#1 — Play With Purpose

Destroyer Self-Study Program

Team,

James Kerr’s book Legacy is subtitled “What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life.” Kerr takes the reader through fifteen chapters of leadership lessons drawing from the New Zealand Rugby Team’s dominating century of international competition with chapters titled such things as “Character,” “Purpose,” “Responsibility,” “Authenticity,” “Sacrifice,” and culminating with the final chapter, “Legacy.” It is perhaps my favorite book on leadership.

In the third chapter, Purpose, Kerr derives the meaning and reason behind what makes the All Blacks Rugby Team special and different. Every organization has a purpose, a reason for being. It is not dissimilar to noted author Simon Sinek’s book “Start With Why” in determining the meaning and purpose of the team (in fact, Sinek is quoted in the chapter). Fundamentally, all teams, units, organizations, businesses, clubs, and gatherings of people dedicated to a common reason and purpose find greater success than those who do not. Kerr succinctly summarizes: “Leaders convert personal meaning to a higher purpose to create belief and a sense of direction.” (page 34).

Our brigade’s purpose is to develop leaders and experts to improve the Army’s readiness and lethality. All twenty programs of instruction strive to graduate students who are competent and confident in the weapon systems our team teaches them to employ with greater expertise and effectiveness. As Kerr highlights in the chapter, “better people make…