John Eales - Follow the leader

With his enormous footy boots hung up for good, John Eales is applying his winning savvy to mentoring. Camille Howard catches up with the former rugby star who is now passing his experiences on to the business arena.

When John Eales walks into the room, you take notice. At six foot seven he is certainly hard to miss, and as he extends a giant hand in greeting, you feel daunted by the sheer size of him. Once seated, we’re on a more level playing field and as we start chatting his relaxed demeanour would put anyone instantly at ease.

On top of his hugely successful rugby career, perhaps it’s this demeanour that makes this well-spoken hero a perfect candidate to be a mentor—who can’t learn something from John Eales?

Despite leaving rugby three years ago, Eales still associates with businesses that have the inherent values that fuelled his remarkable career. Nowadays, he spends his days between consulting to BT Financial Group in their financial planning area, and as a director of Mettle Group, helping organisations through culture change and leadership development.

And it is his leadership qualities that shine as, with various business partners, he builds brands with sporting ties in the areas of corporate hospitality, athlete management and sponsorship leveraging. It works under three different brands, he explains. John Eales 5, International Quarterback, STW Sport and Events–effectively the same company with three different brands in very different areas.

What is most remembered about John Eales—aside from his trademark grin and articulate conversation—is the leadership qualities he used to guide the Australian rugby team to several successful Bledisloe Cup campaigns and their 1999 World Cup victory.

Remembered as one of the most successful Wallaby captains, if not players, Eales is touted as one of the most-loved members of the game. In fact, his sense of fair play will always be remembered with the Australian best and fairest rugby award named in his honour.

While Eales is flattered by the accolades—which include being appointed a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia—he doesn’t let them influence him. "It’s nice to have the affirmation but at the end of the day the most important thing is how you feel about yourself and about what you’re doing, and that’s where you get your best sense of self worth."

Olympic Campaign

When Peter Montgomery, former Olympian and assistant chef de mission for the Australian Olympic Committee, recognised Eales’ commitment to leadership, coaching, teamwork and culture, he thought he would be a perfect candidate for mentoring. And while chatting to Eales, Montgomery planted the idea of becoming an athlete liaison officer for the Australian Olympic team’s campaign in Athens.

Once the offer was formal there was no hesitation. "It wasn’t something I really knew much about, but I was quite excited about it," he says. "I was going back into the world of sport but into totally different sports. But I think the important thing was, I wasn’t there to be a coach as such on their skills and their development, but to aid and support in other ways. There’s a lot of common elements about being successful in one field and being successful in another, whether it’s in sport or out of sport."

Eales recognises that to be an effective mentor in any arena, you need to be available to your charges, taking time to get to know more about them before you meet. To prepare for this role, he spent time learning more about the fields he was supporting (men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s hockey, all swimming, all rowing and men’s water polo) and tried to have some kind of contact with the teams in the lead up to the Games. Given the large number of people involved, this occasionally proved difficult. "But if you knew a bit about their preparation and what they had gone through, it certainly helped a lot," he says. "It helped people feel comfortable to come up and have a chat, where they didn’t feel they had to talk specifically about their performance or the pressures."