Andrew Hore: Hard Conversations Keep Standards High

What if the toughest conversations are actually acts of care? We sit down with Andrew Hore—veteran leader across the Crusaders, Ospreys, New Zealand Rugby, and the Blues—to unpack how culture really works when the stakes are high and the calendars are relentless. Andrew doesn’t sell slogans; he shares systems. From the iceberg of unwritten behaviors to the moments a leader must step back and let the team “color in” the framework, he shows why ownership beats oversight and why challenge, delivered well, strengthens trust.

We trace turning points across teams and regions: the Crusaders’ academy foundations, Ospreys stabilizing finances while protecting identity, and the Blues aligning a multicultural city with the “many waka, one direction” idea. Andrew explains why building from the bottom up—competition structures, facilities, coaching development—creates sustainable high performance, and why over-centralizing at the top can hollow out the game beneath it. He’s blunt about tradeoffs: you can’t fund everything at once, so pick clear pillars, invest deeply, and accept that some will disagree.

If you hire leaders, you’ll love his take: forget the “culture coach.” Look for character, a real technical specialty that earns credibility, and a context fit for the politics and pressures of your environment. Then support that head coach with a GM who shields, staffs, and thinks in horizons. Along the way, Andrew shares practical habits: set entry and exit rituals so work doesn’t invade home, build rooms where honest debate is safe, and start negotiations on the same side of the table by mapping shared problems first. Care is not softness—it’s precise feedback, consistent standards, and visible follow-through.

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