Liam Dann: Lessons from true champions - including finding joy along the way

All Blacks coaches (from left) Ian Foster and Steve Hansen and co-selector Grant Fox. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Goal setting, planning, strategy, execution and leadership: on any number of levels, the way Steve Hansen and the All Blacks have performed over the past four years provides a shining example for the business world.

The individual brilliance of stars like Ma'a Nonu, Julian Savea and leaders like Richie McCaw and Dan Carter can't be denied. But during all those years spent in the World Cup wilderness, there was never any shortage of star players.

What sets this squad apart from many others is organisational brilliance.

Built on foundations laid by Graham Henry, Hansen and his team have forged a near unbeatable unit - arguably the greatest in the world, in any sport - by creating a culture of success.

It appears to be a highly collegial, supportive culture. It also looks like one where they know how to relax and have fun.

But professional sport is brutally competitive. If you don't perform you are out. It demands high levels of discipline, hard work and an unwavering focus on excellence as a matter of course.

So there is a difficult balance to strike - too hard and players crack, rebel and buckle under the pressure; too soft and they lose focus, become distracted and underperform.

Hansen seems to have nailed it with the precision of a great goal kicker.

In hindsight we can now see this in the team's attitude to the early rounds of the tournament.

As they seemingly struggled through the pool games, failing to produce big scoring spectacles, the world media was quick to suggest they may be out of form.

When Hansen let slip that it might be a strategic move to take it easy early on, it might have been seen as excuse-making.

But that is not Hansen's style. If he said it, he meant it.

And watching the intensity in the three final performances it is hard to argue that they weren't quite deliberately in second gear through the pool play.

One of the most valuable lessons for companies looking to emulate the All Blacks' success is the way that management has been able to maintain strength and power while building a team which is strategically nimble and adaptive.

We all strive to be proactive. We all want to be the disrupters not the disrupted. But reactive shouldn't be a dirty word.

World class opposition doesn't allow you to stay stuck in one style no matter how good you might be.

In each of the All Blacks' final matches they adapted to meet very different opponents. On of the great strengths of the Hansen era has been the recognition of how good opposition teams are.

The All Blacks play smart now. Thanks to the cool-headed leadership of McCaw they are able to better read the game while they are in it and shift tactics.

When the Wallabies scored two quick tries, McCaw saw exactly how momentum was swinging. There was no panic, there was a gathering of poise and a shift in emphasis.

That kind of wisdom comes with experience but it also requires management that trusts and builds confidence in its senior players.

There are those who accuse McCaw of being cynical at the breakdown, or cheating even. Clinical would be a better description.

What appears to be an innate feel for edge of the law is almost certainly down to the fact that he has done his homework, worked through the theory and trained himself to put it into practice in a way that looks natural. There is a lesson there for entrepreneurs and investors alike.

Finally, there are a couple of softer All Blacks attributes that business would do well to emulate: humility and generosity of spirit.

These are qualities that pay off big time in the depth of loyalty and support they engender from the public - be they fans or customers.

At the end of the day, the goal in sports and business is clear and simple. The bottom line, whether on the scoreboard or the balance sheet, is the first measure of success.

But great human endeavour needs to transcend that to be deeply rewarding. It's a point made better than most by our victorious captain: "Sometimes we think the end goal is the happy part. But it's doing the work along the way that you've got to enjoy and that makes the end part, if you achieve it, mean you can sit back and smile."