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The Great Coaches: Mike Cron
Introducing the Great Coaches Bookclub.
Caitie Rea & Paul Barnett
May 07, 2026
Mike Cron: The Power of Observation and Silence
This week’s podcast guest, Mike Cron, coached 2017 games for the New Zealand All Blacks during a stretch that saw them win 2 Rugby World Cups. He was also part of the team that led the New Zealand women’s team to the World Cup in 2022.
Having also worked with the national teams of both Wales and Japan, Mike is currently coaching the Australian Wallabies alongside head coach Joe Schmidt.
In our latest interview, you’ll hear us delve into Mike’s career and the insights he has taken from it, including:
His belief that great coaching (and management) is grounded in observation — watching behaviour, listening closely, and responding to what’s right in front of you (rather than following a script).
How borrowing ideas from across disciplines (such as balance and body awareness, learned from gymnastics or martial arts) and translating them into practical habits can help you to help others improve.
The potential (and often subconscious) vulnerability of “social loafing” and how he believes leaders and individuals should acknowledge and avoid it.
This was a great interview that left me with a lot to reflect on, as you’ll see below. Make sure to give it a listen — as always, we’d love to hear what you thought.
The key questions raised from today’s episode:
Where am I being “firm” when I actually need to adapt — and what feedback would I need to hear (and accept) to make that change?
When leading and coaching, do I rely more on a script or on observation — and what would improve if d more comfortable with silence and listening?
In my team/work group, where might social loafing be showing up subtly, and what specific commitment can I make so that “it will not be me”?
Find all of our past interviews with some of sport’s most successful coaches and leaders on our website.
The Great Coaches Book Club
As frequent listeners and newsletter readers will know, book recommendations often crop up during our interviews and many of our guests have written books themselves. Often we share the books here in the newsletter or mention them briefly during the podcast, but it seemed only right that we start to delve into them in a bit more depth.
Introducing: the Great Coaches book club.
Last week, we shared the first book club discussion episode. Led by Dr David Turner, a Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom, we discussed “World’s Best” by Ric Charlesworth, the iconic Australian field hockey coach.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with his career, Ric led both the Australian and Men's Hockey teams to World Cup victories, and also coached the women’s team to an Olympic Gold. He has also worked in Cricket and Australian Rules Football, is a medical doctor, and spent 10 years working as a federal politician.
It was a brilliant discussion of an incredibly insightful book, and hopefully one that you’ll be convinced to pick up and read for yourself.
Listen to the full book club episode below, and make sure to get in touch if you’d like to get involved: [email protected].
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