He's often asked the secret to success but Phil Gould believes the trek to any victorious destination is always under construction.
Speaking as a special guest at the launch of the Penrith Chamber of Commerce's Business Matters Luncheon Series at the Penrith Panthers Leagues Club on Thursday afternoon, Gould spoke candidly about his view on attaining progress and prosperity.
The Panthers' General Manager of Rugby League detailed six components he perceived as crucial to success: leadership, communication, motivation, teamwork, honesty in self-appraisal and perspective.
''Leadership to me as a coach was about others,'' Gould said.
''Without great leadership, there can be no communication, there can be no relationships, motivation will wane- and there can't be teamwork without communication.
''Without leadership there is no honesty in self-appraisal and there are other aspects of leadership too like decision making, being emphatic and leading by example and at all times sticking by a certain set of rules that you want others to aspire to.''
Communication and motivation were also discussed as neccessary ingredients to success.
''The communication you give out is the communication you get back,'' Gould said.
''The number of ways there are to communicate these days compared to even five, ten or twenty years ago- memos, emails, Twitter, Facebook, social media, text messages, phone calls, mobile phone calls- it's mind boggling the way that we now communicate.
''You can do your whole life with someone and never have to actually sit down and look at their face.
''Yet if you really want someone to understand you or you need to understand them, the best form of communication for me is always face to face.
''Motivation is the most overused word in all of sport and the least understood- motivation is the reasons we do the things we do.
''All that short term rubbish motivation emotional stuff doesn't mean anything.
''Emotional motivation never lasts- there has to be an underlying reason why something is important to you.''
Gould added that he believed an individual always performed at his best when he was committed to others.
''Life is a team game, it doesn't matter if it's family, your work mates, your neighbours, your friends.
''At the end of the day you can't do it all yourself- it doesn't matter who you are.''
The man entrusted with turning the Panthers rugby league team into an NRL powerhouse concluded by dissecting the importance of honesty in self-appraisal and perspective.
''It doesn't matter what your job is- can you rate yourself in how you do it and can you rate yourself in where you need to improve?
''Sometimes we get bogged down in what we're doing and the importance of what we're doing but there's another life out there.
''We take on a few faces during the course of the day, depending on who we're talking to, but at all times it's very important people get to meet the face behind the face.
''If you really want to have a relationship with someone, it's that communication that's important and having the perspective that if you don't like what you're doing, if you don't love what you're doing, if you've got no purpose for what you're doing, why are you doing it?
''Life is not a video, you cannot pause it, you cannot replay it when it's done, you can't rewind it and start again.
''You only get one shot.
''So why stick at something you're not happy doing?''
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