As I approach the last chapters in my life’s book, I find myself sitting in boardrooms, staff rooms and locker rooms, listening to future leaders, athletes, managers and talented executives — and I can’t help but reflect on the wider context of it all.
Their confidence and optimism take me straight back to my younger days.
THE CONFIDENT YOUNG MAN
Unlike them, I was possessed by the blissful naivety of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I remember one occasion vividly. A room full of NBL directors and franchise owners — people successful in their own right, far more than I.
Yet there I was from the West, so sure I was right that I spoke with confidence and infallibility, determined to convince them of a particular perspective.
And the uncomfortable part? The results seemed to vindicate me. We were winning. The stands were full, the Red Army (a mere creation, a figment of imagination) was alive roaring, and a club that once teetered on the edge was thriving. Nothing confirms your biases quite like w…
