The Captain Class
Book review
First published May 2017. The book continues to shape my thinking around leadership.
The Captain Class is a meditation on leadership by the founding editor of WSJ’s sports page, Sam Walker. The book started as a classic bar bet—what was the greatest sports team of all time. He surveyed teams in the past hundred years who were outrageously more successful than their peers. Looking at these teams, he was struck that each and every one of them had a string of success that precisely mirrored the tenure of a captain. These captains, in turn, shared traits (some of which we don’t always associate with leadership). The traits are:
Doggedness. Captains just keep coming. Their example causes the rest of the team to raise their effort level to match.
Edges. Captains play right to the edge of the rules. (This is why he says Derek Jeter didn’t see many World Series trophies–too law-abiding.)
Carrying water. Captains do the dirty work nobody else wants to do. Many are not the most skilled player. Even if they are (like Tim Duncan), they don’t show their skills unless it is necessary.
Communicate. Captains communicate with everyone on the team. Sometimes this is vocal, sometimes eye contact, sometimes physical contact.
Displays. Captains make gestures for the team to see, like committing a hard foul.
Uncomfortable truths. Captains communicate things no one else dares communicate, in whatever way, in whatever medium necessary.
Regulate emotions. Captains play with emotion but they know how and when to keep a lid on it.
As I was reading I thought about how many of these traits organizations actively encourage and reward, how many they are prepared to recognize as impact. As organizations move into “it takes a team” scale they need to encourage (or at least not discourage) behavior that creates great teams. Teams can be good without a captain who displays all these qualities. Great teamwork, though, requires the strongest glue.
P.S. My Score
I also, as is my habit, rated myself as I was reading. Here’s how I see me: doggedness: C, edges: A-, carrying water: B+, communicate: B-, displays: A, uncomfortable truth: A for effort and C for execution, regulate emotions: B.
I’d appreciate feedback if you see me differently.
In the 7 years since I graded myself, I would say that my communication skills have improved as has my execution of telling uncomfortable truths. Regulating my own emotions has also improved. Again, I’d appreciate informed feedback.
I think you are a lot more open and vulnerable than you used to be, this is helping with emotional regulation. I think your perseverance/doggedness is stronger than ever given how focused and prolific you have been with your writing.
Rating the part about the uncomfortable truth is tricky. In the story the Captain’s class book tells on the subject, the captain becomes a martyr. Standing up to his coach for blaming individuals for a loss earns him team’s respect and, allegedly, unites the team for a years of incredibly dominant play, but the same principles and truth telling also leads to the eventual demise of the captain. All of this to say that you may be doing really well in the truth telling department: your students have gone on to do great things and you have paid a price for standing up to the (corporate) authority one too many times.
So you're saying you're an edge lord? 😁 In my experience, most corporations are not able to sanction the sharing of uncomfortable truths. C-suite execs do not handle contrarian opinions or any kind of dissent very well: it upsets them, threatens to diaturb their worldview, and they feel the need to protect their egos by lashing out with reorgs, PIP's or layoffs.