The book in question was Legacy, by James Kerr. After spending a year behind the scenes with New Zealand, Kerr applied the lessons he learnt to the field of business leadership. It became a best seller.
Every wannabe chief executive had it on their reading list. It has also probably done more to foster the cult of the All Blacks' exceptionalism than anything else recently.
Among the most pervasive myths propagated by Legacy was the idea of the All Blacks' humility - that they would "sweep the sheds" after every game - and that the players led a rigid policy of harbouring "no dickheads".
The policy is widely credited to Gilbert Enoka, the New Zealand mental skills coach, who explained the concept in an interview in 2017.
"A dickhead makes everything about them," Enoka said.
"They are people who put themselves ahead of the team, people who think they're entitled to things, expect the rules to be different for them, people operating deceitfully in the dark, or being unnecessarily loud about their work. Our motto is, if you can't change the people, change the people."
There are a couple of problems with this. Firstly, the no-dickheads idea was pinched from the Sydney Swans Australian rules team. Secondly, and more pertinently, all sports teams and businesses contain their share of dickheads and New Zealand are no exception. Let us pick a couple of examples.
July 2018: Wing Sevu Reece was arrested after assaulting his girlfriend. She suffered injuries to her upper face and bruising to the left side of her waist. He was later discharged without conviction after pleading guilty.
February 2017: Dan Carter, the leading points scorer in Test history and former All Black golden boy, was caught drink driving by French police. Pulled over in Paris, Carter's reading was twice the legal limit. Around the same time, Carter's teammate Ali Williams was arrested and later convicted of buying cocaine.
October 2016: Scrum-half Aaron Smith was caught having an affair with a woman in the disabled toilet of Christchurch airport before flying to South Africa for a Test match.
According to a report in The Daily Mail, Smith asked the woman to provide a false affidavit to go along with his fabricated version of events, a request she refused. By Enoka's definition of "operating deceitfully" and "expecting the rules to be different", these are the actions of dickheads.
Smith made a tearful apology and was dropped for one match. Justifying Reece's call-up this year, coach Steve Hansen said domestic abuse was "not a gender thing". None of this is to say that people do not deserve second chances.
Everyone - and especially young sportsmen - can make foolish mistakes. Rehabilitation is the sign of a strong culture. You can be reprehensible in private and a brilliant sportsman and teammate.
The two often go together. But a dickhead is still a dickhead.
Nor is this an exercise in comparing saintliness. Four years ago, England centre Manu Tuilagi was convicted of assaulting two female police officers and a taxi driver.
South Africa lock Eben Etzebeth has a charge of racial assault hanging over him. There are skeletons in all teams' closets.
The difference is that only one team present themselves as paragons of virtue, immune to criticism and free of dickheads.
As much as they like to pretend otherwise, the All Blacks have their fair share of dickheads. Just like the rest of us.
