Some of the best “accidental” genetic advice I ever heard came from John Eales, who was captain of Australia’s 1999 Rugby World Cup-winning Wallabies. Eales gave the keynote at the 2025 World Angus Forum in Brisbane.
Eales made two points that every speaker at the forum should have noted. Though he was talking about leadership and sport, the advice was genetically profound.
First, he said: “Many things are measurable, but that doesn’t make them meaningful.” This should be stressed every time a new EPD, genomic product, or $ Index is developed. Second, he said the job of a leader is to “take a complex issue, simplify it, then make it compelling.”
Why do so many animal scientists and geneticists do the opposite – take a simple issue, complicate it, and make it confusing?
I hope Eales’ words resonated with at least some of the 800 Angus breeders and enthusiasts in attendance. The rest of the speakers did everything they could to genomically enhance the crowd.
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