Brad D. Smith Shares His Favorite Leadership Lessons from Ted Lasso

Staff  •  October 7, 2021

When you think about career development, personal growth or leadership, your mind might automatically jump to thoughts of college courses, training seminars or management books. But the truth is, inspiring leadership lessons don’t have to come from an online course complete with a downloadable certificate, or from pages that are catalogued under 303.34 (“leadership”) in the Dewey Decimal System. An inspiring aspect to lessons in leadership, is that they can be found in the most unexpected places: including from within our television screens. 

Recently, Brad Smith found himself watching and reflecting on the American sports comedy-drama, Ted Lasso. Like many others, Brad sought out more digital entertainment during the pandemic, and this show in particular captured his interest. And while the television series has garnered eleven Emmy awards to date and captured the active attention of millions, Brad was interested in looking beyond the optimistic entertainment that it was on the surface and getting, instead, to the heart of the story. He didn’t just see a narrative driven by comedic relief; he saw a handful of valuable, actionable leadership lessons heartwarmingly driving the plot of a story that was providing people with some much-needed escape in a time of uncertainty. 

Brad was so inspired by the television series and its hidden gems of life lessons that he published a LinkedIn article on the topic. In his most recent article on the social media platform, Brad overviews his main leadership takeaways from the show. They are:

• Leaders are in the people business above all else
• Diversity is key to success 
• We should all assume good Intent and role model benevolence
• It’s important to celebrate everyone’s success
• Success should be measured holistically 

In the article, Brad discusses each of these leadership lessons in detail and adds commentary about his own personal experiences along the way. To read more of Brad’s anecdotes and his takeaways from the show, read the full article on LinkedIn.