Care More

I have a confession to make: this post is going to be biased.

The bias stems from the fact that it’s about my childhood hero, Mal Meninga.

As proof, here is six-year-old Cody after getting him to sign my poster:

If you’re not familiar, Meninga is one of the icons of Rugby League. As a player, he captained the Canberra Raiders to all three of their Premierships, played 32 times for Queensland in State of Origin including 9 as captain, as well as captaining Australia on 23 occasions.

He’s seen similar success as a head coach, winning nine out of ten State of Origin campaigns he coached with Queensland, and guiding Australia to two World Cup victories.

Given Meninga’s stature in the game, he could be a standoffish leader who coaches with a ‘do it like I used to’ mentality.

As someone that I’ve looked up to my whole life, you can imagine my delight to hear him outline how it is care that has underpinned his entire coaching philosophy.

In an interview on The Gold Dust Podcast, Meninga was asked what qualities he believed are crucial for a successful coach, to which he responded, “The care factor is really important…always has been, always will be.”

To the delight of the hosts, Meninga then elaborated further, explaining how he’d turned CARE into an acronym that captures his principles for how to treat the people around him:

Connection

“You’ve got to build relationships, and I feel the stronger the relationship the stronger the leadership. It enables you to have that authority, but also gives you the respect that’s needed to delegate.”

Accountability

“If I ask my players to do things, I’ve got to be accountable for that and hold others accountable for that. That’s what players expect, I believe. It’s designed around wanting to be better people and better players.”

Recognition

“One thing that I do really well, I feel, is that we recognize achievement. We recognize when someone has an opinion. I want us to have an open and transparent environment where individuals can say what’s on their mind to improve the team. Giving that recognition to individuals empowers people.”

Education

“This is about continuous growth. You’re never done, you never know everything. There’s a saying in our sport: if you think you know everything, it’s time to retire. That’s one of my good traits, I feel, to have a curious mind that allows me to keep opening my mind to improve things all the time.”

Cody’s Notes

• Acronyms and values can be overdone, but this is a well-constructed and thoughtful way to bring Meninga’s compassionate principles to life.

• Rugby League is one of the toughest sports on the planet, and is still largely driven by the uber-masculine traits. It stands out to see a coach at the pinnacle of the sport show a lighter side.

• One common slip-up for head coaches is not knowing what they care about. Hint: it can’t be everything.

• Something that I believe is true of all great teams is that they care more about the things that are important to them. Having clarity and alignment about these features is what helps a team push towards realizing their vision for themselves.

• You should meet your heroes.