Self-Care, Ted Lasso and The Strike

Welcome to the Star Fleet Leadership Academy Leadership Development told through the lens of Star Trek, your host, Jeff Akin is a 20-year veteran of the public and private sectors in management and leadership. He specializes in helping people unlock their true potential and is a huge Star Trek fan.

And now here's your host, Jeff Akin. Welcome. Thanks for joining me today. I'm excited to update you on some of the things that I've been up to since I last released a Star Trek related episode. And yes, I know it's been a little while, but we're getting back on track. What do you say? We dive right in and start talking about some cool stuff.

A wise person recently told me that it's one thing to give advice to people. It's another thing to take your own advice. That's exactly what I've been doing in recent episodes. I've talked about self-care, and that's a thing that I have been neglecting for far too long, and so over the last month I've really been focusing on it.

And I recommend you do the same. One of the things that I've done as my self-care is caught up on all of the incredible television that's out there right now. Now I remember, I don't know, a couple of months ago I was on Disney Plus and I saw the tile for Kenobi, right? The Obi Wan Kenobi series. And as an old school Star Wars fan, I should have been over the moon excited, right?

But all I thought was, oh my gosh, who has the time? Right. Well, that's what I've done. I've taken the time and I watched Kenobi. It was a fun series. I got some questions about how he and. Princess Leia, I don't know. Uh, and Luke and return to the Jedi. Finding out that, I don't know, there's just some stuff that, uh, I dunno, it's not important.

It was a fun and an enjoyable series. My wife and I finally finished Game of Thrones, something that we took years to get done. It's been fun taking time to just kind of consume some of the stuff that's out there. There's some incredible television being created and one of the shows that I specifically want to talk about right now, and it's one that.

As someone listening to the Star Fleet Leadership Academy, somebody who is here because they want to grow as a leader who wants to learn more about helping others, I'm going to guess that you've already watched this show, but if you haven't, I want you to take this as your call to action. Your wake up call, really, this is on Apple tv.

Apple Plus, I don't know what they call it. It's the Apple thing on my thing, and it's called Ted Lasso. Now. I actually saw this thing pop up on my Apple TV for so long. Jason Sudeikis is this picture of him and, uh, he's got this football here. Let me, let me show my United States, my American bias, this football field behind him.

Now I've watched all of Ted Lasso, so now I know that's called a pitch, not a field, but there's a pitch behind him and I just thought to myself, oh, kind of a funny show about soccer. Yeah, I'm still gonna call it soccer. I like the football that we play here in America. I put it off and I put it off until one day, I think it was in early, maybe mid 2022.

We were still in the throes of the response to C O V I D. And so as somebody living in the state of Oregon, that took pretty extreme response, uh, to the pandemic. Going out was still kinda weird. I remember that. But a buddy of mine was in town and we went out for some beers. He asked me if I've watched Ted Lasso and I hadn't.

Right? I mean, I'm not, I'm not a soccer guy. It's just not my thing, so hadn't even considered it. He tells me I need to watch it because it's basically a show. Now, these are his words, not mine, but it's basically a show about me. Jeff Aiken if I were a football coach or a football manager manager is what they call them.

So I was like, sure, I'll give it a shot. Let's check it out. I don't remember if it was the second episode or the third episode, but I literally broke down in tears. I was so moved. Now, if you're not aware of this show, Ted Lasso. It's where an American football coach, like real football, not the, not the Kicky stuff, but you know, the real, the real stuff with 11, 11 dudes on either side of the ball, going back, touchdown, all that kind of stuff.

But he gets hired to manage, uh, a team, a f c Richmond, over in the UK. And so there's some funny stuff about him learning the game and. You know, he's, he's from Kansas City, so he is got this real, real affected kind of, you know, almost, you know, southern charm kind of accent thing going. And on the surface that's what it is.

It's a fun fish outta water kind of a thing. That's funny. You learn some stuff about soccer, football, and, and all that stuff, but what this show. Really is, is this incredible look at leading people in a way that focuses on all the things we talk about here in the Star Fleet Leadership Academy, right?

Unlocking the true potential in people, helping them be better than they thought they could ever be. I think one of the things they say in the show is it's his job as coach to help make his team become the best people they possibly can, on and off the pitch. The field, right? Where wherever they're, they're playing and we see this time and again through the entire series.

So a couple high points that I want to point out before I hit you with the big go home moment. And yes, there is a big spoiler in what I want to share. So if you haven't watched the whole thing, I'll give you the heads up. You can skip over a little bit of, of this. I don't wanna ruin the show for you.

It's nothing major, but. Um, spoilers are a thing I really watch out for, but in every interaction that Ted has with everybody over there, he's just fully present. He demonstrates a tremendous level of emotional intelligence. He leads people in the most just unassuming, charming, and effective way. I think it's in season two where somebody asks him about his style and how he approaches people and he says something to the effect of, I approach every person as if they've experienced tremendous hurt, and that steers how he treats them.

Imagine that, right? So just imagine for a moment as a manager, right, as a friend, as a parent, automatically making the assumption that a person has experienced trauma has been hurt. And so you treat them not necessarily with kid gloves, but. But you treat them with, with dignity, right outta the gate with respect, you automatically prop them up and focus on the positives instead of on the negatives.

It's such a powerful approach, and this show, Ted Lasso demonstrates it beautifully. Here's a likable person who takes a team, and it's, I mean, throughout the entire series, it's three seasons long, the whole show, and throughout the entire series. He doesn't care if they win or lose, right? He's just like, let's go out and do the things that we need to do.

If we do what we need to do, we've won the day. The wins and losses are secondary. I talk about this as a manager, right? Make sure that people are showing up the way that they need to show up, that your environments are built in a way that let them do that, that let them bring their full, true and complete selves into the office.

If you've done that, even if you don't hit your targets, You've done your job, and that's contrary right to so much of the traditional thinking out there. But I love this television show because it demonstrates that in the end, in the long run, it works. It's effective. So this is where I start encroaching into spoiler territory.

In the third season, there's a, a character who's a regular throughout the series who has kind of a change in their role and ends up joining the team because they're gonna write a book about the, the story right of this, this American coach, his assistant coach Beard, who comes with him, he's gonna write a book detailing the story.

The season comes to a close. Lots of exciting stuff happens. And this guy finishes the draft of his book. He gives a copy to Coach Beard. He gives a copy to Coach, uh, lasso asks him to read through it and give, give their thoughts now. Coach Beard is a fascinating and fun character. I really, really came to, to, uh, to enjoy him throughout the series.

But his copy of the draft has all kinds of flags on it. Post-it notes, you can see the markup everywhere. Like he's going through word by word and just dissecting that thing. That was kind of a, like, I, I, I know that person, right? I work with that person. I think you, you probably work with that person too, but Ted's, Ted's hit me so hard up at the top of the, the, the cover.

Of the book. It just said, Hey, nice job. This is great. Wouldn't change a thing. Then at the bottom it says, and this was the thing, like I, I'm watching, gosh, I'm watching this episode, and it's emotional, right? We have, we've connected with these characters. The show is ending. It knows that this was a three season arc, so it's wrapping up storylines, there's some emotions, all that kinda stuff to it, right?

But in this moment, I felt it so profoundly. This is what he wrote at the bottom of the draft. He says, one small suggestion. I'd change the title. Actually, let me rewind a little bit. The, the name of the book, the, the, the draft name of the book is The Lasso Way. Right? Which, if you're like a John Maxwell person, which is great.

Love John Maxwell's stuff, but that's, you know, the Maxwell Way and things like that, they're, that's not, um, That's not unheard of, but he, the, the author is approaching this from a, from a coaching standpoint, you know, as, as well as just kind of the environment and stuff that he created. So it's called The Lasso Way, and Ted's comment is one small suggestion I'd change the title.

It's not about me. It never was. Now, I don't think in all of my years of helping develop leaders of consulting with C-level executives, With managers at all levels. I've tried really hard to be able to describe the leadership style that we talk about here in the Star Fleet Leadership Academy, and I don't think I've ever been able to capture it so succinctly, so powerfully and so profoundly as Ted Lasso did in two lines.

It's not about me. It never was. This is my ask for you. This is your development moment here. If you're in a position where you need to make a decision as a manager, as a leader, and you have the option to think about you or think about the team, you 100% of the time think about the team. And if you can't do that, no judgment, that's fine.

There are times in situations where you can't do that. And when those come up, that's your sign that it's time for you to make a change. Because as the leader, it is not about you. It is about your team, and that's what you're there for. Ted Lasso created an environment and was able to lead his team in such a way that he.

Even though he was being humble, he refused to take credit. Gosh, there are these incredible scenes where he's doing a press release or a press conference and all he's doing is talking about what a horrible job he did and how great the opponent's coach or coaches, uh, not coach the, uh, the opponent's manager was, he talks up the other team.

He talks up his team. He doesn't talk himself up a single time in three. Whole seasons. It's not about him. And he doesn't approach it from that in any way. And in this show, you can see that's not always easy. It's not all smiles, rainbows and, and great stuff. There are real challenges in that, but he sticks to it.

He doesn't stop. I won't spoil anymore, but I'll just say it turns out pretty well. So to wrap that up, if you haven't watched Ted Lasso. Do it. Take notes. I want you desperately to reach out to me at Jeff t Akin, t as in Ted lasso on Instagram or at SLA podcast on X Twitter. I'm gonna keep calling it Twitter or on Mastodon.

Uh, i, I, I wanna know your thoughts on Ted Lasso. It's about as far from Star Trek as you can possibly get. But I tell you what, if you want a entertaining and beautifully packaged lesson on being a strong leader, it doesn't get any better than Ted Lasso.

Now, as I record this, we are entering the fourth month of the Writer's Guild of America's Strike, and then sag after this Screen. Actor's Guild, uh, joined as well back a little over a month and a half ago on July 14th. So on May 1st. The Writer's Guild went on strikes specifically over fair pay for the work that they do, and in a almost terrifying reality check, uh, striking over the use of artificial intelligence ai.

I. In writing content for television and movies. As a podcast host, I am a content creator. I'm not at the level of professionalism of these writers, these actors that are, uh, that are part of the, the Writer's Guild or the Screen Actors Guild. These are professionals who have honed their craft many over decades and decades.

These are people that create content that create. Art oftentimes that we celebrate, enjoy, and learn from decades after it's created. I mean, look at this show itself, this podcast, the Star Fleet Leadership Academy. We talk about episodes that were written, acted and released some 50 years ago, 30 years ago, 2010, all the way to very, very recent stuff.

These are. Pieces of work that persist longer than many of us will live. Many of the people who created it lived. I am here to say that Jeff Akin, the Star Fleet Leadership Academy. We support the Writer's Guild. We support the Screen Actor's Guild. It is time. For these studios to get their act together and take care of these people that create the amazing things that we love.

Let's, let's just get real for a second here. Let's talk about Star Trek Discovery. Now everybody, everybody has a feeling about Star Trek Discovery, but I'll say this. If it wasn't for that show, we would not have lower decks. We wouldn't have strange New Worlds Prodigy. These great shows that didn't exist just a few years ago are now new.

They are amazing. They're keeping Star Trek alive. They're here. Because of discovery, the cinematic approach to how, how it's put together, the gorgeous, gorgeous, just effects and everything. Incredible actors. Now the writing, yeah, we could, we could really go back and forth on the, on the writing. Um, on, on that, not necessarily the greatest, ah, and me say this, not the most consistent, but the story of discovery and the writers is, Fascinating, right?

They have this writer's room and this rotating, you know, kind of menagerie of showrunners and they had to time and time again make sense out of these things and the changing landscapes and stuff. It was an incredible. Levels of work. The flip side to that is something like lower decks. I have called lower decks, a love letter to Star Trek and it is a love letter because of the incredible writing that goes into this.

The careful. Writing that goes into this and the perfect acting, the voice acting in lower decks is amazing. And maybe a potential spoiler alert if you watch strange new worlds actual physical acting from these lower decks actors as well. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time talking about this. I just really wanted to say that the work that the writers do, the work that the actors do is important.

It means everything to us as individuals and our culture. We need to take care of these creators. I do though wanna call out one very specific individual and she has no idea that I'm gonna do this. Claire Willett on Twitter or Ex or whatever, had an idea. She had a dream. She saw these writers outside picketing.

It was May and it was hot and it was getting hotter. Right? Especially down in Southern California. She had a dream that we as Star Trek fans could show our appreciation for the people that write Star Trek and support them during this strike. Now, when you hear support, oftentimes you think about donations or things like that.

And yeah, I mean, if there's opportunity for you to do that and you have the means to do so, Good for you. That's awesome. But Claire really approached it from a much more simple perspective. These are human beings standing outside, not being paid, having to stand up to their bosses. It's hot and they're putting in long hours, and most importantly, not getting paid.

So she wanted to make sure they had snacks. And water so that they could sustain and be healthy and well. And she started up on Twitter. She started the Star Trek Snack Squad. The Snack Squad is an incredible group of individuals on Twitter that have come together under Claire Willett's leadership and her vision.

That gather funds and make orders through different food delivery services to set up, uh, snack deliveries, bottled water, anything. That just is an opportunity for us to show appreciation for these people. Now, you can find her on Twitter at Claire Willett. That's c l a i r e w I l l e t t. If you would also like to help out, I've had the honor of helping by, uh, making donations.

There are people who do a lot more work who actually physically make the orders. They track the, uh, the food ordering apps to make sure the food gets ordered, delivered, all that kind of stuff. I've only been able to throw some dollars at them and cut the fund. Come right now. Don't walk, run.

I do carry a select line of unique artifacts and gemstones, indigenous to this region. Some of those dollars I'm able to do with the support of you listening, and so I thank you, especially those of you on Patreon who, uh, who support the show directly. I. Some of those funds have gone to help and support this snack squad, but I just wanted to share that incredible work that she's doing and give a shout out that she might never even hear.

It's not important that she does. What's important is the awesome work that she's doing, but Claire Willett, you truly are a leader and a visionary, and you're making a difference in this epic, epic battle. Between the Writer's Guild, screen Actors Guild, and just the, we'll just, uh, we'll just say the studios.

I have a lot of other, uh, adjectives, colorful metaphors, if you'll, uh, the one with the whales with me for a moment that I'd like to use there. But, uh, but I will refrain. I wanna express my appreciation to all of you for allowing me to take this time to take care of myself. I've gone on hikes, I've watched shows, I've done meditations.

I've done all kinds of great things that have really, really helped me be a lot healthier. I really, really wanna encourage you to do the same. Reach out to me, like I said earlier, at Jeff t a t as in Ted, lasso, a K I n on Instagram, and then the uh, SS F L A podcast on Twitter or Mastodon. Let me know what kind of self-care things you're doing.

I'd really love to hear about it. I'm excited to come back. In the next release cycle, get back into the cycle of Star Trek episodes. We're gonna be watching Enterprise and continuing the Xindi arc in the next one. But in the meantime, thank you again. I appreciate you more than you can know. Please take care of yourself and those around you, and until next time, Ex Astris Scientia.

Hey Brent. Have you ever seen Babylon five before Babylon five? Mean that show from the nineties? Yep. No, you wanna watch it for the first time? Let's do it. Babylon five for the first time. Not a Star Trek podcast. We are two veteran Star Trek podcasters watching Babylon 5 For the first time, we're searching for Star Trek like messages in the series.

In deciding if we should have watched it sooner. You can find us on Good Pods, YouTube, and anywhere you get your podcasts. Babylon five for the first time. Not a Star Trek podcast.