The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership

by Sam Walker

CHAPTER TWELVE TAKEAWAYS • The general opinion among sports fans is that leaders of spectacular teams should operate at a fiery temperature. In recent decades, this logical bias has gone in search of bodies, and it has found them in the person of two men: Roy Keane and Michael Jordan. Both of these captains are considered leadership icons. But a close examination shows that the traits they’re most widely renowned for, and that are most often identified as the key factors that made them outstanding leaders, did not fit the profile of the captains in Tier One. • The problem with these flawed captains is that they have distorted the picture of what enlightened leadership looks like. They have set a standard that is not only impossible to meet but does not produce the best results. The danger is that people who are charged with choosing leaders will end up promoting people who have the wrong characteristics. But it also increases the chances that after they fail, they will start looking for ways to eliminate the role of a captain entirely.

We don't need to look at sports for this. Businesses routinely promote people who are the top individual contributors, not those who see leadership as a kind of work, not a reward