The Hard Call

This is the second post in a series highlighting Lasso Leadership Lessons, the nuggets of coaching awesomeness that come from Ted Lasso in every episode. This recaps Episode 2. You can also check out Episode 1 and my Lasso leadership fanboy origins.

This post does contain spoilers. So catch up already!

The situation

For all of Ted’s success transforming the culture of AFC Richmond, the results so far on the pitch have actually been kinda meh. Better for sure, but still not all that good.

Since he took over as coach, they’ve lost their way out of the English Premier League to a lower division. (Not really Ted’s fault; he picked up a mess mid-season.) And as Season 2 of the show kicks off, they’re enduring a uniquely soccer streak: They’ve tied eight games in a row. (Can you imagine Philadelphia Eagles fans if they tied eight straight games?)

Side note: There’s some comfort in this familiar sports TV/movie trope, though. It feels good to embrace the idea that the environment of an organization changes to a far healthier place, and then victory follows from there. They don’t write many great stories about quick fixes.

And Ted wants to win more than just a game. He keeps trying to break down Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, the steely psychologist who has been kept on by the team after helping star forward Dani Rojas escape the yips.?

The tension

Enter Jamie Tartt. Jamie spent most of Season 1 being brilliant on the field for Richmond and a nightmare in the locker room for Ted and the team —?a pitch-perfect embodiment of the petulant prima donna we love to hate in sports (and business, for that matter). “Pro: he’s a great player,” Coach Beard, Ted’s right-hand man, says. “Con: He’s a poop in the punch bowl.”

Since leaving Richmond, Tartt’s star has lost its sheen. After he unexpectedly (and hilariously) got booted from a reality TV show, his Manchester City club refused to take him back.

With a dose of humility that shows he’s been Lasso-ed too, Tartt asks to return to Richmond. “I don’t know, Jamie,” Ted says as they sip beers at a pub. “You burned a lot of bridges.”

“I need Richmond,” Jamie responds.

“And Richmond needs you,” interjects Mae the bartender, speaking for all agonized fans of the team.

“You’re an amazing player,” Ted tells Jamie, “but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

When the team sees pictures on Twitter of them having beers together, they assume Ted has gone the other way. Sam, whose play and demeanor have lifted him to a leadership role on the team, is having none of it.

“I can’t believe you’re bringing Jamie back,” he tells Ted. “How many locker-room punch-ups have we had since Jamie’s been gone? None. Have we won yet? No, but we will… Just because Jamie can score goals doesn’t mean he deserves to be here. No teammate has ever made me feel as bad about myself as Jamie did.”

Ted assures Sam that he doesn’t intend to bring Jamie back, but the opportunity to field a better team isn’t easy to turn away from —?a fact Dr. Fieldstone recognizes.

“There’s a wonderful atmosphere here,” she says to Ted, and you can see he’s proud to have built that atmosphere—and that the doc has noticed. “All the employees are thoughtful and kind, and they actually listen to one another.”

“Do you think we got ourselves one of those ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ situations here or what?” Ted asks her.

“That depends,” Fieldstone answers. “Does everyone agree that being winless with eight straight draws ‘ain’t broke?’ ”

The response

My aunt Judy is a retired high school principal who now works for the state of Pennsylvania to train and develop other school administrators. My wife, daughters, and I look forward to the inspirational texts she shoots us a couple times a week. “Quote of the week,” she wrote us just yesterday. “ ‘The absence of conflict is not harmony. It’s apathy.’ Think about it.” (It traces back to an HBR article from 1997.)

Such is the dilemma Ted faces, a classic for leaders of every kind. When and how do you risk disrupting the cultural vibe you’ve worked hard to cultivate, in search of improved performance? When and how do you keep a successful status quo from bleeding into uncomfortable stasis?

“Heavy is the head that wears the visor, Coach Lasso,” Dr. Fieldstone tells him, recognizing how hard his call is. And it’s part of what seems to be the set-up of Season 2. Ted, tested.

Ultimately Ted decides to bring Jamie back. “Isn’t the idea of ‘never give up’ one of them things we always talk about in sports?” he says. “And shouldn’t that apply to people too?”

When to take a chance on somebody with a spotty track record is a topic worthy of its own post. But Ted’s decision on Jamie is consistent with the core of his leadership style.

Kindness is Ted’s M.O., and that guides him here. But kindness is hard to evenly distribute. While giving Jamie a second chance (and helping his team’s performance at the same time), is he being cold-hearted to Sam and the boys, still stinging from Jamie’s toxicity (in the punch bowl, as it were)?

I don’t see it that way. Being easy to work with (and for) doesn’t mean saying yes all the time. It means being clear, consistent, approachable and absent of mal-intent as you balance individual needs for the success of the group as fairly as you can.

Sometimes there’s a hidden kindness in saying no or cutting against the organizational grain. In pushing everyone a little harder when they need it.

Ted-ism of the episode: “People say cuss words when they don’t know the right ones to use to express themselves. Except Bernie Mac. He uses them like van Gogh uses yellow.”