What the National Football Championship taught me about leadership (from the stands at my alma mater's game)
I was standing in the Hard Rock stadium last week in Miami with my husband, our hearts pounding, watching our undergrad alma mater University of Miami Hurricanes take the field for the National Championship.
The University of Miami wasn't supposed to be there.
Not even ranked in the top 10 this season. Massive underdogs. Every analyst had written us off 6 months ago.
And yet, there we were, on the biggest stage in college football, representing my alma mater with everything on the line.
The energy was electric. The crowd was deafening. I couldn't sit down the entire game.
We didn't take home the trophy. But I learned more about leadership in those four intense quarters than I have in most boardrooms.
Here's what elite sports gets right that most businesses get completely wrong:
1. The Head Coach Knows When to Step In (And When to Step Back)
I couldn't take my eyes off Head Coach Mario Christobal all game.
He wasn't calling every play. He wasn't hovering over every decision. He had coordinators he trusted. Offensive, defensive, position coaches. And he let them lead.
But then, a momentum shift, a critical third down, a player needing redirection, and there he was. Decisive. Direct. Then immediately back, letting his team execute.
That's leadership.
And it hit me: most business owners I work with can't do this. They're either completely hands-off (team floundering, unclear on direction) or completely hands-on (team paralyzed, waiting for permission on everything).
Elite coaches know: your job isn't to make every decision. It's to know which decisions are YOURS and which belong to your team.
Question for you: Are you making decisions that your team should own? Or are you so hands-off they don't know what you actually expect?
2. Rituals Ground You When Pressure Peaks
Before the game, I thought about my friend Jessica, Mario's wife, and the ritual they have before and after every big game. They text each other on the AM of big game days.
No matter how high the stakes, they pause. They connect. They ground themselves in what matters beyond the scoreboard.
I watched players do the same. Phone calls with family right before taking the field, brief moments of prayer with family. In the middle of championship chaos, they took a moment to connect with the people who ground them.
Not because it's a "family event." Because elite performers know you can't show up at your best when you're disconnected from what matters.
That's integration. That's Business AND Life.
Most business leaders I work with treat their biggest decisions like a sprint. No pause, no grounding, just react and execute and hope adrenaline carries them through.
Elite athletes know better: the bigger the moment, the more you need your rituals, your people, your grounding.
Question for you: What grounds you before your biggest decisions? Who grounds you? Or do you just push through and hope you can hold it together without an intentional moment prior to “kickoff”?
3. Grit Gets You Further Than Talent
Miami wasn't supposed to be there. Unranked. Overlooked. Underestimated.
Watching them fight for every yard, refuse to give up even when the score wasn't in our favor, I felt it in my chest.
This is what grit looks like.
Discipline in daily training this season when no one's watching. Determination when everyone's counted you out. Focus when the pressure is crushing.
Talent might get you in the game. Grit is what keeps you there.
I see this in family businesses constantly: the ones who "should" succeed based on resources or market position don't always win. The ones who succeed are the ones who show up with relentless focus, discipline, and refusal to quit when it gets hard.
Elite athletes get this. Most business leaders still think talent or strategy is enough.
It's not.
Question for you: Are you relying on talent and hoping it's enough? Or are you building the discipline, the focus, processes, and the grit that separates good from championship-level?
The Scoreboard Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
We didn't take home the championship trophy this year.
And honestly? My heart broke a little watching that final clock run out.
But here's what I know: based on the leadership growth I saw in that team, the coaching structure, the rituals, the grit, the refusal to back down, we'll get that trophy next year.
Because elite performance isn't about one game. It's about how you lead yourself, your team, and your preparation when nobody's watching.
Business is the same.
You might not "win" this quarter. Your numbers might not be where you hoped. The transition might be messier than you planned.
But if you're building the right leadership structure, grounding yourself in what matters, and showing up with relentless discipline, you're setting yourself up to dominate your industry.
Not just this year. For the long game.
Final question: Are you building for this year's trophy? Or for sustained championship-level excellence?
Let’s Go Canes. 🙌
Kasey
P.S. If you're realizing your leadership looks more like chaos than a championship team, let's talk. DM me "CHAMPIONSHIP" and we'll build the structure, rituals, and discipline that elite performance requires.