Will Carling says ‘winning is not normal’ on the standards elite teams live by

A former England captain at 22 and one of the most successful leaders in the modern era of international rugby, Will Carling led his country to three Five Nations Grand Slams and a Rugby World Cup final. Across 59 Tests as captain, he set new standards for accountability, internal competition and performance culture within elite sport.

Now recognised globally as a leading leadership speaker, Carling translates those hard-earned lessons into the language of business, high performance and sustained success.

In this exclusive interview with High Performance Speakers Agency, he breaks down what leadership actually demands, why winning is never normal, and how teams build the internal standards required to stay at the top.

Q1. Leadership is often reduced to buzzwords. In your experience at the highest level of elite sport, what fundamentally defines an effective leader?

Will Carling: “I think the most important thing a leader can do is work out their why. It sounds crazy, but why do you say yes to being a leader? I think it has to be for the benefit of the team, and in that sense, that is your why.

“Characteristics, then, are finding a balance of how you get the best out of your team. I think at times that’s building confidence, at times that’s driving standards, at times it’s listening and altering course.

“I think it’s up to a leader to understand there’s no one way to lead, and it depends as a team matures and hopefully experiences success. I think it’s up to a leader to adapt the style.”

Q2. Sustained success in elite sport is rare. From your perspective, what separates consistently high-performing teams from the rest?

Will Carling: “It sounds crazy, but winning is not normal, and successful teams, in a sense, the consistently successful teams, are not normal. I think we forget that. We all want to be successful, we all want to win if we’re playing sport, but very few teams and individuals end up being the winners.

“One of the big questions I think leaders and teams have to ask themselves is, as a team, what are you willing to do in order to be different? Where are you willing to go for each other? How hard are you willing to push? I think that is crucial in understanding that you need to be different.

“I think underpinning real success, there has to be honest communication in order to learn and improve what you have to do to be successful. The quality and honesty of communication and the trust in the environment are absolutely key.”

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Q3. When you look at truly elite squads, what core traits consistently underpin high performance?

Will Carling: “I think the key qualities in high performance are honesty, curiosity, relentlessness, and awareness. Maybe that sounds crazy. I think awareness of yourself as an individual, awareness of the team’s strengths, awareness of the team’s weaknesses, and how we honestly communicate those, improve them, and look to learn are crucial.

“One of the key improvements we made in my time was what I call internal coaching from players. I remember standing on a pitch, and our psychologist asked me, I was observing one of the players who was exceptional, and he just said, ‘How often do you ever ask to be coached by him, Will?’ I sort of looked at him, and I went, ‘Coached by him?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘I never have’. He said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Pride.’

“It’s just that understanding that if we really do want to be high performing, then we have to learn from the best in the teams, and we have to be able to coach each other within the teams. It’s that relentless desire to improve.”

This exclusive interview with Will Carling was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.

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