Last week, TNT Sports aired a short film I recorded ahead of the Wales vs New Zealand match at the Principality Stadium. It went out in front of millions of people – players, coaches, and supporters – but the message wasn’t about rugby tactics or physical preparation.
It was about fear, leadership, connection, and what makes a team, in sport or business, actually perform under pressure.
For years, I’ve watched athletes and leaders try to fight fear, hide emotion, or pretend they’re fine.
But as I said in this video:
“Fear isn’t the enemy.
It’s the body preparing for action.”
This is one of the biggest misunderstandings I still see today, both in elite sport and boardrooms and leadership teams.
“The courage to feel the disappointment, the shame, the anger… that’s the first step to rebuilding a team.”
A lot of players believe fear shouldn’t exist. Many leaders feel the same. They think fear means weakness or lack of control.
It doesn’t.
Fear is just physiology. It’s activation and readiness.
The problem comes when we try to shut it down. When we avoid frustration, disappointment or shame, all we’re really doing is disconnecting – from ourselves, and from the people we’re meant to lead.
Most teams don’t fail because of skill. They fail because they stop feeling and then they stop talking.
“The language of emotion is what glues us together as a team.”
Across my 30 years working in elite rugby, including two British & Irish Lions tours and time with Wales, the strongest teams all had one thing in common… Connection.
Not the surface-level, corporate-training version of connection, but real human connection. It’s understanding how people are shaped, learning their emotional language, and knowing what they carry, as well as what they deliver.
In business, it’s exactly the same. When teams don’t connect, trust breaks down. And when trust breaks down, performance drops.
“Emotional range is what makes a good leader.”
Great leaders aren’t the ones who are stoic all the time. They’re the ones who can switch between:
Playful.
Serious.
Vulnerable.
Calm.
Honest.
This only sharpens a leaders edge, because people trust leaders who feel human, not untouchable. And when there’s trust, you see the willingness to challenge each other fiercely AND support each other fiercely.
For me, that’s the sweet spot of high performance.
“The best teams always have a culture of joy.”
It sounds simple, but in high pressure environments – whether elite sport or fast-paced corporate teams – joy often disappears.
People become robotic, they grip too tightly, and they forget that playfulness isn’t the opposite of intensity, it’s an amplifier for it.
Joy keeps teams alive, connected, and learning.
You can have strategy, tactics, skills, and experience.
But if you don’t understand fear…
If you don’t build connection…
If you don’t create emotional range…
If you don’t bring joy back in…
You won’t get the best out of your people. Not in rugby, business, or anywhere.
If this message resonates and you’d like support with your team or leadership group in 2026, you can get in touch with me here.
Unlock exclusive insights and expert advice that will empower you in your journey to becoming a great leader.
Unlock exclusive insights and expert advice that will empower you in your journey to becoming a great leader.