Leadership Is Endurance, Not Popularity
- PG Geldenhuys
- Sep 29
- 3 min read
He’s in your head… in your head… Rory… Rory… Rory-y-y…
Look, in South Africa, we have our own version of this old Cranberries classic, and I reckon Rassie owns it on home turf. But it was fitting, if inaccurate, for the small but vocal Irish fanbase in New York to revive this one for their favourite golfing son, Rory McIlroy, as he stood with his teammates to fulfil manifest destiny and celebrate an away Ryder Cup victory.
McIlroy has had a helluva year. His extraordinary performance to win the US Masters and complete the Grand Slam elevated him into the pantheon of the golfing gods, but then he kind of disappeared for six months… and when we did see him, it felt like something had shifted. Golf’s golden boy had the monkey off his back, but instead of becoming even more the people’s favourite, he went somewhere else. He was slightly more irritable with the press; his cocky swagger seemed to have been accentuated, and he didn’t look like he was having that much fun anymore. And his popularity inverted during an unforgettable week at Bethpage Black, where a hostile crowd turned all their vitriol on a man they would normally love to cheer on.
In hindsight, it was leadership.
Rory was the one to cry openly at his personal failure in 2021 when Europe got trounced 19-9. He was the guy to openly state an intent to come back to the US after they won the 2023 edition in Rome, and he was the one to declare a wish for the same team with the same captain to do the impossible. He was the guy who willingly and openly modelled grim determination and killer instinct instead of crowd-pleasing pleasantry. And he was the one to lead from the front, a dominant performance while looking like he was hating it.
And who wouldn’t hate it? He endured more insults than anyone out there. His wife got pelted with a beer can from a drunken fan. His captain sent him out on every one of the sessions, including a last-day slog against the world no 1. His team, his captain, his country demanded that he rise, that he endure, that he lead. And boy, did he ever.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown. But take a bow, Rory.
Captain Luke Donald referred to it as anti-fragility. In COVID, those of us in business and in tourism heard this term a lot. It speaks to not cracking under pressure, of actually weaponising the adversity to create new opportunities. It speaks to mental toughness and leading from the front, even if it is hard. We are not defined by how we show up when things are going well, but by how we handle when the chips are down. Someone once said: Great leaders are the ones who keep their heads while everyone around them is losing theirs.
PG’s Pro Tip:
Apply yourself to the situation. Rory McIlroy intentionally shifted from beloved protagonist to lightning rod of antagonism. He knew it was coming, and he leaned into it. It was hard as hell, and for most of us, it should be easier. Be more structured with a team member who needs structure, looser with one who needs some freedom, empathic with those who need some love, firm and direct with the challengers who don’t want their time wasted. Man management is at the core of the thesis, but more on Luke Donald later…
While all the attention was on Rory, the hero of the tale is the man in his shadow. And Shane Lowry deserves every single beer he had on Sunday night…
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