I'm a Boston sports fan, so I'm spoiled.
But I have played sports my entire life and I simply love and understand the game of sports, which I believe has both brought me down to Earth and given me an edge in the way I approach life.
Sports teach us so many life lessons that apply in myriad situations both personally and professionally. In light of the Celtics winning their record 18th banner (woo!!), let's examine what we can learn from this unique team about leadership and how sports can positively impact all facets of our lives.
A Plethora of MVPs = 1 Celtics Team
The thing that struck me most about the 2023-2024 Celtics team was their balance and depth. They didn't just have one or two or even three big name, high-scoring players. Any one on the entire team could shine as an MVP in his own right in any given situation. And they owned that, played together harmoniously, filled each other's gaps, stepped up in different ways, supported each other, stepped back when necessary, shifted the way they added value to their team based on the situation, and did what they had to do to win.
This is how a few possessions might play out:
Jayson Tatum draws the double team then makes a sneaky assist to Al Horford who hits a three
On the other end of the court, Jrue Holiday steals the ball then hurls it down to Jaylen Brown for the breakaway dunk
White makes an earth-shattering block and passes it around the whole team until Tatum finds an open path and gets the layup
Horford snatches a rebound and tosses it out to Holiday who sinks a mid-range floater
Tatum sets a pick so Brown can drive to the hoop and get the And-1
And then of course Pritchard comes in to sink a half-court buzzer beater at the end of the quarter
Notice how each player can do several different things. They know their strengths, but they also have expanded their skills through practice--and traded for versatile players--so each player could add value in several different ways.
From a higher level, their consistently balanced play sets them apart from opponents. They pass the ball around the arc to confuse defenses, which reminds me of the classic Spurs teams of yore. Everyone gets their hands on it, and sometimes they don't even dribble before someone takes advantage of an open look. They play smart. They are efficient. They limit their turnovers and they cause turnovers on the other side. They are incredible on defense. They recognize that offense without defense won't win them a championship. Their offense is varied. They are offensively versatile, with the talent spread out among those who are good at passing, driving, FGs, threes, etc. They all step up at different moments. They all can do it all. And they do it all with ease, because of the hard work they put in at practice. The depth and balance of this particular team have made all the difference.
Side note: This is also how I draft my fantasy football teams. Some people use their first few picks on the biggest names -- a popular QB like Tom Brady, a highly paid receiver, or a promising rookie RB might be their top pick. That's to be expected in the wild world of fantasy sports. But I don't always subscribe to that approach. I like my team to have depth and balance. In fact, I know everyone wants to get the first overall pick, but I'm perfectly happy somewhere in the middle. I have finished in the top three positions ($$$) each of the last three years and my draft position was somewhere between three and seven each of those times (out of 8-12 people in snake drafts). Picture this: If you are the first pick overall, and you are playing with ten people total, and you are doing a snake draft, you get picks 1 and 20. There's a big gap between those two players' abilities. But if I am drafting at spot 5 out of those ten, then I get picks 5 and 15. Your first pick overall might be more explosive and a higher scorer than my top pick, but throughout the entire draft, my team will likely be more balanced than yours, because my picks will be more equally spread out than yours based on the power rankings. I know fantasy sports are different than sports in real life, but achieving balance can have a positive impact in either setting.
In terms of depth, the Celtics team this past season had a wide range of players who each had a wide range of capabilities. They honed their craft together, understood their brand of basketball, leaned into the team culture, leveraged their strengths and mitigated their weaknesses, and recognized that if each person has a variety of abilities, the defense would be confused and wouldn't be able to shut them down easily. They worked hard at being versatile and it worked out well for them, wouldn't you say?
Celtics Gameplay = Lessons in Leadership
How does this translate into leadership? Well, when we synthesize these takeaways into a list like this, the connection to management becomes obvious:
Versatility
Situational shifts
Balance
Depth
Consistency
Team culture
Commitment
SWOT analysis
Systems
These are all terms that come into play as we evaluate and hone our leadership skills.
Versatility - Versatile leaders can adapt to a variety of situations. Versatile leaders tend to be calmer in their demeanor because of their confidence in their abilities, yet they are often also more decisive, since they know they can handle whatever arises. They may even use their experience as leverage here as wisdom and fodder for quick action, since they have been in similar situations and can quickly land on a solution that will be effective in this new reality.
Situational shifts - As the situation changes, being able to change with it is key. Leaders who can quickly assess the situation, visualize a new future based on the new information that has presented itself, understand what it would take to get from point A to point B, then translate that into a plan for their team (and execute alongside them) will outperform leaders who can't.
Balance - Similar to the way the Celtics cared about offense and defense equally, leaders who balance their approaches and techniques and strategies will be more apt to cover a wider range of situations. I know some managers who default to micromanagement whenever one employee's performance diminishes; that's not a balanced approach to leadership. What if that person would respond better to a different approach? What if that situation called for a different strategy? Balancing emotions with the objective business need, balancing empathy with reinforcement, and balancing strategies across situations will produce more sustainably positive results over time.
Depth - While the Celtics had depth across their roster, you could argue each player was also deep in their abilities. Leaders can achieve depth across a wide range of programs they oversee or a variety of ways they add value as well as their own personal skill set. Leverage your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses. Leaders who are lifelong learners are more open to innovation and more adaptable through change. Deepen your arsenal by continually learning, reflecting, trying new things, and developing new skills.
Consistency - We are what we repeatedly do. Just the way basketball players need to consistently be good, leaders need to consistently exhibit the values they want to stand for, hone the skills they want to improve upon, and enforce the behaviors they want to see repeated. One game doesn't dictate the entire season, just as one situation doesn't dictate your entire character or reputation or performance. But over time, everything adds up.
Team culture - Basketball is a team sport; one player cannot win a championship alone. Similarly, a leader is only a leader if he has "followers" (I hesitate at the term "followers" but it's a general enough term that I'm okay with using it here. It's also in the first sentence of this HBR article about leaders needing to understand their followers). The culture a leader builds on his team is vital to success. Your culture is the way you treat each other, and Celtics players treat each other with respect. This also is the tone Coach Joe Mazzulla set from the get-go. Do people trust each other? Does everyone feel valued and know their role? What behaviors are enforced, directly or indirectly? How does communication work? Team culture is directly responsible for engagement and performance alike, as the most effective leaders know.
Commitment - As an offshoot of team culture, team commitment is required. Remember, a leader needs followers. In business, we talk a lot about garnering buy-in for projects and ensuring adoption of strategies and concepts so that we can foster not just compliance but commitment. Commitment occurs when people aren't just moving through the motions but are personally invested in the outcome. Coach Mazzulla had buy-in from his team. His team members were committed. When Derrick White smashed his face on the court, he shrugged it off and said he'd lose all his teeth to win a championship. When Kristaps Porzingis played while injured, he said he'd die on the court to win. But these players weren't just individually interested in winning. They were invested in winning as a team. And they were invested in the way they chose to go about winning. Leaders need to pick a direction, but they also need to put effort and care in the way they foster commitment among their teams, so that their strategies and plans and intentions are fulfilled effectively. And when your teams are committed, they won't just execute--they will elevate. They will go above and beyond. They will find new ways to succeed. Put some time into finding ways to ensure your team feels committed, and the results will be endless and exponentially greater than what you could have imagined alone.
SWOT analysis - My Strategy professor in my MBA program used to call this an OTSW instead, because she believed in first looking externally at opportunities and threats in the market before internally evaluating strengths and weaknesses that could be used to breed success. Successful basketball players know their strengths and weaknesses, and they know their opponents' strengths and weaknesses, too. Good leaders perform the same analysis. What is our goal? Where do we want to compete? What are the pathways to success? What are the obstacles? What are we good at? Where do we need to improve? Align everyone then enact plans that use that data to yield successful outcomes.
Systems - James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, says: "You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." As I wrote in another blog post: "If we can set ourselves up with systems that are geared toward not just hitting one goal but turning us into the type of person who can easily hit that goal, then we'll be much more effective." Joe Mazzulla set up systems that directed his team toward success. Leaders can do the same. Create structure that guides team members toward success by setting them up with the foundation they need in order to hit their goals and be successful. Consider which processes are working for you and which are working against you, and be selective about the ones you follow and the ones you either break down or improve. Then be consistent and strict about adhering to those systems and leaning into them, trusting that they will serve you well as you have set them up to do.
Zooming Out = Life Lessons from Sports
Sports in general add a few other skills and traits that we can all learn from:
Failing up / Perseverance / Resilience - Athletes know how to fail. You will inevitably fail on many levels: You might miss a shot or make a bad pass. You might lose a game. You might get an injury and miss a few weeks. You might lose a tournament or season. There can only be one winner, after all. The majority of teams lose, when you think of the season in those absolute terms. Athletes are all driven to win, but they also know what it feels like to lose. The best role models lose with grace and respect then get back in the gym and work harder than ever to improve and eventually win. Failure is an inevitability and a motivator for athletes. Michael Jordan once said, "I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Great athletes persevere. They are resilient. They lose graciously, and then they work hard to improve. They learn from their mistakes and they put in the extra effort to get better each time. Leaders who fail up will also succeed at building an environment where people take chances and innovate, where employees are motivated and driven, and where teams put in the work to do everything in their control to succeed.
Confidence to act - In basketball, confidence is bred when you always shoot as if you made your last shot. This doesn't mean you should ignore when you're in a slump; this simply means you aren't afraid to act because you trust your skills, you trust your team, you trust your systems, you trust your coach, and you trust yourself. Leaders need a similar confidence to act. No one wants to follow someone who dawdles, is indecisive, succumbs to others' doubts, changes their mind every second, or doesn't believe in their strategy and team steadfastly. Don't be cocky or narrow-minded, but believe in what you're building, and prove that through your actions.
Continual improvement / Intrinsic motivation - In basketball, you're only as good as your last shot. Athletes use that concept to motivate themselves to continually improve their game. Leaders who are playing the infinite game and are lifelong learners will never rest on their laurels and will soar to heights far above their competitors. It's important to note here that while external accolades are great - everyone wants to win a championship - the drive to put in the work along the way must come from within. Intrinsic motivation will beat external motivation every time, is more sustainable, and will pay off dividends when success is finally achieved. And even then, we don't simply walk away - we keep going and find new goals to achieve, moving the goalposts out each time.
I could fill a book with all of the ways sports can transform our lives for the better and teach us how to be more effective, versatile, resilient, analytical, decisive leaders focused on learning and balance and growth. For now, I hope this is a helpful primer. I look forward to hearing from my readers about more ways sports have affected your lives and made you better employees and managers - and people in general. When we are a part of something where we share a goal but contribute to that goal in various ways, we expand our understanding of what success looks like and how to get there. And those lessons can positively impact all facets of our lives.
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