The Evolving Leader Leanne Infante – Leading On and Off the Pitch
This week on the Evolving Leader, Jean talks to English rugby international Leanne Infante (née Riley) about what she’s learnt as a leader during her career both on and off the pitch. Leanne’s debut in the England squad was against South Africa in 2013 and she has since been central to England’s success including winning the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2019.
0.00 Introduction
0.41 How has the profile of women’s rugby developed during your career to date?
3.47 Give us some background to your career and career highlights
5.36 How has the game changed?
9.08 Tell us a little bit about the mindset of dealing with the setbacks, refusals, and uncertainty that you have faced.
12.33 How do you deal with the emotion (in the moment) that could be triggered when facing a setback? What’s your process for reframing those events?
14.58 What’s the mental process that allows you to view an individual as an opponent on the club rugby pitch and then switch to that same person being an ally in the international squad?
17.41 As scrum half, part of your role on the pitch is to co-ordinate the backs and the forwards. Talk a little bit about your role as a leader when co-ordinating those two elements within the team.
20.40 In addition to your technical excellence on the pitch and your obvious high levels of fitness and resilience, you also display a real ability to sense what’s happening in the game and as a result you often adapt your role taking it beyond what could be described as the text book scrum half. Is this ability to lean into the detail one minute and then pull back and make sense of what’s going on a natural thing or have you developed that?
24.32 Who has inspired you from a leadership perspective?
27.07 Both your profile and the profile of women’s rugby are growing and alongside that you have to deal with the ever-present social media that comments when things go well and also not so well. How does that play out in your life?
30.37 What does the future hold for the sport of woman’s rugby and also what part would you like to play in that?
34.15 Tell us about the challenges that you’re facing having recently moved from Saracens to the ambitious but potentially less high profile Bristol Bears.
38.04 Let’s talk about 2022 and the world cup. What are you most looking forward to and what are going to be the biggest challenges?
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The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.