You don’t need to understand the intricacies of a dummy pass, a second-receiver play or a scrum set play to gain ground on the real lessons in PJ Claasen’s The Bok Way.
The book may be rooted in rugby, but its insights into leadership and team culture are universal — no knowledge of the sport is required. For those already (or ready to be) inspired by the green and gold team, The Bok Way may offer something more: a front-row seat to the mindset behind one of the greatest teams in sporting history.
Claasen has taken the full playbook of reasons why the Boks have been so successful and have brought back so many wins and organised them into three parts, each representing a component: thinking, people and execution.
The first part, “The Thinking Components: How the Boks See Themselves”, is not just a three-chapter section on how teams need to believe in themselves to be winners.
Claasen writes with the conviction of someone who understands that great teams are not assembled, they are built, painstakingly and intentionally.
He reminds us that “you can only recognise and reward people for their behaviour when you make the abstract practical”, and offers practical frameworks to do exactly that. He goes further, challenging leaders to interrogate their reward structures, arguing that “at least some part of your reward structure needs to take collaboration into account; this holds true between individuals as well as within teams and departments”.
He is equally honest about the difficulty of the journey. The path to a unified, purpose-driven team is neither straight nor simple, and cultivating a culture of genuine growth demands patience and consistency.
He does not shy away from the uncomfortable truth that “whenever you are trying to achieve and perform to the limit of your capabilities, mistakes are to be expected”. But he is careful to distinguish this from accepting mediocrity or dismissing the real-world consequences of errors.
He is resolute that leaders should not be fooled into thinking mistakes carry no weight in the real world. Instead, Claasen equips the reader with a clear-eyed framework to identify the nature of mistakes, turning what could be moments of failure into deliberate stepping stones towards mastery.
Woven throughout is a deeper humanity, a recognition that how individuals are treated within a team shapes everything and that fostering a sense of personal responsibility is not a footnote to good leadership but its foundation.
The second part, “The People Component: How the Boks Treat Each Other”, speaks to the value of building long-term relationships and the elements needed to succeed at this.
Most companies understand that strong teams are essential to thrive and many invest in team-building sessions in an attempt to achieve this. While these efforts may yield some success, Claasen’s observation of the Springboks is that genuine team cohesion cannot be an event or an exercise in isolation. It needs to be woven into the very fibre of the team.
At the heart of this is trust. As he puts it: “A trust-filled environment energises you, while the other depletes your mind, body and soul.”
He draws on one of the Springboks’ most painful moments, their shock defeat to Japan in the 2015 World Cup, to illustrate this. In the aftermath of such a collective disappointment, the question of whether players and coaches could pull together, rebuild trust and perform as a cohesive unit four years later was very real.
Claasen provides thoughtful building blocks for how trust can be constructed, but he is equally clear that trust alone is not enough. He makes the case that the ability to manage conflict well is just as vital.
The final part, “The Execution Components: How the Boks Do Things”, is about creating solutions that work for your team and your organisation.
Working with what you have and driving it in the direction of success is the dropkick of this book. It is about drawing on the existing skill set while adjusting the discipline and technical knowledge to embrace new ways of playing and retain a competitive advantage.
Coach Jacques Nienaber told Claasen that many of the Springbok players initially struggled to break away from their ingrained ways of playing, questioning whether a more attacking style was in the “Springbok tradition”. However, the exploration of new ways of doing things has been integral to their success.
But innovation, trust and relationships will never win the cup without the strength of playing your own part. “Dra jou eie tassie” (carry your own bag) with a clear understanding of your role and develop a hive mindset to appreciate how each individual’s contribution feeds the success of the whole.
Strong work ethic, discipline, intelligence and a healthy dose of emotional intelligence, approached with humility, form the essence of this book’s learnings and sit at the heart of what Claasen calls the secret sauce, the chapter that brings the book to a close.
He may be telling us many things that are not entirely new, but the way in which he anchors them to the lived experiences of the Springboks gives the lessons a resonance that makes them far easier for leaders to take off the page and put into practice.
Claasen’s writing style is engaging, personal and deeply informed. He never lectures and the book moves with an effortless rhythm that makes it an enjoyable read.
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