The Business End

There’s no such thing as a controversial decision. Only a wrong one.

That is the philosophy of former Premiership referee Ash Rowden.

And it is a fascinating way to think about leadership.

Ash spent years making decisions in real time, under enormous pressure, with players, coaches and thousands of supporters ready to question them.

Yet he says he never feared making the big call.

Why?

Because avoiding it cost you something far more important than popularity.

Respect.

As Ash explains:
“You actually get respect when you send players off… because they know that when a big call needs to be made, you don’t have a problem making it.”

There is a powerful leadership lesson in that.

The controversy surrounding a decision and the correctness of that decision are two completely different things.

Great leaders still listen.

They still challenge their assumptions.

They still make sure they have the evidence.

But once the right decision becomes clear, they cannot allow the fear of reaction to determine what happens next.

As Ash puts it:
“It might be a big call to make, but it’s not controversial because it’s the right call.”

That is easy to say.

Much harder when you are the person who has to raise the card.

Do you agree with Ash?

If a decision is ultimately the right one, can it ever truly be controversial?

🎙️ The Business End | Ashley Rowden

🏉 EXETER | FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER

We’re delighted to have Gareth Steenson joining Tony Rowe CBE for what promises to be a very special Business End Leadership Lunch at The Stand Off, Exeter.

Few sporting stories demonstrate the power of long-term vision, leadership and belief quite like the rise of Exeter Chiefs.

Tony helped build it.
Gareth helped deliver it on the field.

Together, they’ll take us behind the success and into the decisions, setbacks, standards and relationships that helped take the club from the Championship to the summit of English and European rugby.

And as Gareth says in the video, there will be plenty of stories along the way!

This isn’t just a rugby lunch.

It’s a conversation about leadership, business, resilience and building something that lasts — surrounded by a room of business leaders, entrepreneurs and sports professionals from across the South West.

📍 The Stand Off, Exeter
📅 Friday 11 September
🎙 Gareth Steenson & Tony Rowe CBE
❤️ Supporting the Exeter Chiefs Foundation

We’d love to see you there.

Places are limited. Clink the link to secure your place 👇

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The decisions that define leaders are usually the ones nobody wants to make.

The employee everyone likes, but whose standards have slipped.

The client everyone wants to keep, but who is damaging the business.

The strategy everyone supported, but which is clearly no longer working.

The conversation everybody knows needs to happen.

Leadership becomes difficult when the right decision and the comfortable decision stop being the same thing.

During our latest conversation on The Business End podcast, former Premiership referee and businessman Ash Rowden summed it up perfectly:

“If you want to get to the top in anything, you have to make big decisions.”

Ash spent years making those decisions in environments where hesitation was immediately exposed.

Thirty players.
Thousands of supporters.
Coaches scrutinising every call.
And sometimes only seconds to decide.

In this clip, Ash recalls watching a referee faced with what he believed was a clear red card.

Instead of making the decision, the referee searched for reassurance.

The assistant couldn't help.

The red became a yellow.

Ash's point goes far beyond rugby.

Avoiding the difficult decision rarely makes the problem disappear.

It simply transfers the consequences further down the road.
And often, in trying to keep one group happy, you undermine the confidence of everyone else.

As Ash puts it:

“Not making a big call, either in business or in sport, you're just opting out… and you're actually not doing anyone any favours at all.”

The strongest leaders aren't those who make every decision perfectly.

They're the ones prepared to make the decision when the evidence is clear, the stakes are high and the easier option is to avoid it.

Because sometimes the most damaging leadership decision isn't making the wrong call.

It's refusing to make one at all.

🎙️ The Business End | Ashley Rowden

What difficult decision are you avoiding because the easier option is to wait?

The most dangerous ego in any organisation might belong to the leader.

If people have to manage your ego to succeed, you don't have a high-performance culture.

You have a political one.

Former professional rugby player and now player agent John Andress has seen both.

Across more than 200 professional games, John experienced some of rugby's most respected leaders, including Rob Baxter, Rassie Erasmus and Pat Lam.

What separated the very best?

They were secure enough to be challenged.

They could dislike the challenge without disliking the challenger.

They could disagree with a player and still select him.

They could like someone personally and still leave him out.

Because when the decision mattered, performance mattered more than preference.

That sounds obvious.

In reality, it is incredibly rare.

The same problem exists in business.

When leaders become threatened by disagreement, people quickly learn what gets rewarded.

They stop challenging.
They start managing upwards.
They tell the boss what they want to hear.
And slowly, politics begins replacing performance.

Great leaders create the opposite environment.

You don't have to flatter them.
You don't have to agree with them.
You don't even have to be their favourite person in the room.
You just have to deliver.

Perhaps one of the greatest tests of leadership is this:
Can you recognise excellence in someone who challenges you?

🎙️ John Andress | The Business End

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