ASB, which recently partnered with the All Blacks, is helping them to do so. In the next 7 weeks, this series will examine the at times uncanny parallels between business and top tier professional sport - both built on the collective efforts of a team of individuals whose skills are brought to bear to produce results.
When ASB and the All Blacks announced their partnership , CEO Barbara Chapman said: "A team like the All Blacks is not just what you see on the field; they have a front office and a back office and a whole group of people who support them. They are constantly seeking improvement, they employ innovation, inspiration and motivation - and that's where we want to work with our business customers."
"[We want to know] what makes the All Blacks successful and how can ASB learn from that and bring it into the realm of business? Business is made up of teams too; ASB is a team so we want to learn what we can from what makes a high-performance sports team successful. The All Blacks want to be unbeatable and so do we."
Professional sport, in all sports, has moved quickly to minimise the 'bounce of the ball'. Luck still plays a part - sometimes - but like all successful business organisations, what luck is around tends to be made rather than experienced.
It's like the old quote from multiple majors golf winner Gary Player: "The more I practise, the luckier I get."
The All Blacks have made a virtue out of understanding what they want, where they are going, how they get there and who they do it with. They mine data, for example, to a level that all businesses will understand.
They talk a lot about their 'game plan' - but that means a whole lot more than just when to kick and when to pass. The game plan is broken down to each individual position and then a skill set developed for that position within that game plan.
Leadership and a strong culture within the team is also developed so they have a solid core who can make the right decisions under pressure and think for themselves.
Nothing is left to chance though the need to adjust when plans go awry is also vital.
Tricker says the last question they always ask is: "Deep down in our gut, what worries us about our ability to do it [succeed]? That enables to us to grow awareness and have some quality conversations."
When all that comes together, the All Blacks become the "well-oiled machine" that is both a sporting cliché and a business objective.
An example? Arguably one of the great modern All Black tries came in the 1997 test match against Argentina, won 93-8 against the hapless Pumas. The All Blacks were then at the top of their powers, had just vanquished the Springboks in South Africa for the first time, and contained some great All Black names like Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson, Tana Umaga, Frank Bunce, Justin Marshall, Ian Jones, Sean Fitzpatrick and the Brooke brothers, Zinzan and Robin.
There was a try among the 14 they scored that day which embodied the kind of foresight, preparation and execution that today's All Blacks have built on - and something else as well...
From a Pumas kick into their 22m zone, Wilson fired a long inside pass and Umaga roared past and over tacklers. Marshall and the forwards got involved as the movement swept 80m. Carlos Spencer passed to Zinzan Brooke and the classy No. 8 who'd had the chutzpah to kick a dropped goal from near halfway against the Springboks in 1996, aimed a delicate kick across field from the Pumas' 22.
It was a shock; it went against all the coaching manuals - the norm would have been to keep the ball in hand. But Brooke's moment of near-genius was so unexpected it obliterated the Pumas defence more than running and passing would have done.
Fitzpatrick and Robin Brooke almost had time to squabble over who was going to score; they were gloriously alone - no Puma was near them.
It was a moment of perfection born of planning but also innovation; as in business a game plan is vital; a game-changer is invaluable.
To learn more about achieving your business ambitions by applying inspirational All Blacks thinking to your working day visit https://www.asb.co.nz/ambition-series/