Editor’s Note: Thought leader Grace Ueng is CEO of Savvy Growth, a noted leadership coaching and management consultancy, celebrating its 20th anniversary. Grace writes a regular column on Happiness & Leadership. Savvy’s core offerings are conducting strategic reviews for companies at a critical juncture and one-on-one coaching for CEOs and their leadership teams.
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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – When I was suffering from a severe depressive episode a couple of years ago, a past client who has since become a good friend, would check in with me several times a week and also invite me regularly to his home where he and his girlfriend prepared a healthy home cooked meal. At each of these dinners, the small group would discuss Ted Lasso and encourage me to tune in, as they thought it would lift my spirits.
While I was in too much of a dark tunnel back then to muster the energy, when I became better last year, I binge watched season one and savored season two. Then waited in high anticipation for this season.
So I experienced mixed emotions going into viewing episode 12 last week, knowing my favorite show was soon coming to an end.
I thought that piecing together my learnings and hearing from readers on their favorite moments, would be a good way to memorialize my favorite show. Here we go…
Grace Ueng
Lasso’s Lessons on Leadership:
- Raving fans (Customers) are the heart of an enterprise.
How sweet was the scene in which the trio of Richmond fans, Baz, Paul, and Jeremy – regulars at the bar – buy Rebecca and her mom lunch to thank her for the way she’s run the team. Without regular fans coming back to cheer, there would be no AFC Richmond.
- “Me” to “We” is the winning difference.
I found Jamie so much more attractive by the end of season three. From the little things like complimenting a teammate on the way he played to the big things like giving the penalty kick at the Big Game. While the latter may seem extreme, it demonstrates the culmination of Jamie’s turnaround from a self centered player/person to a team first caring individual.
As well as Lasso’s belief: “It’s not about the wins or losses, but making the players the best versions of themselves on and off the field.”
Crying on Roy’s shoulder, revealing his darkest pains from his alcoholic father who abused and bullied him and meeting his mother in his childhood home gave us the human look into Richmond’s star player, fitting right into our next lesson…
- Vulnerability draws a team together.
As circumstances revealed more about Ted including a panic attack not indigestion being the reason for his sudden disappearance at a critical game, he began to share more openly, becoming an open book. His players, one by one, did too.
As did the rest of the coaching staff. We witnessed in the final episode, Roy Kent asking for a meeting of the Diamond Dogs. He wanted to figure out if people can really change.
With Rebecca now on his side, Leslie seems to take a turn from a bumbling fool into a wise man. Earlier he counseled Keeley when she was offered funding to start her own PR firm, “A good mentor hopes you will move on; a great mentor knows you will.”
To Roy, Leslie says, “Human beings are never going to be perfect. The best we can do is keep asking for help and accepting it when you can. And if you keep on doing that, you’ll always be moving towards better.”
- Humbleness wins.
Ted versus “bad” Nate or Ted versus Rupert. What leader would you want to work for? Need we say more?
5. Power of PR.
Rebecca makes many smart moves including hiring external professionals to focus on what they do best to help Richmond become its best. We saw Keeley grow tremendously over three seasons. From the beginning, she was gifted in cultivating relationships with key stakeholders, gaining sponsorship deals for many Richmond players.
Keeley and Rebecca gave regular and ongoing access to the media. We saw regular crowded press conferences, including Trent from The Independent who was later allowed to “move in” and shadow the team for many months in order to write his future best seller, deepening and widening the fandom.
Rebecca allows Ted to be Ted, using his authentic voice to build a unique brand. While he insists it is not “The Lasso Way” rather, the “The Richmond Way,” as the head coach, Ted is the top spokesperson, thereby the top influencer shaping the team’s brand.
6. True partnership at the very top.
Rebecca saying “I’ll take care of it” when Ted walked into her office, pouring out his heart about Michelle’s trip to Paris and asking her for a private investigator to learn the truth. He could always count on her.
How touching is it that she purchases a ticket just to be at his gate in person to give Ted a proper goodbye right before he boards his flight back to America?
7. Joined at the hip leaders strengthen success.
Ted’s taking in Coach Beard earlier in his life cemented his loyalty. Ted’s caring about the whole person is what gave Beard the permission to deplane in the final episode to follow his heart. Ted cares about his people and puts their feelings first.
Beard is the opposite of Lasso and knows to give him the floor, but knows when to fill in the gaps. His quiet leadership complements and makes Ted’s whole.
We learn in the moving scene when Coach Beard calls on Nate to forgive him and invite him back, that Ted believing in him at his darkest time, is why Nate should also allow himself a second chance.
Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard says, “The characters are all going through hard things. The show is about how we react to hardship in life, not how we avoid it. The ‘Believe’ sign represents hope. You can live this life being a pessimist or playing it safe, but whether things are going well or not, you might as well believe because you are better off that way. Believing is a better way to go.”
8, Self efficacy.
BELIEVE. Ted believes in his coaches and his players, and in turn, they learn to believe in themselves. The importance of confidence (“Why Confidence is Contagious)” – believing that you can succeed is at the heart of confidence.
- Celebrate success! Ted’s happy dance after their win at The Big Game says it all.His belief that it’s not about the wins or losses but making the players the best versions of themselves on and off the field. Ted succeeded in making each of the players in touch with their emotions, to express themselves rather than impress, which leads to positive emotions and happiness, and that is what led to their success.The happiness advantage at play!
- Don’t let divorce undo you and put family first.I can personally relate to this as I am sure many of you can. When my husband left suddenly 25 years ago, I almost became undone. Though with a 14 month old, an incredibly frenetic leadership role at a tech startup, I pulled it all together.
My son was a gift that gave me purpose to keep going. The love and support of family and friends was invaluable to my personal journey and supportive colleagues and the desire to learn and focus on b2b tech marketing became my business focus. That journey was foundational for me. It gave me the confidence to know I could succeed in difficult circumstances and became an important touchstone for all my future opportunities.
Reframing to discover the benefits is what happiness & leadership is all about.
About Grace Ueng
Grace is CEO of Savvy Growth, a leadership coaching and management consultancy founded in 2003. Specialties are strategic reviews for companies wanting to reach the next level and conducting 360s for leaders to uncover their blind spots.
A marketing strategist, Grace held leadership roles at five technology ventures that successfully exited through acquisition or IPO. She started her career at Bain, then worked in brand management at Clorox and General Mills. She is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School.
Grace and her partner, Rich Chleboski, develop and implement strategies to support the growth of impact-focused companies and then coach their leaders in carrying out their strategic plans. Their expertise spans all phases of the business from evaluation through growth and liquidity.
Contact us if you have a challenge you’re facing to schedule a complimentary consult call.
