Ep 276: Sir Andrew Strauss - "The Captain"

Sir Andrew Strauss is the former Captain of the England cricket team which he led to become the number one team in the world for the first time in England's history. He then became England's Director of Cricket and he's recognized as the architect of the country's first ever one day World Cup victory.

In 2019, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to charity, sport, and cricket.

Being captain of a cricket team requires the same skills needed to run a business. Amplified.

Managing world class talent while your work is being broadcast, and your success and failures, both personal and collective, are being recorded, analyzed and critiqued in real time, requires a range of rare skills and temperament.

Unlocking the potential of others while taking responsibility for the outcome is at the heart of the attributes required for the job.

Andrew and I met in London a few days ago, and as you'll hear, our conversation covered a lot of ground, both professional and the deeply personal.

From his achievements to the loss of his wife.

By the time Andrew Strauss turned 33, he'd achieved what every cricket fan in England grows up dreaming of. Captaining your country to victory in Australia. In my lifetime, it has only happened three times.

Seven years later, he lost his wife to cancer.

Most of us do not achieve so much so young. Nor lose so much so early.

For Andrew, the combination has encouraged him to ask questions of himself earlier in his life than most people do.

Unlocking creativity in others means building trust with those around us. They want to know who we are and what matters to us.

Fulfilling our own potential means answering those same questions. And in my experience, that happens when we ask ourselves this. What else do I want to know about myself?

Most leaders strive for success relentlessly, head down, and only later do we take stock of the choices we've made.

How will you judge if you've lived a good life or not? What else do you want to know about yourself?