Jamie George has been nourished on a rugby diet rich in every different type of captaincy ingredient.
The new England skipper remains hungry to learn, with a mental appetite that has fed his flourishing career.
George can take his pick when it comes to captaincy role models, even without looking beyond the end of his Saracens nose.
His England head coach, Steve Borthwick, was his first Saracens captain. The rugged lock helped George get to grips with skippering the club's A team, with the young front-rower hardly out of his teens at the time.
It was a captaincy crossover that left a lasting impression on Borthwick. The regard with which he held the youngster at the start of his career has translated into making the 33-year-old his new skipper for the Six Nations.
Owen Farrell is the most obvious and recent captaincy touchstone for 85-cap George. And yet, perhaps the most instructive role model on George's England leadership comes in the unlikely form of ex-Ireland captain Rory Best. George struck up a firm friendship with Best on the Lions tour of New Zealand in 2017, and the two have stayed in touch.
Where Saracens boss Mark McCall and club-mate Farrell were his first two ports of call on being named England skipper, George said Best might just end up being the third.
Best became one of Ireland's most successful and shrewdest captains, through an understated but demanding leadership style.
George can be expected to take Best's lead when it comes to his captaincy, and this represents overwhelmingly positive news for England. Best was a master of keeping referees onside, operating as a foil of demeanour to the ultra-competitive Johnny Sexton. England will lack their own 'Sexton', given Farrell's absence, but George will still look to play the appeaser with officials.
Ellis Genge could have been picked but George's more measured attitude won the day
George's captaincy ticket within the England squad will be one of great unification, and his upbeat and determined personality will rub off well externally, too.
Borthwick could easily have opted for Ellis Genge as his new captain, for a fire-and-brimstone tenure. Instead, George's more measured attitude won the day. England will not lack for any motivation or fury, though, with George fully determined that the team is restored to its aggressive, niggly and dominant best.
George has never shied away from the fact that he would be in the Twickenham stands as a fan were he not living his dream as a Test star.
The male relatives in his family, all big rugby people, feel a creeping disconnect to the England team, though. This is worrying for the state of English rugby, but heartening that George
and his family have the confidence to express their honest appraisal.
If anyone can heal the wounds between a frustrated public and an under-performing team, it is George, but personality and attitude will only carry George, and England, so far.
Talent, quality and application of a new game-plan must over-arch everything else.
Quite how Borthwick will look to move England forward after what proved to be a successful World Cup remains to be seen.
The ultra-pragmatist will never stray too far from the basics of tight tactics and disciplined defence, but England simply have to expand their attack: they must take more risks; must add speed to their wider game; and they have got to seize upon the attacking situations they create.
None of this will hold any fear for George. He was among the main architects of Saracens' player-led expanded game-plan last season — and a wider attack drove Saracens to a sixth Premiership crown.
Borthwick is unlikely to be as amenable to such a wide-ranging overhaul with England as McCall proved at Saracens, but if England are truly to prosper under the new George-Borthwick axis, the two men will have to plot a more aggressive, impactful and exciting route to victory.
England will be fully expected to beat Italy in Rome on Saturday — and not just win, but win well.
A marriage of style and substance is what is required, though, to enthuse England for a tough campaign ahead.
