Disruptors Lawrence Dallaglio: Legendary England Rugby Player & World Cup Winner [Business, mindset, entrepreneur, disruptors]
Rob is joined by England rugby legend Lawrence Dallaglio and they get into all things rugby and business. After retiring from an amazing rugby career in 2008, Lawrence tells us what he has been doing since, from the businesses he runs to regular punditry as well as his honorable charitable work. Don’t miss this insightful interview with an English Rugby legend.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Q. Lawrence, what are you up to now?
A.I retired from rugby in 2008, it is an ever-fading memory. I was a rugby player who worked before they got into rugby, I was a surveyor, I owned the property industry when it was on its knees in the early ’90s just as the game of rugby came along, and when I turned professional. I sort of parked the property side of things for a while, though I would give rugby a go. Sport is quite an exhausting career, there are enormous highs and enormous lows I was actually quite excited to retire,it was relentless and there’s only so much of that that you can do. I had a number of different things that I had set my heart on for when I retired. I ran a call center company for a while, which was exciting, we then sold that business to Serco which went well. I then set up a hospitality business called “The Green Room” which is still going now. I have always kept a close alignment to rugby because that’s been in my life for the best part of 20 years. I remain beloved in Wasps, the club I was at for 20 years and we have gone on an amazing journey since I have left, I sit on the board of that club. I was lucky enough to work closely with BBC Sport, I helped to launch the channel with Jake Humpherries and Clare Baldwin, and I am currently a commentator and pundit for them. I recently concluded a sports marketing business called BBH Sport where we were looking after brands who had invested in sponsorships and they didn’t understand o to bring that to life. Quite a diverse portfolio, and that’s the way I always wanted it to be really.
Q. What did you have to learn when you came out of rugby?
A. There are a lot of similarities, believe it or not. I think it is about understanding how it works, for that particular environment but equally when you come into a different organisation, there are things that you need to learn and adapt and understand what motivates people, building a strong culture within any environment doesn’t matter whether it is the sport or work it is really important.
Q. What does the word culture mean to you?
A. Well, it is a set of behaviours really, there’s a set of behaviour that is important in any environment. It is the same at home, some families behave in a weird way, some behave differently. That denies how you perceive each other, and how people externally perceive you. That is what culture is, it is an internal message and feeling as well as an external one. It is important to generate the right feelings as often how people perceive you is really important, how does your competition perceive you? Do they find you inspirational or aspirational? It is also about your group living and breathing those behaviours.
Q. Was there a moment in your career when you knew you would make it?
A. Rugby is an interesting one, as soon as you’ve made it another bigger player comes along! It is quite a humble sport. I think for me the process of our development as a human being starts from a young age. I was very lucky to have been born healthy and into a cool environment which gave me two things in my life which were unconditional love which I think is amazing, and secondly, they gave me a belief system that you can go out there and achieve anything that you want to achieve. My parents are both from working-class backgrounds and both worked incredibly hard and provided me with love and belief. So you asked me, when did you think you can make it? Well, an early age really because every time I didn’t think I could make it I was continually reinforced with that belief of going out there and doing it.
Q. Were you scared of Jonah Lomu?
A. Scared is the wrong word, yes he is huge. When he comes running at you I have never seen a mountain run but he is enormous. Unfortunately, I played against him in 1999 and I ran towards him and I timed my run so I didn’t have to make a tackle against him, I ended up accidentally hitting him in the nose when he was scoring a try and it looked like a volcano had erupted! He was a special player who is sadly no longer with us, who saved his best performances for England. A phenomenon.
Q. Can you remember the worst piece of advice you have ever had?
A. I have been given advice that has turned out to be wrong. The opposite of good advice is telling you that you can’t do things. Negative energy, there’s radiators and drains, and we don’t like drains, we like people who radiate good energy.
Q. Did you ever have people along the way telling you you weren’t going to make it? And did that motivate you?
A. Oh yes absolutely, I think it does motivate you. School teachers, and all sorts of people that you might have met along your journey that kind of motivated you a bit more and maybe they say it because they secretly like you and want you to do well. I think part of rising up is falling down, that is a familiar picture we have all seen. There have been moments when you have been down, and then you rebuild yourself whether it be reputationally, physically or emotionally and I have had to do that a couple of times. I had 14 operations in a year, it took me a while to repair, but I am only 47 I am sure the body will break down again soon!
Q.What does the word disruptive mean to you?
A.Disruptive means someone who challenges conventional thinking. You can be disruptive and that is good, I like disruptive. When the world zigs, zags. When everyone goes one way, go another way because that challenges conventional thinking.
BEST MOMENTS
“Getting your face smashed in all over the world, is a little bit overrated”
“I am a firm believer that we arrive in this world with nothing, and we leave with nothing, that we can guarantee”
“Shoot for the moon and you will be amongst the stars”
“Part of rising up is falling down”
[Business, mindset, entrepreneur, disruptors]
VALUABLE RESOURCES
ABOUT THE HOST
Rob Moore is an author of 9 business books, 5 UK bestsellers, holds 3 world records for public speaking, entrepreneur, property investor, and property educator. Author of the global bestseller “Life Leverage” Host of UK’s No.1 business podcast “Disruptors”
“If you don't risk anything, you risk everything”
CONTACT METHOD
Rob’s official website: https://robmoore.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robmooreprogressive/?ref=br_rs
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/robmoore1979
ABOUT THE GUEST
Lawrence Dallaglio OBE, is a retired English rugby union player, former captain of England, and 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame.He played as a flanker or number eight for London Wasps and never played for another club,he won 85 caps for England, and was part of the team that won the 2003 World Cup. He is one of a very small number of players to have won both the Rugby World Cup and Sevens World Cup. He now owns a number of successful business ad well as taking part in regular punditry for various sports channels around the world. Lawrence dedicates a large amount of his time to charity and In 2016,Lawrence was joined by 160 riders from San Sebastien to Andorra, Barcelona, Majorca and Ibiza, over 2,000 km. The event raised over £1 million for Dallaglio RugbyWorks.