"Be curious, not judgmental.” What Ted Lasso teaches us about leadership
I'll be honest, I never planned on putting together this post however, whilst doing some preparation for an upcoming leadership training session, it did get me thinking…. Where do leaders get inspiration from? Sometimes, that inspiration comes from places that you least expect.
With Season 4 of Ted Lasso landing, I did what I suspect a lot of people have been doing lately and went back and rewatched the first three seasons before diving into the new one. A few episodes in, I found myself reaching for a notepad instead of the remote, because underneath the humour, there's a genuinely brilliant leadership masterclass hiding in there.
For anyone who hasn't seen it (have you been living under a rock?), Ted Lasso is the Apple TV show about an American college football coach who gets hired to manage AFC Richmond, a struggling English Premier League football club. All this without knowing anything about Football, or in Ted’s case, Soccer. It sounds like a fish out of water gimmick, and for the first episode or two, it kind of is. But it very quickly becomes something else. A warm, sharp and surprisingly moving study of what it actually takes to lead a group, in this case, of talented yet fundamentally selfish individuals.
And that's what got me thinking. We spend our working lives at 59club helping venues raise their standards across service, culture, and leadership. So watching Ted fumble his way into becoming a genuinely brilliant leader felt like too good a parallel to ignore.
Here's what stuck with me.
1. Curiosity beats judgment, every time
There's a scene where Ted hustles a smug rival at darts, and as he throws the final dart, he drops the line the show's become famous for: "Be curious, not judgmental." It's easy to assume you already know why someone missed a target, snapped at a colleague, or seemed a bit flat in a meeting. Ted's instinct is always to ask first. Leaders who lead with questions, "is everything ok with you?" rather than "why didn't you get this done?" build trust faster and usually find the real issue, not the answer they ASSumed was the case.
Next time performance dips, ask before you assess and certainly before jumping to any conclusions.
2. Culture beats tactics
Ted turns up knowing next to nothing about football. He does however, understand people and what makes them tick. He then sets about building a culture around belief, inclusion and genuine care that ends up outperforming tactical know-how alone. The takeaway for any venue – whilst technical skill matters, a team that feels genuinely valued will consistently go further than one that's simply well-drilled.
3. Watch for your "Nate"
Not every aspect of the show is inspirational. Some scenes and story lines serve as a warning. Nate's transition from beloved kit man to bitter rival is a masterclass in what happens when contribution outpaces recognition. He's handed more and more responsibility, but never quite feels seen for it. The lesson…the quietest, hardest-working people on your team are often the ones most at risk of feeling invisible. Notice them before resentment gets the chance to set in, putting your ‘star performers’ at risk.
4. Vulnerability isn't weakness
Ted's panic attacks, and his eventual honesty about them, quietly reshape how we think a leader is "supposed" to behave. Real leadership isn't about never struggling. It's about being honest when you do, which makes it a lot safer for everyone else to do the same.
5. It's the hope that kills you — and that's okay
One of the show's most quoted lines nods to the emotional risk of caring about outcomes, while choosing to care anyway. Teams that treat setbacks as lessons and learnings rather than failures, the "goldfish memory" approach Ted champions, tend to bounce back faster and stay motivated for longer.
The takeaway
Leadership doesn't have to just be about grand strategy or making difficult decisions. More often than not, it's the small, human stuff, asking instead of assuming, noticing the person who never complains, being honest about a hard day, that builds and maintains the strongest teams and relationships.
Ted Lasso might be fictional, but the standard he sets isn't. It's the same standard we help venues build every day. Teams that believe in each other, and leaders who bring out the best in the people around them.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a Season 4 to catch up on.