What Ted Lasso Can Teach All of Us About Leadership

Me in the group chat: “Wow, what a great show!”

One of my best friends: “I can’t believe it took you this long to watch it.”

Yes, it’s true it took me a while to get around to watching Apple TV’s awarding winning show — Ted Lasso. In the show, Ted is an American football coach who was hired to manage the English Football Club — AFC Richmond. The intention was that, Ted would come in coach and almost immediately fail, at least that was the initial plan by the team’s new owner trying to spite her former husband. From the very first episode, it was very clear to me that Ted had a high degree of emotional intelligence. Beyond that is his people first mentality. To Ted, ‘people’ even comes before winning, although let’s be real, winning is the real measure of success. It’s a real reminder that no matter the business or industry that you’re in, it’s all a people first business.

Ted does an excellent job of creating an emotional connection with everyone he interacts with and is fully oriented around building a positive environment for the team. One of the ‘ah-ha’ moments that I had was the realization that — building and maintaining these relationships takes real work and effort, day in and day out. By the end of the first season he was able win over almost all of the players and even the team owner.

1. Bring your authentic self to work every day

• Ted is thoroughly genuine, he invest his time in getting to know everyone and even sharing personal gifts. Such as biscuit that he makes himself for his boss, and even shares the toy green shoulders with others, that his son sent him. These acts demonstrate who is at his core and doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.

2.?Be a goldfish — have a short term memory

• When one of the footballers (Sam), missed a goal, Ted could tell that it was something that got into his head. Ted pulled him aside and told him to be a goldfish. Why a goldfish? Because it’s one of the only animals with a memory of less than 10 seconds, meaning shake off the mistake, and move on. We’re all human and we all make mistakes, there is no need in letting a mistake prevent you from developing further and becoming great.

3.?Be an empathic leader

• It’s not immediately apparent if Ted is naturally empathic or if it’s a skill that he’s put a lot of work into. Being an empathic leader gives you insight into what others are feeling and thinking, and it helps you understand their reactions in various situations. Throughout the show you can see that Ted does the following things really well — truly listens with open ears, an open heart and is always fully present in all interactions.

4.?Optimism > Pessimism

• Ted is a big time optimist and brings a high level of infectious positivity to the team and everyone around him. At first it seems like many were a little taken back by his over the top enthusiasm but eventually they learn to love it.

5.?Believe in yourself and your team

• Honestly, if you don’t believe you’re going to succeed, then how on Earth would anybody else? I’m imperative that we truly think we can achieve our goals, Ted teaches us and his team that in order to achieve their goals they must?believe. However, failure is also ‘ok’ to an extent, such as the team getting relegated from the Premier League due to their standings. The point is to not give up, keep believing, working hard and the next attempt may be you and your team’s most pivotal moment.

I hope you all enjoyed the show as much as I did. Let’s all be more like Ted going forward. Cheers to the next season.

I love you all.

Also published on Medium --> https://medium.com/@KingFazir/ab1e942c6d2a