Future Women Leadership Series Paul Roos on what elite sports can teach corporate leaders
Nov 19, 2025
Paul Roos, a former AFL player and premiership coach, now leads Performance by Design, guiding organizations on leadership. He shares how elite sports principles can enhance corporate leadership. Roos unveils the significance of embedding clear systems and frequent feedback into culture-building. He emphasizes the need for authenticity and individual attention in leadership, while also cautioning against emotional decisions. By comparing sports to corporate dynamics, he highlights that talent is complemented by hard work and strong relationships for success.
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Talent Isn't Enough Without Systems
- In sport everyone is talented so effort and systems matter more than raw ability.
- In corporate settings people can rise technically without ever learning how to lead.
Define Your Leadership Doctrine
- Write down the leadership traits you like and dislike and use them to define your own leadership doctrine.
- Paul Roos credits this exercise in 1998 as pivotal to building the system that won Sydney a premiership.
Start Culture With Your Executive Team
- Start culture work with your executive team: define purpose, values and behaviours and vote for role-model leaders.
- Use profiling to build self-awareness and improve how leaders influence and communicate.
