How am I showing up ?

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September, 18th, 2013, a press conference at Americas Cup Park, San Francisco.

Oracle Team USA have just gone 1-8 down against Emirates Team New Zealand.

A first-to-9 series and Team USA are on the brink. 

Facing defeat, USA Skipper and Helmsman, Jimmy Spithill is defiant. 

He tells the worlds assembled media:

This is one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of sport and it offers powerful lessons for business leaders.

Spithill went on to lead his team to eight consecutive wins to defeat New Zealand 9-8 and win the 34th Americas Cup.

His leadership presence helped transform a team one race away from defeat, with no margin for error, into a high functioning , fast learning unit that won eight consecutive races. 

How did he do it?

He applied this principle that is central to my coaching with business leaders. 

“ Less is more”

It’s about leaders creating the conditions for their teams to deliver excellence by prioritising those activities that have the biggest impact on results.

Clients who have consistently applied this principle have achieved: Higher productivity; Faster growth ; Higher engagement and better work/life balance.

This means focusing on: 

1. Your Team

2. Your Boss and Senior Stakeholders

3. Your Personal Effectiveness as a Leader.

This is Part 3 of a 3 part Leadership Guide to achieving exceptional results using this approach.

We focused on “Your Team” in Part 1 of this guide. 

We explored working relationships in Part 2 with “Your Boss and Senior Stakeholders”

Part 3 - Your Effectiveness

What was it about Spithill’s leadership that made him so effective?

We can look at his leadership through these lenses:

• His Impact

• His Presence

• His Values

Impact

Spithill’s leadership directly influenced Oracle Team USA’s ability to reverse a near-certain loss into one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Key outcomes were:

• Dramatically improved boat performance due to collaborative innovation

• Faster decision making and tighter execution at starts and key moments

• Restoration of belief, competitive edge and embracing accountability

Presence

How did he create the conditions where his team could thrive, adapt and deliver at the very edge of human and machine performance ? 

It was how Spithill showed up as a leader, that was the key enabler.

Here are the most memorable examples: 

1. Leading from the front, setting the tone

• He took the high profile role as helmsman and refusing to concede, kept victory on the agenda, telling his team: A a conversation

2. Keeping calm under pressure

• New Zealand only needed one more win to take the Americas Cup. The pressure was intense. Yet, he managed to maintain steady tone and body language throughout. He was always described as upbeat and confident.

3. Demonstrating courage and confidence in his judgement 

• Exemplified mid-series, when he replaced Chief Tactician, John Kostecki , with British Olympian, Ben Ainslie. Kostecki, a highly respected American sailor, had been instrumental in Team USA winning the 2010 Americas Cup. This bold move injected fresh energy and insights which paid off immediately .

4. Role modelling Accountability and Ownership 

• After a dramatic capsize Spithill took full responsibility, acknowledging:

Values

The way Spithill showed up are examples of exceptional leadership developed over many years. What made the difference was his decisions in the moment about what skills to deploy and how.

It was his beliefs and preferences that shaped how he led.

This is even more the case under pressure when you have no time to think.

What his team experienced was these values in action:

1. Competitiveness
- Thriving on adversity and proving doubters wrong.

2. Ownership
- Took full responsibility for team performance.

3. Courage to Take Risks
- Bold tactical and strategic decisions under pressure.

4. Humility in Service of the Team
- Rarely used "I"; always emphasized "we."
- Welcomed diverse input from across the team

5. Respect for the Craft
- Valued innovation, mastery and collaboration with technical experts

6. Integrity and Transparency
- Following the high-profile capsize, Spithill immediately accepted blame publicly.
- This visibly reinforced his commitment to ownership, showing courage under scrutiny.

True leadership is not just about performance in victory—it’s also about being seen to stand up during failure. 

What made Spithill so effective wasn’t just that he possessed the right skills.

What made his leadership exceptional was the alignment of his Presence with his Values to make the Impact needed to deliver extraordinary results.

His values represented what he stood for, what motivated him and gave him energy. That was what enabled him make the right calls at the right time and to consistently show up at his best.

Aligning your actions with your values is critical to your effectiveness as a leader.

I’ll leave you with these questions:

1. How clear are you about your values, what you stand for and what drives you?

2. Recall times when you are at your best, can you see how you were acting in a way that is true to your values?

3. On those occasions when you have come up short, can you see a mismatch between your values and how you showed up…..

…….if so what could you do differently ?

…….what impact could that have?

I hope you found this edition of my newsletter useful. If you have colleagues or associates who you think would also find it useful, please forward it to them.Or share on your own social media channels using the links at the top.

‘Til next time.

John