Gordon Tietjens is considered to be one of the finest coaches of any sport in the world.
Rugby achievements
He led New Zealand's dominating run in the world of rugby sevens throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In the fourteen years since the IRB Rugby World Series has been run, he has won twelve World Titles and four Commonwealth Games Gold Medals. He was named the New Zealand Rugby Union Coach of the year in 2010, recognised for guiding his team to a fourth consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Awards
In 1999 he was awarded the NZ Order of Merit in the New Zealand's Honours List and in 2007 the Insignia of a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In 2012 Gordon became the 49th inductee into the International Rugby Board's Hall of Fame. The commemorative cap and gold pin were presented at an awards ceremony at Twickenham, shortly after New Zealand clinched their 11th World Series title from 14 attempts. Gordon was further promoted in 2013 to a Knight Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to rugby. In 2016 Gordon took up a new position as Coach of the Samoan national sevens team.
Current work
Gordon is known for his no nonsense leadership style and uncanny ability to spot raw new talent. Whether it's the motivation he injects into his teams, his refusal to accept anything but the best from his players, or his absolute belief in his ability to pick and coach people to be the best they can be, Gordon is a remarkable man with a remarkable track record in sport and working with winning teams.
Many of these principles have been mirrored throughout his 30 year career with Bay Engineers Supplies where he is currently the Strategic Sales Director.
Author
Gordon has written two bestsellers 'Titch, Sevens is My Game' and 'Legacy: Sir Gordon Tietjens'.
Gordon is a compelling and fascinating conference speaker and will motivate and inspire your team to achieve the most that they can.
I wanted to thank you very much for the huge contribution that you made towards our dinner and conference being the success that it was. Our guests thoroughly enjoyed your stories, messages ... keep reading Pfizer Animal Health
Gordon picked our audience brilliantly. His stories were entirely relevant to our team. The feedback from our operations team in particular was fantastic, and this was the primary audience. This is a great achievement as we have struggled to achieve this objective in the past. His stories were inspiring and personally challenging, and his delivery style made everyone feel engaged.
The team were very interested in Gordon’s story - he related his professional sporting and corporate stories to align with the team of Finance people he was presenting to. He used humour to lighten the mood and really focused on the stories that highlights team work, motivation and cohesiveness. I was thoroughly impressed and pleased with the way Gordon engaged with the team before and after his speech he certainly left a great impression on the wider team - there was a buzz in the air and Gordon’s contribution lead to the overall success of the dinner!
People are still talking about Sir Gordon’s presentation 3 weeks later and I suspect they will for a long time yet. A lot of reference to the green, yellow and red boxes and selecting teams based on character and coach ability. We would describe his presentation as a revelation.
Sir Gordon was a fabulous speaker, he had the audience mesmerised by his talk. He was able to bring a good mix of business and sport examples in to his speech that made really good sense to all of us. This was definitely the highlight of our day.
