” is the real definition of culture, how recruitment decisions either protect the environment or slowly poison it, and why a clear vision of how you play is inseparable from identity. Jordan opens up about the hardest stretch of his career, taking over under fire, navigating the pandemic, feeling the loneliness of head coaching, and the sting of being let go after two decades with little closure. If you lead people, this conversation will make you think about performance, endings, and what it takes to reach out before the pressure cooker changes who you are. If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a coach or leader who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find Coaching Culture. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Most teams don’t lose because they lack information. They lose because pressure hijacks attention, connection, and decision making. Craig White joins us to unpack a simple truth that too many coaches miss: your team feels your nervous system before they hear your message, and what you model becomes the culture. We dig into conscious leadership and the difference between regulated and dysregulated coaching. Craig breaks down the “to me, by me, through me, as me” framework, why victim language spreads fast in staff rooms, and how a grounded coach can deliver hard feedback without becoming unsafe. We also talk brotherhood and connection as the foundation for high performance, not a soft extra. When people feel safe, they challenge each other, learn faster, and play freer. From there we take it off the field. Many high achievers are visible at home but not present, chasing results because they think validation must be earned. Craig shares how to train presence like a skill, build relational fitness, set boundaries that protect family time, and use master regulators like sleep and nature to reset the nervous system. We finish with attention and intention, and why focused awareness changes outcomes in the gym, rehab, and leadership itself. If you want practical tools for coaching culture, emotional safety, and leadership under pressure, listen through and share this with a coach who needs it. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: where do you most want to be more present this week? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.