What does it take, to be a good man?
Adversity in life isn’t all about the floodlit moments, the tragedies and catastrophes, your absolute worst failures or dramatic downfalls. Instead, adversity and its tests can come for us every day. It’s through the small, even insignificant challenges, that we build our resilience. It’s the decisions we make when facing those micro hurdles as much as the big, booming trials we come up against that make us the men or women we are. Our time on earth is not one linear path, and it can change on a heel spin, but it’s the way you react to every fork in the road – both the big and small situations – that really matter.
And when the big life decisions do arrive, they don’t come out of nowhere. We build our values, our sense of ourselves and our decision-making abilities through our experiences and through those small-scale choices we’ve already made.
In a world where values of kindness and empathy have been likened to weakness, and boys and men are being convinced to punch down, put themselves first and make sure everyone in every room notices their strength and dominance, it’s becoming harder and harder to work out what good choices look like.
Lewis Moody has thrived in leadership roles through his career, famously captaining the English rugby team, but also beyond sport as a father, a mentor and a coach. Sometimes through trial and error, and with plenty of mistakes along the way, he has learnt how to make good decisions, no matter which brick wall he arrives at. His philosophy combines assertiveness, strength and competition when it’s needed, but also leans into compassion and vulnerability to offer an all-rounded approach to any crisis and challenge.
Amidst the landscape of angry voices coming from every kind of media, all trying to shout the loudest, his quiet clarity and courage cut through. Character, responsibility, integrity, accountability, purpose, humility and kindness. A man of action and not just words. As a recent broadsheet headline stated, ‘There are good guys and then there is Lewis Moody,’ and that is the man this book explores.
Across its pages, Lewis distils the different roles he’s played through his life and the experiences that have shaped him not only into a fearless and ferocious flanker who always led with his heart, but also into the man others have described as ‘a daily inspiration.’ What does it mean to be a ‘good guy’ in the 21st century? What are the decisions and steps and missteps that you need to make to build that character? Is it possible to be one of the lads, but also always do the right thing? How can you stand for these values proudly and publicly while maintaining personal humility and a sense of your own fallibility?
Taking us through the tests and the deliberations which he made through his upbringing, time in youth and club rugby, his 71 caps for England, fatherhood, retirement and working as a mentor, Lewis lays bare all the most important signposts along his journey. With huge career highs and lows, mental and physical health battles, including his most recent diagnosis with MND and the more ordinary challenges of raising a family and maintaining a nearly 30-year relationship with his wife Annie, these are the stories which made his mettle.
Adversity in life isn’t all about the floodlit moments, the tragedies and catastrophes, your absolute worst failures or dramatic downfalls. Instead, adversity and its tests can come for us every day. It’s through the small, even insignificant challenges, that we build our resilience. It’s the decisions we make when facing those micro hurdles as much as the big, booming trials we come up against that make us the men or women we are. Our time on earth is not one linear path, and it can change on a heel spin, but it’s the way you react to every fork in the road – both the big and small situations – that really matter.
And when the big life decisions do arrive, they don’t come out of nowhere. We build our values, our sense of ourselves and our decision-making abilities through our experiences and through those small-scale choices we’ve already made.
In a world where values of kindness and empathy have been likened to weakness, and boys and men are being convinced to punch down, put themselves first and make sure everyone in every room notices their strength and dominance, it’s becoming harder and harder to work out what good choices look like.
Lewis Moody has thrived in leadership roles through his career, famously captaining the English rugby team, but also beyond sport as a father, a mentor and a coach. Sometimes through trial and error, and with plenty of mistakes along the way, he has learnt how to make good decisions, no matter which brick wall he arrives at. His philosophy combines assertiveness, strength and competition when it’s needed, but also leans into compassion and vulnerability to offer an all-rounded approach to any crisis and challenge.
Amidst the landscape of angry voices coming from every kind of media, all trying to shout the loudest, his quiet clarity and courage cut through. Character, responsibility, integrity, accountability, purpose, humility and kindness. A man of action and not just words. As a recent broadsheet headline stated, ‘There are good guys and then there is Lewis Moody,’ and that is the man this book explores.
Across its pages, Lewis distils the different roles he’s played through his life and the experiences that have shaped him not only into a fearless and ferocious flanker who always led with his heart, but also into the man others have described as ‘a daily inspiration.’ What does it mean to be a ‘good guy’ in the 21st century? What are the decisions and steps and missteps that you need to make to build that character? Is it possible to be one of the lads, but also always do the right thing? How can you stand for these values proudly and publicly while maintaining personal humility and a sense of your own fallibility?
Taking us through the tests and the deliberations which he made through his upbringing, time in youth and club rugby, his 71 caps for England, fatherhood, retirement and working as a mentor, Lewis lays bare all the most important signposts along his journey. With huge career highs and lows, mental and physical health battles, including his most recent diagnosis with MND and the more ordinary challenges of raising a family and maintaining a nearly 30-year relationship with his wife Annie, these are the stories which made his mettle.