WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT LEADERSHIP FROM CRICKET AND THE MUMBAI INDIANS

Written by Jason DaWayne Smith

Last month, I scrolled through my standard Netflix recommendations. As usual, I bypass these suggestions and try to seek new stories that may widen my perspective or entertainment value. I’d recently spoken with a friend of mine with West Indian heritage, and dug in deep on the topic of Cricket. I won’t bore you with the story and how we covered ground from colonialism, to globalization, to awe striking innovation - all stemming from this sport - but I will key you into both parenting and professional leadership lessons I’ve learned from watching episode 5 of the Netflix series “Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians”.

The general plot of Cricket Fever sounds like this…

Over the past few decades, Cricket - a sport mostly known for it’s English heritage and sometimes 3 day matches - has really taken off and become mostly dominated by India by way of a new format called Twenty20. In an age of short attention spans, need for action in sports and dynamic play by world class athletes - Twenty20 shrinks the longer format of Cricket into no more than 3 hours and has become a wild financial and cultural success in India and other Cricket friendly markets. The Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in one the Twenty20’s most successful leagues - the IPL (Indian Premier League). The Netflix show covers ground on their most recent season - a season of change, growth, and self discovery.

While a Netflix show about Cricket may be not be the most obvious place for Westerners to find leadership lessons, episode 5 “The Grudge Match” - provides a wealth of insight for fatherhood, relationships, and overall professional leadership. I’d like to walk you through 5 of the most inspiring examples of how this particular episode broadened or reinforced much of my thinking about leadership.

1) Being a great leader requires not only making, but “accepting” unconventional decisions in unconventional times

After starting the season with an unprecedented losing streak, the Mumbai Indians are faced with some tough choices. Head coach Mahela Jayawardene, after looking at the trends contributing to the team’s lack of success, isolates one very important, yet unconventional choice - to bench one of his star players - Kieron Pollard. Pollard is a big hitter, and great all around talent with loads of experience, but he’s been in a major slump. Because the team depends so much on his productivity, when Pollard isn’t playing well, it’s almost certain the team will lose. In most cases - leaders will find a way to make this talent feel great, to navigate the remaining ecosystem around their needs. Coach Jayawardene doesn’t do this. He 1) consults with his assistants and ownership 2) isolates a series of challenges, one of which is a personnel change that could shift the dynamic of the team strengths so that they’d thrive without Pollard 3) and most importantly - approaches Pollard with humility, care, but directness about the decision.

On the other end, Pollard - also a team leader, understands the dire circumstances of the team and not only accepts the benching, but leans into a coaching and support role for the team. The team sees Pollard’s acceptance as a major boost to his leadership and maturity, they also witness the collaboration between coach and player as a strong sign of care for the greater good. Watching the dynamic between these two really provides a textbook example of how to apply “selflessness” as a tool when navigating and accepting difficult situations as a leader.

2) Leadership has no “job description”, be ready when you’re called

After benching Pollard, the head coach decides to replace him with a journeyman player - JP Duminy of South Africa. What we learn about JP is that, he may not be the best player, and he ultimately doesn’t bring a ton to the next game, but JP’s been through a lot. His maturity, his spirituality, his resilience in tough times is really what the coach is looking for. A shift in dynamic that meets the current needs of the team. While JP probably never imagined himself having to step up as a leader, in this particular circumstance, his name was called. What JP needed to do was not overthink it, or be a shell of someone else’s leader, but be himself. Win on what he does best which is consistency, calm, and experience. A great coach or dad connects with his team or kids and can find these hidden gems when the time is right. Even better - team members and young family members can recognize when their time has come, how to handle it, and to win at what they do best while bringing a winning formula for the entire team.

3) Being a great leader requires a connection to diversity of personalities and cultures.

As a parent, coach, leader, we’re often faced with situations in which our communication style just doesn’t match that of our talent or kids

Mustafizur Rahman is a very skilled bowler (equivalent to a baseball pitcher) but has one challenge - he doesn’t speak English. Because of this, Rahman is often isolated from the team, despite his many talents. Over the course of episode 5, we see how the team has found a “handler” of sorts to help bridge the gap between Rahman’s communication and that of his English speaking teammates. It’s not perfect, but it allows the team an opportunity to respect Rahman’s differences, while also allowing Rahman to thrive as a quality contributor to the team. As a parent, coach, leader, we’re often faced with situations in which our communication style just doesn’t match that of our talent or kids. What we learn from Rahman’s story is that it’s totally okay to find an interpreter or bridge like mom, a teacher, a co-worker etc… to partner with in getting the most of that relationship vs. writing it off as “trouble communicating”.

4) The best leaders are in the trenches, not just when times are good, but rough times as well.

Rohit Sharma is the captain of the Mumbai Indians. As the team struggles, Sharma steps up and takes accountability for the team’s woes, but also gets his hands dirty with finding solutions. He’s meeting with the head coach, he’s talking to the team, he’s finding ways to get the team together to spend time. He’s looking at the dynamics of each player and providing input to the head coach on how to take the next step. He’s also literally on the field, playing as a batsman - feeling the sweat and heat of team play just like everyone else. We don’t see Sharma run away or place blame on anyone for losses - he focuses on closeness with his team, diagnosing challenges and successfully partnering with his coaches to find proactive solutions. As a leader and parent, there’s a saying, “it’s not what you say, but what you do”. Sharma as a captain, revives this saying in a very practical way by showing the team how it’s done and getting involved at the ground level.

5) At the very top of leadership - being accountable to the environment you create for your family, your co-workers and direct reports is critical.

Create a culture where people can be themselves and work their tails off, not for you, but for each other

The single most important takeaway from episode 5 comes from new and young owner, Akash Ambani - who focuses on what I believe is the single most trait of a good leader - creating the right environment and community for your team and family.

During this losing streak, what Akash and his mother/father owners realize is that the team is new, they don’t know each other and as a result, on the field, they just aren’t communicating well at all. It’s no different than workplace environment or home. Walking into a new business pitch, you have no personal connection with co-worker who’s pitching with you, and you fall flat. You can’t read their signs, you’re not comfortable stepping in or stepping back to the rhythm of the room because, well there is no rhythm. Or as a dad, you come home screaming or yelling when things go bad, so now your kids and wife - they don’t want to talk to you. They don’t want to come to you with their problems because they are terrified of you - there’s a culture of fear. Akash realizes this and coordinates a big night out for his team. In the midst of the team’s losses, he realized these guys needed to unwind in a casual setting, meet eachother’’s kids, laugh about off the field stuff. No one likes a “forced” night out with co-workers or family, but most often than not, these kinds of social gatherings lead to natural togetherness and connectivity that spreads across the workplace and home, while also showing the team, that you as their leader, care about them as a family, respect balance, and want to create a culture where people can be themselves and work their tails off, not for you, but for each other.