How did the All Blacks pull through a crisis in the early 2000s? What’s Legacy by James Kerr about?
James Kerr’s Legacy book explains how the All Blacks, one of the most successful sports teams in history, suffered years of crisis and defeats and came back a better team. His book also analyzes how the culture, the team, and the players were key to the All Blacks’ transformation.
Read more in our overview of Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life.
Image by Stefano Delfrate
Overview of Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life
The All Blacks are considered one of the most successful sports teams in history. (Shortform note: Their name references the all black uniform the players wore in the early years of the team.) They’re famous for their consistent winning record and dominant performance in international rugby. As New Zealand’s national rugby team, they represent the pinnacle of New Zealand sport and are of immense cultural significance for their nation. But they weren’t always the best. In the early 2000s, the All Blacks went through years of defeats, a crisis, and, eventually, a rebirth. James Kerr’s book Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life tells the story of how the All Blacks hit rock bottom and made it to the other side as a better team by focusing on creating a lasting and meaningful legacy.
Kerr—a speaker, coach, and consultant for elite teams like the US Special Forces and Google—spent several weeks with the All Blacks in New Zealand. He spoke to the players and coaches and witnessed their transformational strategies firsthand. He wrote Legacy to share the key lessons on leadership and culture he learned from them, which he believes can help any leader transform their team into a winning superpower.
The All Blacks’ Crisis and Comeback
Before we explore how the All Blacks’ strategies can help you turn your organization into a powerhouse, we’ll start with some context on what led to their transformation. This section will tell the story of how the All Blacks hit rock bottom and started over to become a better team.
A Painful Defeat
Kerr writes that the All Blacks hit their low point in 2004 when they suffered a devastating 40-26 loss to South Africa, finishing last in the annual Tri-Nations tournament. After the defeat, the players forced each other to drink dangerous amounts of alcohol as punishment for their poor performance. Later in the day, the victorious South Africans—who were staying in the same hotel—rescued several intoxicated All Blacks from random locations, including gutters and gardens. Kerr says the situation was so humiliating that some members of the coaching team threatened to leave if the players’ performance and behavior didn’t change—and it had to happen fast.
Kerr argues that the team’s decline on and off the field pointed to a deep cultural dysfunction. After years of focusing on individual talent, the players had become disconnected from each other and the All Blacks’ purpose: representing New Zealand’s best. While winning games mattered, they had forgotten why they played the game in the first place.
The Comeback
Reviving the team’s culture and performance required a process of transformation that lasted until 2011. This process eventually led them to win the Rugby World Cup, marking the most successful period in All Blacks history.
Kerr writes that the team’s transformation involved a cultural overhaul to elevate each All Black from an amateur player into a leader. The coaching team was led by Graham Henry, the newly appointed head coach, and several assistant coaches, including a mental skills coach. They created a transformation strategy to help the players internalize their new role.
Kerr identifies 15 mantras that define the All Blacks’ strategy. We’ve reorganized the mantras into three key elements: the culture, the team, and the player. The following sections will discuss the lessons contained in each mantra as they relate to these elements.
Foundational Element #1: The Culture
The All Blacks’ rebirth began by transforming their team culture. Kerr explains that the leadership team nurtured a culture where each member was inspired and able to contribute to the team’s legacy. In this section, we’ll illustrate this concept with the story of how the All Blacks renewed their signature pre-game ritual, the Kapa O Pango haka—a ceremonial dance from Māori culture that the All Blacks perform before each game. Then, we’ll explore the specific strategies used to nurture the team’s culture: honoring the past and the future, creating a shared language, and performing meaningful rituals.
Story: The Kapa O Pango Haka
Kerr says that in 2005, the All Blacks were losing their connection to the haka. Some players believed it was an empty branding tool rather than an expression of their identity. They weren’t excited to do the haka—they were eager to get it over with.
The coaching team knew they couldn’t lose their connection to the haka because it’s a ritual that physically embodies the All Blacks’ identity. The coaches brought in a Māori cultural expert to work with the senior players, and he facilitated conversations that allowed players to learn about each other’s cultural backgrounds and collectively rediscover what it meant to be a New Zealander and an All Black. Kerr explains that this helped players from non-Māori backgrounds, such as Fijian, Tongan, and Samoan players, connect their cultural heritage to the team’s legacy.
The process led to writing a new haka, symbolizing a recommitment to their legacy. The Kapa O Pango haka incorporated the team’s evolving multicultural identity while maintaining their connection to tradition and their shared values. The players added new expressions that blended Māori tradition with modern team identity, giving them language to express their collective purpose. According to Kerr, the project explicitly connected the past (traditional Māori culture), present (modern multicultural team), and future (creating something sustainable for future players), preserving core traditions while adapting them for a new era.
Organizational Culture Strategy #1: Honoring the Past and the Future
Kerr writes that at the core of the All Blacks’ culture is the idea of honoring the past and stewarding the future. For example, they use a woven rope with colored ribbons to mark their victories and losses. They add ribbons after each new loss or victory to maintain perspective on their place in the team’s lineage.
According to Kerr, honoring the past and stewarding the future gives leaders an edge. Contributing to something larger than yourself, like your team’s legacy, drives sustained excellence. To apply this strategy, think of your work as a relay race connecting different generations. Your predecessors got your organization to where it is today and passed you the baton. Your work honors that legacy by advancing the mission so future generations can get even farther in the race after you pass the baton to them.
If possible, Kerr says to use concrete objects and practices to maintain your team’s connection to the past and future. For example, the leaders of an organization with branches all over the country might motivate team members to continue that legacy by establishing branches worldwide. The organization could have a map in its headquarters to mark which regions of the world they’ve already reached.
Organizational Culture Strategy #2: Creating Your Own Language
While the All Blacks keep their heritage alive, they also make it current by infusing it with their own language, such as when they wrote their new haka. According to Kerr, a shared language can align your team with its core principles. Creating a shared language for your team translates abstract values into actionable behaviors, strengthens cultural cohesion, and helps team members develop an emotional connection to the organization’s vision.
You can imbue your organization’s shared language into your team members’ daily experience. For example, you can use catchphrases to clarify your organizational values, like Google’s original code of conduct, which memorably expressed expectations around integrity with the phrase “Don’t be evil.”
Kerr outlines some requirements for language that serves your team’s culture:
- It must translate the organization’s vision into action. Use action verbs that convey the values and overall vision your team should aim to achieve.
- It must feel authentic to your organization’s identity, not forced or done for marketing. Prioritize language that resonates with and makes sense to your team members.
- It must be visual and visceral to impact team members each time they hear it. Ensure that your shared language paints a clear picture of purpose and action.
- It must be flexible enough to work across contexts, whether in a meeting or on a T-shirt. Make it general enough to be meaningful to team members at any time.
Organizational Culture Strategy #3: Performing Rituals
Just like language brings a team’s culture to life through shared meaning, rituals bring the culture to life through shared behaviors. Rituals are structured, repetitive, and meaningful practices that embody shared values. The All Blacks use rituals like the haka to unite players, honor their legacy, and embed their core values into daily practices.
According to Kerr, rituals create and maintain cultural cohesion and organizational identity by turning abstract concepts like values and purpose into experiences that can be shared across generations. You can adopt rituals by creating authentic, meaningful actions that physically manifest the organization’s core beliefs and values. They can be simple, regular actions that carry a deeper meaning, like always starting all-hands meetings by welcoming new team members.
Foundational Element #2: The Team
Kerr states that the All Blacks’ culture sustains the second foundational element of success: a team that’s stronger than the sum of its players. In this section, we’ll begin with the story of how a last-resort player saved the All Blacks in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, demonstrating how the team’s strategies enable success even in the most challenging circumstances. We’ll then discuss four strategies that sustain the team: nurturing humility, being ready for change, sharing the lead, and practicing continuous learning.
Story: A Fourth-Choice Player Saves the Day
Kerr recounts that during the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks made it to the final, but they were weak in one key position: the fly-half. The team had to adapt rapidly. The coach asked Stephen Donald for help, a fly-half who wasn’t supposed to play in the World Cup because of his poor performance the previous year. Donald would serve as their last fly-half’s backup, and because of the team’s culture of continuous preparation, even their fourth-choice player could perform under pressure. In the final, their third fly-half was injured, and Donald stepped up. He played an excellent final and scored the winning points by taking a crucial penalty kick. Kerr says that despite being a last resort choice, Donald didn’t bring ego to the situation. He integrated into the team immediately and served the team’s needs.
Team Strategy #1: Nurturing Humility
For the All Blacks, nurturing humility means putting the team above themselves as individual players. Kerr explains that one of the All Blacks’ mantras exemplifies how they nurture humility: “No dickheads.” This mantra refers to their zero-tolerance policy for players who undermine the team’s collective goals through selfish behavior, regardless of their talent.
According to Kerr, humility fosters trust, cooperation, and cohesion—essentials for a high-performance team. He suggests you apply this strategy by creating an organizational culture where collective success outweighs individual ego. For example, prioritize character over talent when choosing team members and foster humility through shared responsibilities and accountability.
Team Strategy #2: Being Ready for Change
After their 2004 crisis, the All Blacks learned that stagnation leads to failure. Now, they’re always ready for change, proactively adapting and seizing opportunities to improve. According to Kerr, this mindset ensures survival and success because success is cyclical rather than linear, and downturns are inevitable. That means the best time to change your approach is when you’re at the peak of your performance.
Kerr says you can apply this mindset by viewing adaptation as a regular practice, not as a reaction to problems. To do this, you must be willing to make bold changes when things are going well and create an environment that encourages continuous learning and development. For example, a business might have a monthly routine of analyzing what its competitors are doing well and taking lessons from them to improve their own performance.
Team Strategy #3: Sharing the Lead
To help them stay ready for change, the coaching team shares the leadership role with players. For example, Kerr explains that the coaching team structured the team’s weekly schedule so that responsibility gradually shifted from management to players. Their week starts on Sunday nights with a coach-led review of Saturday’s performance. On Monday, the coaches communicate new game tactics and lead the first practice sessions. Then, practice days become increasingly player-led, ending on Saturday—game day—where the coaches step back and let the players make the decisions on the field. Importantly, the team has the day off to rest on Wednesdays.
Kerr says this structure helps you adapt to new situations more quickly because it’s less rigid than traditional hierarchical leadership. In addition, this approach builds engagement, develops future leaders, and creates a more resilient organization that can adapt to challenges as they arise. To apply this strategy, transfer some of the responsibility and decision-making to team members, empowering them to take ownership. Create an organizational culture of mutual trust and understanding by communicating expectations clearly and providing appropriate training so everyone can meet those expectations. Also, identify natural leaders in your team, give them meaningful responsibilities, and let them build their own teams.
Team Strategy #4: Practicing Continuous Learning
Kerr explains that the All Blacks internalized a practice of continuous learning—the ongoing process of acquiring and refining skills, knowledge, and character. This focus on ongoing improvement directly contributed to the All Blacks’ World Cup victory. Kerr explains that small, consistent improvements compound over time to create a cumulative competitive advantage. As a leader, you can adopt this strategy by intentionally embedding continuous learning in your work.
There are several ways you can apply continuous improvement:
- Identify small opportunities for cumulative improvement, rather than aiming for one major performance overhaul. For example, a sales team might first work on refining their pitch, then on following up, and later on optimizing lead tracking.
- Establish clear structures for learning and development. Identify what different types of learning your team needs, such as soft and hard skills. Then, decide how and how often they will engage in that type of learning.
- Develop individual growth plans for team members. Work together to define their improvement goals and daily objectives to keep them on track.
- Curate the team’s environment with positive external influences that can teach and inspire. Expose your team to inspirational people and experiences that motivate them and teach them new skills.
Foundational Element #3: The Player
While the All Blacks team is stronger than the sum of its players, each player is still held to the highest standard. Kerr explains that the final foundational element of the All Blacks’ comeback is a strong player who lives the team’s ethos on and off the field. This section will narrate the story of how the All Blacks redeemed themselves in the 2011 World Cup final, showing how the players developed the mental and physical tools to perform at the highest level. Then, we’ll discuss four characteristics of an All Black: purpose-driven, committed, honest, and ready to win.
Story: The All Blacks Keep Their Cool
In the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff, the All Blacks suffered a devastating defeat to France, 20-18. They choked under pressure and made poor decisions in the final minutes. Kerr writes that the 2007 loss fueled their drive for redemption and excellence in the following years. The players reminded themselves of their purpose: representing the very best of New Zealand. They committed themselves to their mental and physical conditioning and preparation. They created a team culture of honesty where they could share feedback openly to help each player improve their performance. Finally, they developed techniques to prepare for high-pressure situations that allowed them to be ready to perform and win under the highest stakes.
Four years later, in the 2011 World Cup final, the All Blacks faced France again in Auckland. The stakes were even higher because they were playing a World Cup final at home. Kerr argues that the four-year journey between these two matches demonstrates how implementing these principles led to tangible results in the most pressure-filled situations: Despite leading by just one point, they maintained their composure and won, 8-7.
Characteristic #1: Purpose-Driven
At the heart of the All Blacks’ redemption was the players’ newfound purpose to represent New Zealand and contribute to the team’s legacy. Kerr explains that to nurture purpose-driven players, the All Blacks’ cultural transformation involved ongoing conversations to help each player connect their purpose to the team’s success and legacy.
According to Kerr, having a clear purpose connects your individual work to a larger mission that transcends personal gain. He explains that purpose provides the emotional fuel that drives sustained high performance. When you understand and connect with a greater purpose, you become more engaged, resilient, and willing to put in extraordinary effort. To help your team tap into their purpose, Kerr suggests you facilitate conversations to help them discover an authentic purpose that connects to organizational goals and personal values.
Characteristic #2: Committed
With a meaningful purpose as fuel, the All Blacks commit to going beyond what’s expected or required. The All Blacks recognize that extraordinary achievement begins with extra efforts, such as being first to arrive and last to leave the practice or adding an extra repetition to every workout, however small these actions might seem in the moment.
Kerr argues that excellence is the accumulated effect of additional effort over time. To achieve excellence, you should identify what truly matters to you and then consistently do more than is required in pursuit of that goal.
Characteristic #3: Honest
Kerr explains that honesty helps sustain the All Blacks’ purpose and commitment. Honesty fosters self-awareness and helps them operate from a place of genuine leadership because their values, actions, and words are aligned. This creates trust and a foundation for long-term performance and well-being. Kerr says you can practice honesty and build trust through three key practices:
1. Aligning your personal and private selves. Approach all your roles—parent, leader, friend, or any others—with the same set of values. Kerr argues this provides a stable foundation that helps you weather setbacks because you have a consistent core but don’t identify exclusively with any single role. For example, you might be a manager today and have a different title tomorrow, but how you approach your work won’t change.
2. Giving feedback openly. Deal with mistakes and failures collectively by discussing them in the open, instead of dealing with them through isolation and finger-pointing. For example, the All Blacks remind each other to give feedback “in the belly, not the back,” meaning they do it directly and without judgment.
3. Keeping your promises. Practice rigorous integrity in your daily actions, such as honoring commitments and showing up on time for meetings.
Characteristic #4: Ready to Win
The All Blacks’ final characteristic is being ready to win—embracing high expectations and maintaining composure under pressure. To avoid panicking under pressure, the coaching team helped the players develop a blue head mindset—in other words, having situational awareness and being able to perform effectively, adapt to circumstances, and overcome challenges. Conversely, a red head has negative emotional responses that can cause a player to feel overwhelmed and stuck. A blue head mindset transforms pressure into a driving force for preparation instead of leading to panic and poor decision-making. Kerr argues you can develop a blue head by incorporating high expectations and systematic mental training.
Kerr highlights four practices that can help you keep a blue head:
1. Setting ambitious goals, even if they seem unrealistic, and using that pressure as a motivating force. If you’re a leader, set uncompromising standards for the team.
2. Embracing the fear of failure as motivation to never feel the pain of failing. When setbacks inevitably happen, use them as opportunities for growth rather than sources of discouragement.
3. Developing mental discipline to stay focused in stressful situations. Practice mental discipline techniques consistently so they become automatic responses when pressure mounts, allowing you to stay focused on the present moment. For example, you can practice breathing exercises, mantras to stay present and composed, and anchors—physical actions like stamping your feet to bring yourself back to the present moment when you feel anxiety.
4. Practicing in challenging scenarios. Introduce real pressure elements into your practice, incorporating unexpected scenarios to test your decision-making abilities. For example, if you’re training to become a chef, try preparing a meal without some of the ingredients.
