Kevin Sinfield on Determination

Posted on 13th April 2021 | Posted in General

Romero Insurance Brokers took the opportunity to sit down with our new partner, Director of Rugby at Leeds Rhinos, Kevin Sinfield. We asked Kevin about the value of determination; what were his goals he strived toward and how he found his drive to excel and achieve success.

Here, Kevin discusses his passion for the sport and how the people around him have affected his drive to excel. He also talks about issues away from the sport including the importance of education, his family and his upbringing. We explore how Kevin’s attitude toward achieving success parallel with the ethos found within Romero Insurance Brokers.

Determination with Kevin Sinfield and Romero Insurance Brokers

Determination is using your situation and experiences to motivate you toward your goal. We asked Kevin on what drives him now and how he views his goals after retirement:

“Making the place a little bit better for everybody, that’s what drives me now. When I was a player it was about winning, but if you strip that back, actually being better every day and that’s how I viewed winning. To be able to carry on winning we need to keep on improving and improving more than the other teams around us.”

As the Director of Rugby at Leeds Rhinos, Kevin shoulders a huge amount of responsibility. He shows his determination to maintain the successful fabric of the club and to keep improving. Kevin has a winning-mentality, and each goal accomplished is a win – the goals now being slightly different to those found on the pitch. At Romero Insurance Brokers we also have a set of goals that we strive to achieve. Our aim, similar to Kevin, is to improve and become better every day. Our goals give us a direction, and our determination is visible within our ethic of hard work and customer satisfaction.

Determination comes in many forms, but it always involves challenging yourself to improve and achieve something which was previously unattainable. Kevin not only challenged himself during his career, but he also challenges the stereotype given to rugby players:

“A lot of people think rugby players are dumb. Its quite nice to go and change that mould a little bit. To be able to go and do it (attend university), and have the support of the club – I took at lot of achievement from it.”

Through his actions and accomplishments, Kevin subverts the public perception of the stereotypical rugby player. He completed his A levels at Oldham Sixth Form College whilst simultaneously playing professionally for Leeds Rhinos. He then achieved a BSc (Hons) in Sport & Exercise Science at Leeds Beckett University as well as an MA in Sport Business. Kevin studied in higher education for eight years while playing the sport, reflecting his attitude on the importance of education. This attitude is shared by Romero Insurance Brokers as we are continually battling against the stereotype labelling people in insurance. We want to show our clients that we truly care, and that insurance is not stagnant or ominous. We are active, thoughtful and we engage with our customers.

On the point of education, we similarly promote continued learning as an option for our employees. Romero Insurance Brokers launched the Romero academy in 2020, it enables determined staff members to access training and improve their knowledge. It blends a combination of field work, digital and classroom style learning, offering a detailed look into a range of pathways.

Kevin agrees as he believes continued learning is a positive attitude to hold and he advocates for taking responsibility of your own path:

“I’d recommend it (continued learning) to any player. If there’s a chance of getting a second career, not just saying go back to university, but if you want to do a plumbing course, a joinery course, an accountancy course, you want to work at Romero’s; put something in place so that you are ready for when that time comes.”

At Romero Insurance Brokers, we pride ourselves on the quality and determination of our staff. Our claims team are continually learning in order to stay on top of critical changes in law and circumstance. And our brokers are having to continually improve to hit their targets and grow their skillset. We believe being within the Romero group, as a member or a client, involves unparalleled benefits and first-class expertise. This is due to our determination to learn and grow.

Kevin explains his drive; how he is able to continue striving for success and what is important to understand about yourself in order to grow:

“I knew as a player there were some qualities that I lacked physically. I think its really important to understand where your deficiencies are. But then on the flip side its really important to know where your strengths are as well. If you can work on both and improve both of them every day, I think you are going about work in the right way. The drive to succeed. The drive to be better. The drive to prove people wrong.”

Kevin here touches on a crucial point – to grow and improve you must first learn where you are lacking or where you are deficient. Once you realise where you have room to develop, it is then a matter of improving little by little each day. To do this, he says, requires a drive to succeed and a drive to be better.

“I’ve lost five challenge cup finals as a captain – that’s a record by the way, a record I’m not proud of – but it’s important because it need to stand there alongside the achievements because it helped shape me to what I am today.”

Kevin notes that it’s our past experiences which have shaped us and brought us to where we are now. Romero Insurance Brokers proudly displays where the business started and how far we’ve come. From an office above a Horsforth bookmaker in 1998, to winning the 2020 Insurance Times Awards; we respect our origins and believe it has shaped how we operate. We are a truly independent broker and we celebrate our hard work from small beginnings.

When asked about how he can still be so determined to achieve after years of success, facing and beating such adversities, and then his eventual retirement, Kevin replied:

“You have a choice in all of this, and your attitude is vital in how you attack some of these adverse moments that none of us want. But the choice is we can either stay in bed and pull the covers over and get in the foetal position and hope it goes away, or we throw the covers off and we get out and fight and we do something about it. The sooner that you get out of bed and face it the easier it is to deal with.”

Bravery comes hand in hand with determination. We ask our staff at Romero Insurance Brokers to be brave, push boundaries, achieve and drive your colleagues forward. This can only be done through continuous improvement and incredible perseverance, qualities synonymous with Kevin Sinfield. After retirement, Kevin completed the 7 in 7, running 7 marathons in 7 days to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. This achievement, he said, surpassed all the successes in his playing career, going on to raise over £2 million for the charity. We take inspiration from Kevin’s example and aim to “get out and fight” by helping our clients through their own adversities and challenges.

“You are the product of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Surrounding yourself, whether it be personally or in business, with the correct people is important. Finding those who care, understand your situation and can relate is vital to finding success. Both Kevin Sinfield and Romero Insurance Brokers understand the importance of determination and improvement, qualities which are drawn from those around us to help benefit the community. Kevin’s words resonate alongside our company ethic of hard work, taking responsibility and providing excellent service.