What Can We Learn From Dan Carter and the All Blacks
When I set out to write my book Reimagining Luxury, published in early 2024, I wanted to draw lessons not only from boardrooms and brands but from environments where performance under pressure is everything. That is why I interviewed Dan Carter, widely regarded as the greatest fly-half in rugby history and a central figure in the legendary New Zealand All Blacks.
Carter’s career is a masterclass in resilience and clarity. Over 112 Test matches, he scored a record 1,598 points, a benchmark that still stands, won two Rugby World Cups, and was named World Rugby Player of the Year three times. But more than the statistics, Carter became renowned for his ability to remain calm, think clearly, and guide his team in the most pressurised moments.
For me, his perspective offered something rare: a way to understand performance not as a single act, but as a habit, a lesson luxury leaders urgently need as they navigate volatile markets, climate risk, shifting consumer values, and regulatory scrutiny.
The turning point: failure in 2007
Carter’s career was shaped as much by failure as by triumph. In 2007, the All Blacks, then ranked number one in the world, crashed out of the Rugby World Cup at the quarterfinal stage, their worst-ever result.
Reflecting on that defeat, Carter told me:
“We all trained hard, but we hadn’t trained our minds. When pressure hit, we froze, we fought, or we looked for escape. That was the difference.”
That loss became a turning point. The All Blacks realised they were overtraining their bodies and undertraining their minds. Over the next four years they invested heavily in mental preparation, working with psychologists, learning breathing techniques, and creating the “red head / blue head” model: recognising when pressure pushed them into panic, aggression, or withdrawal , and learning how to reset quickly into clarity and calm.
Resetting under pressure
For Carter, the lesson was personal. His stress default was to freeze, disastrous for a playmaker in the number 10 jersey. He trained himself to use simple cues, a physical tap on the leg, a short grounding question, to snap back into the present.
But he also learned that performance was not just about self-management. It was about recognising the state of those around him and helping them reset too:
“It starts with you. But then it becomes about the people beside you. That’s how you win under pressure.”
This shift in mindset underpinned the All Blacks’ resurgence. In 2011, they won their first Rugby World Cup in 24 years. In 2015, they repeated the feat, with Carter orchestrating victory in the final.
Why this matters for business
The parallels with business are clear. Rehearsing strategy in the boardroom is one thing; delivering when markets shift, supply chains break, and consumer trust is on the line is another. As Carter put it during our conversation:
“There’s one thing doing it on the training field, and another doing it when millions are watching.”
For leaders in luxury and beyond, the challenge is not avoiding pressure but building the habits and cultures that allow teams to perform through it.
The All Blacks’ culture of trust, inclusion, and legacy, provides a blueprint for leaders in today’s uncertain world.
