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The Little Things Matter…A Lot
From humble acts to tiny bits of time, some of the biggest impact comes from things we’d never otherwise thing about
I was watching the surprisingly good Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso tonight, when I was hit with a realization. Upon arrival to coach a failing soccer club in England, coach Ted Lasso-who has only previously coached American Football in the midwest-tries to gain the alliance of the skeptical players.
One tactic he attempts in the beginning is to put out a suggestion box. He asks the players to put in whatever kind of suggestion they’d like, from the texture of the towels to the quality of the vending machine snacks. As he sifts through it with his assistant coach, they find an array of insults, and not much of use-except for one thing. A player notes that the “shower water pressure is rubbish.”
Lasso could have been forgiven for tossing the whole thing aside and focusing on getting real feedback from the team about substantive issues that could fix the team’s dynamic. Instead, he makes it a pirority to quietly have the showers fixed. He doesn’t announce it; he doesn’t go in search of who commented on it. He just takes care of it.
There’s a beautiful scene near the end of the episode where an already vociferous critic of Lasso’s…
