The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership

by Sam Walker

CHAPTER TWO TAKEAWAYS • Every winning streak is bounded by two moments of transformation, the one where it begins and the one where it ends. For the most dominant teams in sports history, these moments had an uncanny correlation to one player’s arrival or departure—or both. This person not only displayed a fanatical commitment to winning, they also happened to be the captain. • Most of us have developed a model of what leaders of superior teams ought to be. We believe they should possess some combination of skills and personality traits that are universally considered to be superior. We don’t believe they should be difficult to spot in a crowd. We expect their leadership ability to be obvious. The leaders of the sixteen teams in Tier One did not match the profile.