Louis Guelette, cited in:

We had discovered a potential leader, a bright man with a high level of attention for others and an incredible ability to motivate people around him - not only those who reported to him, but also his peers.

There are people able to unite teams wherever they are - Mteto is one of them.

I enjoyed working with this great man.

To this day, it’s hard to describe the power those simple words had. He could have said dozens of other things to make me feel better—“You’ll find a way through this,” “It’s not as bad as you think,” or “Here are some things to try.” But what he said instead was specific to me, and something I felt he genuinely believed. It didn’t mean my opinions were always right, but his vote of confidence that they came from a principled place restored some of the confidence I had lost. By recognizing a strength of mine, Chris gave me a renewed sense of motivation.

“And here is what made Seme an excellent coach. He knew I had been coaching myself. He first wanted to understand what I had been doing, mostly on my own, to bring me to the point where he would notice me. And I told him. I was doing the things I’d seen athletes at bigger schools with actual tracks do. I told him I would run by myself when I wasn’t taking care of my family home. I remember Seme nodded and then just added to the foundation I’d laid for myself. He found my running form to be too loose, he felt I swung my arms too much and held my head too far back. He would eventually help me get to the form that made me a winner—arms locked in close to my body, chest high, head centered. Seme was a coach who understood where you were. This is why, despite everything that came between us in the future, I will always say he is the best coach I’ve ever had. He became like a father to me. Seme knew when to push and when we needed to rest.

That was the source of so much of his and the company’s success, and I had immense respect for Michael’s tendency to sweat the details. It showed how much he cared, and it made a difference. He understood that “great” is often a collection of very small things, and he helped me appreciate that even more deeply. Michael was proud of his micromanagement, but in expressing his pride, and reminding people of the details he was focused on, he could be perceived as being petty and small-minded.

McCaw knew the laws inside out and was a genius at judging how a referee would interpret the breakdown, which is why he was able to push the boundaries while not getting penalised as much as some people thought he should have been. He also had good people skills. He didn’t complain about every little mistake because he knew that might irritate the referee and 50-50 decisions might start going against his team. And by flagging things only when he really needed to, always calmly and clearly, he made referees think, He hasnt said much until now, maybe I did get that wrong.

People who call McMaw a cheat don’t know what they’re talking about, I also learnt how important it was to know the laws (especially in my department), push boundaries, not pester a referee, and complain in a respectful manner only when I thought he’d really screwed up.