From Football to Your Workplace: Why a Lone Wolf Can’t Transform An Organization

Read the blog post and more Imagine an NFL team that has been on a decades-long streak of winless seasons. The owner, who has been at the helm for most of that period, always believes that finding the right coach will solve the team's woes. But it doesn't. Every few years (or sometimes more often), the owner blames and fires the coach and hires a new one, but the team continues to lose. In a desperate attempt to turn things around, the owner signs a decent (but inexpensive) free-agent left guard away from the previous Super Bowl champion. This player, hailed for their leadership on and off the field, is expected to be the sole “transformational leader” and bring winning tactics and a winning culture to the struggling team. All. By. Himself. Would you expect that to work? I would not.