The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership

by Sam Walker

The dictionary definition of “team” is about as bare-bones as it gets. It’s defined as any group that works together on a task.

principle of regression to the mean tells us that if you wait long enough, any overheated level of performance, good or bad, is likely to fade.

fairer way to judge a team’s win rate is by its standard deviation from the mean, which measures the magnitude of how superior its record is in relation to those of its competitors.

As a chess enthusiast, Runyan was familiar with an evaluation system designed in 1960 by a Marquette University physics professor named Arpad Elo. The formula ranked elite chess masters by giving them running point tallies based on the outcome of every match they played, plus the weighted quality of the opponent and the weighted significance of the event.

Since Runyan unveiled his study, the Elo method has become something of a darling to the most forward-thinking sports statisticians, who have adapted it to rank teams in dozens of sports, from the NFL to cricket. Though far from perfect (it requires the compiler to make some subjective judgments about the importance of matches),

All of this was confusing. If the Celtics’ burst of greatness wasn’t a function of statistical dominance, superstar talent, an aggregation of players with unusual ability, or the product of consistent and excellent coaching and management, then what was it?

performance. On teams with good chemistry, the thinking goes, the members see themselves as a family and enjoy a heightened sense of personal loyalty that pays dividends in competition.

When scientists have examined teams in other contexts, such as business or the military, they’ve noticed that the more cohesive and positive a group perceives itself to be, the better it will perform in many respects—from

Looking over all of the various and conflicting accounts of the Coleman Play, there’s no doubt that it was an astonishing physical act. But something else about the moment stood out: it was a supreme expression of desire.

The crucial component of the job is interpersonal. The captain is the figure who holds sway over the dressing room by speaking to teammates as a peer, counseling them on and off the field, motivating them, challenging them, protecting them, resolving disputes, enforcing standards, inspiring fear when necessary, and above all setting a tone with words and deeds.

said of his captain, Wayne “Buck” Shelford: “He was a guy you could walk over broken glass for, because he just had that manner about him.”

captain chosen to transmit the manager’s intentions to the team was equivalent to the manager chosen to run a division. “He is the person responsible for making sure the agenda of the organization is pursued.”

Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski, who has won more games than any basketball coach in the history of the NCAA’s Division I, once wrote that while talent and coaching are essential, the secret to greatness is something else: “The single most important ingredient after you get the talent is internal leadership. It’s not the coaches as much as one single person or people on the team who set higher standards than that team would normally set for itself.”

What distinguished Russell on the court was his dedication to playing without the ball.

conveyed strength, purpose, and command—or mana, as it’s known in Maori.

when it came to the dark arts of finger breaking, eyeball gouging, and testicle torquing, the French were without peer. “Dirtiest fucking country in the world,” Shelford said.

By this point, Shelford had lost three teeth, received a sucker punch to the head, been knocked unconscious, and absorbed a boot to the balls. The French had already scored two penalties, and a few minutes later they broke through with two consecutive tries to make the score 16–3 in their favor. The All Blacks were limping, the crowd was howling, and the referee seemed unable to stanch the spiraling violence. The bleaker the situation became, however, the more vigorously Shelford competed—running, passing, tackling, and rucking as if he thought he could win the match single-handedly. The carnage had driven him to play harder.

Shelford hadn’t simply been kicked in the balls by the French captain. He’d been spiked. At his feet there was a small puddle of blood. His thighs were stained red and caked with bits of fatty tissue. Worst of all, his scrotum had been torn open and one of his testicles had fallen out of the breach. It was dangling between his knees. The team physician came scurrying over. He told Shelford to pull up his trunks and meet him in one of the surgeries upstairs. To close Shelford’s wound, the doctor had to administer sixteen stitches. “They packed it all away and everything still works,” Shelford said later. “I didn’t realize testicles are so fucking big.” The story would turn Buck Shelford into an overnight folk hero.

story of Shelford’s mauled scrotum is only one example of alarmingly reckless behavior by these Tier One captains.

At best, this willingness to play through pain suggested that these Tier One captains had seriously warped priorities. At worst, it suggested they might be out of their minds.