His own “repurposing” journey meant he found what he loved about his past and built it into his future. And then when organisations like the Oxford Foundry asked me to get involved in helping to mentor their next generation of leaders, when people showed interest in learning about the kind of resilience I’d built up through coming back from setbacks in my career, I felt certain that I had something to offer after all. I also spoke in Paris with the general managers of Louis Vuitton, at the invitation of their CEO, Michael Burke, about the importance of humility in a team environment.

One of the greatest rugby players of all time and All Black, shares the leadership lessons that took him and the team to the pinnacle of their sport. So, instead of “retiring” he began a process of repurposing – where he established his own set of values and beliefs.Some days I had to remind myself to be grateful, but what I discovered is that gratitude is like so many other habits: it can be developed over time.

His account of tracing Lien and telling her story is a searing exploration of two lives and two families.He also talks about his unflinching loyalty to the famous black jersey and the reasons why he elected to make a long-term commitment to New Zealand. It is a story about love and misunderstanding and about the ways that our most painful experiences - so crucial in defining us - can also be redefined.