The Otago Sparks coach uses it to motivate his players and squeeze out every last drop of talent.
He tried it on again last year and it worked wonderfully.
The Sparks certainly had some talent but no-one was really expecting them to lift their first trophy in 51 years.
That success has left Lees needing a new tool to fire up his charges.
No-one will buy the underdog tag any more, so he has modified the message ever so slightly.
''We will still be the underdog because teams up north will be saying, 'How did that happen?'
''We won it last year and it was the first time in [51 years], so it was a surprise for other teams. But it was not such a surprise for us because we had worked quite hard for two years.
''When I started two years ago we only had 13 players. If you put your hand up, you were in. We now have 28 players we can pick from which means we've more than doubled our numbers and therefore we're getting a bit more depth.
''But what we can't afford to do is lose our most experienced players because we still don't quite have the depth. But every game we play now I don't expect us to be frightened or in awe of the opposition.''
The Sparks will play a series of trial games in Mosgiel this weekend and will also play a warm-up twenty20 match in mid November.
Their campaign gets under way in Auckland on November 28 with a T20 fixture against the Auckland Hearts.
The Sparks will still rely heavily on White Ferns captain Suzie Bates.
She is one of the best batsmen in the world and certainly the best in the province.
She made 99 in the one-day final last season and can take an attack apart like no other player in the competition.
The Sparks' prospects hinge to a large degree on her form. But others such as experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Katey Martin and leg-spinner Emma Campbell are also key.
All-rounder Victoria Abbott made progress last season and promising players Polly Inglis and Caitlin Blakely are expected to shine more this summer.
Import Nic Bolton can only play a limited role due to her cricketing commitments in Australia but the Sparks have picked up White Ferns spinner Morna Nielsen.
She is one of the leading T20 bowlers in the world and a key plank in the White Ferns' attack.
Ashburton's Georgia Clarke has struggled to get a run with Canterbury, so she has thrown her kit bag in with Otago.
She is a lively seam bowler and will take the new ball.
There is no Sarah Osborne this year and experienced all-rounder Sarah Tsukigawa has retired - again.
