3 Things Ted Lasso Taught Me About Leadership | by Craig Brown
Unless you have been living under a rock, you will most likely have seen a certain mustache or a yellow sign with the word Believe in blue. Ted Lasso has just finished its third and final series on Apple TV and if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth making the time to watch. I’m happy to admit that I was in floods of tears at the end of the last episode. At its core, Ted Lasso is a show about kindness, supportive male relationships, and leadership. I’m going to cover what I’ve taken away about leadership from this beautiful piece of telly. I’ve managed small teams in the past so this is just my view.
!!Large Spoilers Ahoy!!
Be the best version of themselves
In season 1, episode 3, Ted has dinner with a reporter (Trent Crimm, The Independent) and Ted says “For me, success is not about the wins and losses. It’s about helping these young fellas be the best version of themselves on and off the pitch”.
Wanting the best for your people, your staff. In my first management role, when my staff member started, I told her she wouldn’t be in the organization in 18 months, she looked at me with a horrified look, thinking I would force her out. I explained that my role as her manager was to give her the skills, experience, and opportunities to move to a bigger and better role. For me, a manager should want the best for their staff, want them to achieve and move on to bigger and better things.
You can’t do it, cause you’re hurt
Back in the 2001/2002 season, Allen Iverson, a Professional American Basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers ranted during a press conference about practice. A clip is linked here.
Ted Lasso takes this and puts a unique spin on it. Jamie Tartt claims he can train as he is hurt and when pressed on this by Ted, Jamie tells him it’s only practice. Ted then, uncharacteristically loses his cool and starts to rant at Jamie about the team. What resonated with me about this scene is how the dynamic is shot and presented.
You can see in the image above that Ted, who is standing, is on the same level as Jamie when he is sat down. Ted isn’t towering over Jamie, shouting down at him. Ted, while frustrated and annoyed, is addressed as an equal, talking to him and not talking down to him.
What did I take from this in regard to leadership? Even when we have to speak with staff about their performance, as managers, we should strive to speak with them and not down to them. We need to see them on an equal footing.
What have I got to learn here?
In the final episode of season 2, it all comes to a head with Nate and his grievance towards Ted. in a powerful scene between Nate and Ted, Ted asks the following “Oh, come on, man. You're mad as hell at me. I just wanna know why. Huh? What have I got to learn here?” Nate explodes into a hate-filled rant before storming out and leaving Ted standing on his own.
Knowing the relationship was strained and on the back of a bombshell earlier in the episode, Ted approaches this in his usual calm manner and asks what do I need to learn here? Now, some may say that is just his way of saying “What have I done?” but I don’t take it that way. This to me is Ted saying how can I be a better leader to you? How can I improve as a manager?
Even as managers, when staff are angry and upset with us, we can look to see what we can do better, and how we can improve.
There is so much more you can take from this beautiful piece of television. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t buy that fancy coffee this month and use that money to subscribe to Apple TV for the month and watch all three seasons, you’ll thank yourself.
Craig Brown is a Data Literacy apprentice based in the UK and is writing for the Apprentice Lens as part of the Blogging Team. Here's more about him:
"Craig is an Education Partnership Officer for Lancashire County Council and leads on Team around the School and Settings for one of the 5 localities. Craig hopes to develop his writing skills and talk about his apprentice journey as someone who did not enjoy school."