Real-Time Leadership

Deciding on the spot, staying calm under pressure, and leading when the game keeps changing.

Susan Pearse turns the tables on Matt Elliott and Anthony Minichiello — 302 games for the Roosters, 2005 Golden Boot winner and premiership-winning captain — to unpack what elite sport knows about leading in real time: the morning routines that set the day's state, making calls without all the information, training calm before you need it, and the collectively-owned daily standards that turn a team around mid-season.

Hosted by Susan Pearse, Matt Elliott & Anthony Minichiello

Five things to take from this episode.

1. 01

   Your state enters the room before your words do

   It doesn't matter how good your information is if you're distracted, tired or frustrated when you deliver it — nobody hears it. Your first job as a leader isn't your agenda; it's how you show up. Ask yourself three questions each morning: How am I feeling? How do I want to feel? What do I need to do to feel that way? The 1% gain: start tomorrow morning in front of the mirror while you're brushing your teeth. Ask those three questions before you leave the house, then again in the car before your first meeting. It takes less than two minutes and it changes what walks into the room.

2. 02

   Calmness under pressure comes from preparation, not personality

   The leaders who stay calm when things move fast aren't naturally calmer — they've done the work before the moment arrives. Decisions made under pressure draw on the foundations you've already laid. If those are solid, adjusting in the moment becomes possible. The 1% gain: pick one area of your preparation that's been slipping — sleep, hydration, your morning routine, how you arrive at important meetings. Focus on just that one area for a week and see if the people around you notice a difference.

3. 03

   Culture isn't something you hand to a team — it's something you build with them

   The standards holding the Roosters together weren't set by the coaching staff — the playing group created them. When leaders hand standards down from above, every time something goes wrong the team points back to the leader. When the team creates the standards themselves, they hold each other to them. The 1% gain: we're at the midpoint of the year — your team is already expecting some kind of review. Use that moment. Look back on the first half together, and instead of presenting the direction, ask them: what has our best work looked like this year, and what do we want the next six months to stand for? Let them build it.

4. 04

   Know your people — not just their performance

   The best leaders can tell when something's off with a person before it becomes a performance problem. That only happens if you've built real relationships. If you don't know your people, you can't tell whether an issue is structural or human — and if you get that wrong, you'll solve the wrong problem. The 1% gain: have one genuine conversation with someone in your team this week — no agenda, no update, no check-in. Just listen. Ask them what's important to them right now, inside work and outside it. You're not gathering information — you're building the trust that makes everything else possible.

5. 05

   Control the controllables — and don't sweat the rest

   When Matt started putting his attention into things outside his remit — sponsorships, pathways, the broader organisation — his influence with his own team dropped. Not because he stopped caring; because his energy was going to the wrong places. When he pulled it back to what he could control — his team, their standards, his own state — people started coming to him. His influence grew by doing less, not more. The 1% gain: think about what's taking up your attention right now. If you can't directly change it, stop giving it your focus. Redirect that attention to the one thing within your control that would make the biggest difference to your team this week.