Round #08 - The chase
Bobby Hill
Bobby Hill is only ever known as ‘Bobby Hill’. Never ‘Bobby’, and definitely never ‘Hill’. Always ‘Bobby Hill’. In fact, if someone was talking about a player called ‘Hill’ who played for Collingwood, I’d struggle to immediately reference the player. If they say ‘Bobby Hill’, the recall is instantaneous, and the response to hearing his name is to smile.
Bobby Hill brings joy to the game.
What do you bring to the team? What are you prepared to give for the team?
Bobby Hill is only ever known as ‘Bobby Hill’. Never ‘Bobby’, and definitely never ‘Hill’. Always ‘Bobby Hill’. In fact, if someone was talking about a player called ‘Hill’ who played for Collingwood, I’d struggle to immediately reference the player. If they say ‘Bobby Hill’, the recall is instantaneous, and the response to hearing his name is to smile.
Bobby Hill brings joy to the game.
If we were to measure what Bobby Hill brings to the Collingwood team, the list would be long and getting longer.
The precocious and fearless talent we'd seen glimpses of all seemed to come together on the day that matters most, Grand Final Day, where, if not for his heroics, Collingwood do not win the 2023 Grand Final.
For his match-winning four goals, he was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as best on the ground.
This is what he brings to the team.
But we are measured by much more than what we bring, and yes, every player or person needs to provide what I like to call an ‘intangible’, something unique that the team needs in the form of some talent or skill that helps us succeed.
But in team-based environments, it is what we are prepared to give that is the difference maker.
This brings me back to Saturday night's epic MCG clash between Geelong and Collingwood. With two minutes remaining and over 80,000 holding their collective breath, Bobby Hill chased and chased, and then launched himself in pursuit of the running Cat, Shaun Mannagh.
The desperate lunge resulted in a tackle that might have been holding the ball, but the umpire called a trip.
A moment of heroism, paradoxically punished.
Fair? I am not sure. The game, like life, does not promise to be fair.
Bobby Hill knows that, and the tackle was pure Bobby Hill. The athleticism, the speed to make up too many metres, the dive knowing that he wasn’t going to make it before Mannagh kicked the ball, and even when both players hit the ground, ball dislodged, Bobby somehow rolls back to his feet, turns to the umpire knowing that judgement was imminent, and soon smiles at the injustice. His effort, not only goes unrewarded, but is punished.
Then he gets back on with the game. Geelong have the ball, and he needs to help get it back.
This is what he gives for the team.
The chase is rarely about the outcome. It's about something deeper.
From the grandstand or television screen, the chase often appears futile, the pursuer seemingly destined to fall short. Yet they chase anyway. Why? Because the chase isn't measured by the tackle alone. It’s much more meaningful - the pressure created, the split-second hesitation forced upon the ball carrier, the subtle disruption that might allow a teammate to impact the next contest.
The chase is often the difference, often unseen, consistently significant.
The one place the chase is always noticed is the coaches’ box, which is highlighted and applauded in the forum that counts most: the game review meetings the next day. In these forums, with only your coaches and teammates in attendance, you are judged not just by what you bring to the team, but what you are prepared to give to the team.
In elite team sport, we measure behaviours, less so outcomes, even though we are well aware there is a very big scoreboard defining winner and loser. This scoreboard may, but also may not, measure progress toward our collective goal. It can even become a distraction, creating short-term pressures on the team and its protagonists, who are playing a longer-term game, depending on their phase of development.
As leaders, we need to learn how to be patient with results but not behaviours. We set expectations, never shying away from collective ambition. Not everyone will agree with what we do and how we do it, and may even refuse to buy-in. It might not be for them. That's ok, but in the end, choices will be made. You are either in or out; there is no space in between.
The chase is a measure of buy-in, through moments where effort is given without guarantee of reward.
Chasing is giving.
Leadership mirrors this pursuit. It's not a static position but a continuous chase – often unseen, occasionally unrewarded, but fundamentally transformative.
So what are you chasing? What is your pursuit?
Pursuit of 'what happened?' What did you learn, and how do you share those learnings?
Pursuit of 'what now?' What is the best of you, in this moment?
Pursuit of 'what next?' Where are you going with this?
It is the pursuit of belief, knowledge, hope, grace, calm, performance, humility, bravery... of what needs to change to 'be' these things, rather than just 'do' them, often unsighted and unrewarded.
The pursuit of something bigger than you.
The MCG on Saturday night was a theatre of heroic moments – mostly celebrated, but in Bobby’s case, penalised. They remind us that true heroism often lies not in the outcome but in the willingness to give everything when it matters most.
Play on!
My work builds on the belief that leadership is the defining characteristic of every great organisation or team.
You cannot outperform your leadership.
Our offering is designed for leaders who know that personal leadership effectiveness drives team and organisational performance and that there must be a better, more efficient and effective way to learn leadership.
Feel free to connect, or make contact
