What we don’t do is try and build some so-called performance environment and then clean it up afterwards.” If you want to get the best out of people in the Ryder Cup team or football team or Royal Ballet School or whatever, you have to connect them to something bigger than themselves and connect them to people around them.” Why has his work had such an impact in different fields? It’s so refreshing to hear the traditionally “soft” language that Eastwood uses – emotions, spirituality, connection, vulnerability, wellbeing – set convincingly in the arena of “hard” performance at the highest level under the greatest pressure.

Youth suicide is a huge concern in Aotearoa and the world in general. If this book’s concept of belonging and the marvellous metaphor it uses to convey whakapapa could be taught to all children, surely fewer of our rangatahi (precious young) would question their place, their value, their purpose on Earth. And more people would understand their obligation to be 'good ancestors'. He has recently been asked to work more and more within education, for obvious reasons: as recent research and reports have revealed, more and more pupils and their families - and indeed teachers - feel like they don’t belong in schools. That’s causing huge issues with the attendance and behaviour of pupils, the engagement of parents and the retention and recruitment of staff. Exclusive webinar for schools She paused for a long time and then, he recounts: “She said: ‘No. Because I don’t think this is a healthy place for young people … Because their lives are dictated by a coach, family, their diet, their holidays, all of that has to be passed through a coach. They don’t develop a voice here because they are always told what to do, they are never asked for their opinion … I think it’s a very impressive programme what we’re achieving, but it’s not a place I’d like my child to be.’” We can make people feel a deep sense of belonging immediately by giving an induction to the individual with an Us story, an induction to the history of the team or project and allow them to connect with that history and Us story personally. Even a personal conversation with the leader to explain the new recruits role within the tribe really helps. Eastwood believes responsibility for culture must sit at the top of sporting organisations. He argues that boards should be setting the “cultural blueprint” for their sporting environments, not leaving it up to the whims of the latest head coach.We are wired to be extremely pragmatic and highly strategic in how we toggle between Us and Them. Eastwood grew up in an area where traditional schools were delineated between Catholics and Protestants. But when a regional sports team was created then both Catholics and Protestants would come together as a unified tribe against the region to the North of them. Why would you turn a blind eye to such a valuable lessons within our Us story? When a culture’s resilience is questioned through a mistake or malpractice, the story must be “carved into the walls” so that our descendants can learn from them. Cath Bishop (left) and Katherine Grainger when the British women’s rowing pair were world champions. Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA Creating an Us story involves immersing yourself in three dimensions of an Us story: the past, present and future.

For small business, their tribe may be defined at the start as the founders. Their mission is survival. Once their viability is established they then move on to making the enterprise sustainable over the medium term. As the business evolves, their definition of their tribe widens to include employees and customers. An interesting read on high-performance cultures with a solid set of principles built on primal instincts rather than MBA speak. Loses its focus for the final third of the book where it begins to feel slightly rushed but a very interested read nonetheless. A more inclusive approach is possible. It can be as simple as a belonging cue like coming over and sitting with a teammate at meetings (as a senior) through to asking for everyone’s views in team meetings. Neither do we exist merely to execute plans or strategies or KPI’s disconnected from an Us story. That is soulless. Our cognitive decision-making, problem-solving in real time is much better when our stress is under control because our anxiety is reduced. And most of all, when we feel we belong and our anxiety is reduced, if we don’t understand something, then we will put our hand up and are much more likely to say: ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite understand what you’re asking me to do’. You can’t call it a high-performance environment if you can’t put your hand up and say if you’re not clear on the gameplan.’In some ways, Eastwood, who has also worked with the British Olympic Association, the Royal Ballet School and the command group of Nato is the secret weapon. On Thursday, in the aftermath of Wednesday’s victory, he was in dialogue with Southgate. This induction is the most critical time as an individual is most open to this new experience - our first experiences have a long-lasting impact on our sense of being part of this team. For Eastwood, that crosses a red line. “I’d hope that people would see Gareth Southgate and Luke Donald and people like that and go: ‘I’d like myself or someone I care about to be in that environment. I think it would be a healthy place for them.”’ His only adjustment when working in individualistic cultures such as in the UK and United States is to have two conversations early on rather than one: “Firstly, about what we want to achieve together as a team; secondly, why this is good for each individual … I strongly believe you focus on building a healthy environment, and then we fine-tune performance from there.

The author interweaves his own story and heritage into the book, and introduces us to the important idea of ‘whakapapa’. Eastwood defines this as, “When the sun is shining on us, we must be guardians of our tribe and of each other. This is how I have come to understand whakapapa.” So what is the common ground between the collectivist and individualistic models of society? Personal meaning. Once a common purpose has been articulated, each person should have an opportunity to attach personal meaning to it. For those individualist societies, this part of the process is particularly important. They need space to work through how the collective purpose also enhances them personally. Eastwood regularly uses emotive films to share and also introduce new people to the team culture or help them along in defining it.To feel a sense of belonging is to feel accepted, to feel seen and to feel included by a group of people, believing that we fit in, trusting we will be protected by them. Slowly we have lost touch with our primal instincts as a creeping shift has taken place from ‘our’ purpose to ‘my’ purpose with individualistic societies in the Western world. These values - getting ahead of everyone else - work against our need to belong. They push a mindset of seeing ourselves against rather than with others. Values’ are shorthand for our Us story. They are the beliefs we value as a tribe but articulated in a way that allows us to align our behaviours easily. We share a mental map of the world with those around us. They become a code for how we will live and work together. It is less about rules and more about the archetype of the person we aspire to be: a mix of standards (what we are expected to do) and prohibitions (what not to do). Each episode ends with three key takeaway points for schools. This is the first in a 10-episode series. At a time when it is easy to feel disheartened by sport’s crises of corruption, abuse and burnout, Eastwood offers a compelling vision of what sport can be. Another favourite Eastwood question to ask is “What gets in the way of you being the best version of yourself?” Blasting taboos, Eastwood shows us a clear path to help sport be “the best version” possible for everyone involved and for society more broadly.