Penguin Books Australia

01 Who's Sitting Next to You

One of the best pieces of advice about leadership I have been given came from Frank Costa. You'll find Frank mentioned a number of times in this book. To me, he is the epitome of a good person – a great person, in fact. Frank is president of the Geelong Football Club, as well as head of one of Australia's largest produce businesses, Costa Group. He is also a husband with eight daughters. Yes, you read it correctly – eight! He displays the qualities I most admire: honesty, integrity, humility, passion and a thirst for work. Frank took the reins at Geelong in 1999. It is well known that at the time the club was on its knees financially and there was a serious divide in the playing group. As president, Frank made it his mission to assemble the best possible board of directors for the club and hand-pick administrators and coaches. He was guided by the same advice he later passed on to me: surround yourself with good people.

Every now and then life presents you with an opportunity that really makes you sit back and think. I had one of these moments with Frank the week after the 2009 Grand Final. Let me paint the picture for you. Earlier in the finals I had a missed call from Frank. I called him straight back – Frank is not one of those people you keep waiting; he is the president, after all. We had our usual banter about how the Cats were travelling, and then he said he knew I had a lot on my plate but that he was hoping for a favour.

'I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it was important,' he said. Frank then told me about a man who had been a Geelong supporter for sixty years. He had been struck down with poor health and his doctor thought he didn't have long to live. 'I was speaking to his wife and she mentioned that you are his all-time favourite player. Any chance the two of us could pay him a visit after the finals? We might even have the cup to take with us.'

'No worries, Frank. Any time,' I replied. I got off the phone and thought about Frank. He had organised time out of his busy schedule – and believe me when I say he is busy – to visit a dying man, whom he had never met, because he was a Cats fan. I thought that if you believe the adage of good things happening to good people, then great things were going to come Frank's way.

So there we were, a few weeks later, on the Ballarat Road out of Geelong, heading to a beautiful property about 50 kilometres away. Thanks to a few wrong turns we had plenty of time to shoot the breeze. The opportunity to talk one-on-one with someone like Frank Costa doesn't come around all too frequently, and I relished the chance to pick his brains. Why had he and the club been so successful?

Frank told me that when he was rebuilding the club back in 1999, he scoured the country for the best administrator. Let's make it quite clear: not the best available administrator but the best administrator, period. Frank identified the top candidate for CEO of the football club – Brian Cook of the West Coast Eagles. Brian had overseen the Eagles during their period of dominance in the '90s, which had netted them two premierships and a membership base the envy of every other club in the AFL. Frank had spotted that Brian was not only an outstanding administrator but, just as importantly, a man of great character and integrity. Legend has it that the two men agreed to terms sealed with a handshake, not a legally binding contract – such was the respect they had for each other. With the CEO and board in place, Frank went after a coach with the same values as he and the CEO had. Enter Mark Thompson. These three men are still at the helm some eleven years later and have been responsible for the turnaround in the fortunes of the Cats, both on and off the field.

Back to the car trip. Frank beamed as he relived the past. The passion with which he spoke about those times was something to behold. He was proud of what the club had achieved, and put it all down to the fact he had hired good people with good values. His message was very clear – a values-driven organisation breeds honesty, which builds trust and, in turn, loyalty. Since Frank has been at the tiller of the Geelong Football Club there have been countless displays of loyalty. Brian Cook has been headhunted more times than I care to remember, with opposition clubs or codes having tried unsuccessfully to lure him away. Neil Balme, our Football Operations Manager, was pursued doggedly by the Gold Coast. Likewise Ron Watt as Player Welfare Manager. It was reported that the Bombers had made a serious play for our coach Mark Thompson and the players showed just how committed they were to the club and its success when they all agreed to play for less money in order to take the team even further. None of this would have been possible if it weren't for Frank Costa and the values he instilled at all levels of the club.

Frank used another great analogy to describe the Cats' turnaround, and I admit to having 'borrowed' it for some of my talks. Frank told me a football club is just like a bus, one that needs to be driven to the grand final. When Frank first took over, the Cats bus was on the road to nowhere. It was filled with all the wrong people and the drivers had absolutely no idea where they were heading. As a result, the club almost folded.

Between 2000 and 2006 the Cats bus was filled with some great people who all had an idea of how to get to the grand final but couldn't agree on the route. There were moments in that six-year period when the club genuinely felt that a premiership was close but we still ended up at the wrong destination. People started to become disillusioned. Frank sent in his chief mechanic Brian Cook to have a good hard look. Brian could see they had the right people aboard but they were all sitting in the wrong seats. Our coach, Mark 'Bomber' Thompson, was instructed to drive the bus and leave all the other things he was doing to other people. Some of the players shifted seats and the other coaches got out the map and planned the journey. Presto! The Cats bus pulled up to the MCG on the last Saturday in September in 2007 and headed back down the highway with the premiership cup!

It is all a bit fun, but the Geelong bus story resonates with a lot of people. Success comes from having good people in your organisation. Once they're there, skill them up and find the right roles for them. Then performance will go through the roof. The energy and positivity that comes from good people is infectious, and I know that I find myself revitalised when I'm around these sorts of people. The question that needs to be asked is, 'What is a good person?'

To me, a good person is someone you can rely on. Someone you know will always be there for you, through thick and thin. Someone you want to be like and whose behaviour you want to model yours on.

A good person is always excellent company and can be counted on for sound advice when you need it. They will stand for something and have the strong morals and values to back it up. They are dependable and hard-working.

A good person always has time for people other than themselves. They are compassionate and selfless and willing to sacrifice. A good person will always show humility and be aware of their surroundings. They will not be arrogant or take anything for granted. A good person will be polite and civil and will tolerate people they don't necessarily agree with.

Above all, a good person is honest.

Driving home, I reflected on our time at the house and how much it meant to the ailing Geelong supporter. Frank didn't need to make that visit but he wanted to make a small difference to a dying man's life. This was a rare opportunity for me to spend time with Frank the man – he's a very successful businessman, a great leader at Geelong, but the crux of the matter is that Frank Costa is a good person. Of that I am sure.

Stop and take some time out to think about the good people in your life and what it is they do that makes them so. Do you consider yourself a good person? For the most part I think I am, but that doesn't mean there haven't been times when I have disappointed myself with my behaviour. There have been moments in my life that I have not been proud of at all. But from those occasions I think about what it is that has disappointed me. I try to learn from it and better myself.