Everyone else is jumping on the Ted Lasso bandwagon, so why not me? About a month ago, my son-in-law told me about the show Ted Lasso, and thought I would really enjoy it,–he was right. First, I don’t watch much TV, let alone do any binge-watching. But after watching the first episode, I couldn’t help myself; I binged the entire first season… and loved it.

If you haven’t seen the show, you may be asking yourself, “what’s all the hype about?” Today, I want to talk about why I binged the first season. We’re in a world where people who seek personal validation through the superficial social media “likes,” must pay the price of haters who take great pride in calling them out, and feeding them nothing but negative feedback. The irony is, the likes they’re seeking are not validation; they’re superficial, and people tend to believe the negative comments that get reinforced into our belief system.

Ted Lasso values each person for whom they are and he manages the team in a way that’s counter-intuitive in both sports and business. Come to think of it, if I summed up the entire show, I would say it the same way Ted Lasso says it. To paraphrase, “Winning and losing is not about the score, it’s about helping these players be the best version of themselves, both on and off the field.”

All too often, when it comes to working with other people, coaches, managers, owners and yes, bosses, we can’t see the forest from the trees. Whether you manage a sports team, company, or people, your first and foremost goal should always be to help each person become the best version of themselves, both on and off the field (office). Period! Because you don’t hire someone to do a job or task, you hire the whole person, professional experience and their personal baggage. We all bring our professional self and personal self to work with us every day, just like the players did when Ted Lasso started coaching the team. Watch season one, and let’s talk.

My 2 cents.