As someone who had the privilege of playing football at the University of Notre Dame, I’ve learned that the game teaches lessons far beyond the field. It’s about resilience, preparation, and the ability to perform and lead under pressure; qualities that translate directly into business and life.
Watching the recent College Football Playoff (CFP) selections and seeing Notre Dame left out, reminded me of a hard truth every athlete learns early: you can do everything right and still not get the outcome you hoped for. That’s not just football; it’s in business and life. How you respond can be a lesson in leadership.
On the field, you can’t control the weather, the refs, or the rankings. You control your effort, your preparation, and your execution. In business, the same applies. Market conditions, competitor moves, and even regulatory changes can feel like “the committee” making decisions beyond your reach.
The best leaders focus on what they can influence, such as their team, their strategy, and their culture. They also communicate in ways that help influence the environment but trying to control it can be a fool’s errand.
When the CFP rankings come out, emotions run high. But great programs and great leaders don’t dwell on disappointment. They respond with renewed focus. In football, that means preparing for the next game. In business, it means pivoting, innovating, and finding new ways to compete and win. Reacting emotionally rarely leads to progress; responding strategically always does.
You have to remember that the things that got you to a position in the past might not be enough to get you there again and are rarely the things that keep you there. You must keep innovating and creating value.
Notre Dame’s exclusion stings, but the program’s strength lies in its consistency and values. Leadership isn’t about one season or one quarter: it’s about building something enduring. As a CEO, I think about this every day: Are we making decisions that will matter five years from now, not just five weeks from now? And as a leader of a publicly traded company, there are times when there can be a delicate balance between how investors weigh short- and long-term decisions.
You might have to make investments and decisions that have what can be perceived to be a negative impact on the short term to build the foundation for longer term future success. You have to make those decisions with long term value in mind and work through the consequences believing you made the right call.
Football taught me that adversity doesn’t build character; it reveals it. When the scoreboard isn’t in your favor, when the rankings don’t reflect your effort, that’s when true leaders step up. They rally their teams, keep morale high, and set the tone for what comes next.
The CFP debate will continue, and opinions will differ. The current system is flawed and it needs to improve. But for me, it’s a reminder that leadership, whether on the field or in the boardroom, is about resilience, perspective, and the relentless pursuit of excellence, even when the outcome isn’t what you hoped for.
