Mini Podcast: Defining Greatness with Richie McCaw and Cameron Smith

Defining Greatness with Richie McCaw and Cameron Smith

Shaun McCambridge is the Managing Director of Stellar Recruitment, a devoted husband and father to four spritely children. 

Prior to starting his next podcast series, Shaun wanted to share his top key takeaways from his first two podcast seasons; Season 1: Inspirational Leaders and Season 2: Debunking your growth mindset.

Cameron Smith

Cameron’s Highlights

1:52 Will to win

2:30 Stellar Factors

2:55 There are fractions between ok and great

5:50 Competitive in every moment

Will to Win

The will to win is a real defining factor across sports and life of those that go on to achieve great things or don’t.

Three Key Stellar Factors

Competitiveness

Character

Above level intelligence 
 

There are fractions between ok and great

One conversation can change your trajectory and one that Cameron referred to was with a conversation with long-term coach Craig Bellamy.

Key action: When was the last time you were truly outside your comfort zone?

Competitive in every moment

Cameron commented that Jonathon Thurston has the ability and habit to compete in every moment where he found a way.

Richie McCaw 

This is a wrap-up of the original podcast that featured Richie McCaw, former New Zealand Rugby Union player and 2-time world cup winning captain of the All Blacks.

Richie’s Highlights

8:30 You need the desire and willingness and chosen to go after what he wanted with incremental success

9:35 Sacrifices vs. choices

10:30 Being a pioneer

11:00 Self-doubt

12:00 Mental skills

13:25 Willingness and commitment

13:50 Additional references

You need the desire and willingness

To be successful you need the desire and willingness as well as the ability to choose what you go after. You need to be committed to making incremental improvements to ultimately be successful.

Believes in choices versus sacrifices

Riche spent the time to do the additional training and worked on himself to find the mental edge; it was a choice for him and not a sacrifice.

Being a pioneer

Being a pioneer is something that guides Ritchie. One person that has inspired him the most is Sir Edmund Hillary who was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer who first reached the summit of Mt Everest with Sherpa mountaineer, Tenzing Norgay.

Self-Doubt

It is normal and it is more about how you process it and then act on it. You need to develop techniques with tools and strategies to ensure that you can make the difference when needed.

Mental Skills

Richie and the All blacks started working on the mental aspect of sports with experts such as Gilbert Enoka and Cary Evans. Working as a team and as an individual on how the brain acts under pressure. They started to shift the entire culture of the All Blacks.

Willingness and commitment

He has an incredible commitment to his goals that is supported with constant incremental gains.

Additional References

Chasing Great

A documentary to see how Richie McCaw became one of the greatest rugby players and to follow him through his final season as he attempts the goal of captaining the All Blacks to the first ever back to back Rugby World Cup wins.

The Real McCaw: The Autobiography

McCaw recounts for the first time, with brutal honesty, the roots of his family life that defined his character and how it gave him the strength to emerge from the lowest moment in his career to become the most successful Captain world rugby has ever seen.

Legacy, Written by James Kerr

A book that goes deep into the heart of the world's most successful team, the New Zealand All Blacks, to help understand what it takes to bounce back from adversity and still reach the top.