World Cup Leadership Lessons From Kansas City

The World Cup turns ordinary decisions into high-stakes leadership tests, and watching Kansas City host the world has made us think hard about what great teams actually do when things get messy. We do not have a guest this week, just an honest conversation about what we’ve seen behind the scenes: the early transportation hiccups, the public pressure, and the way leaders responded with accountability, fast fixes, and better communication. If you’ve ever led a team through a visible mistake, you’ll recognize how hard it is to stay calm, stay present, and keep moving.

From there, we pull practical leadership lessons straight from soccer. Star players get the headlines, but outcomes depend on the full roster, especially the bench players and “silent contributors” who change the game when the plan breaks. We talk about why alignment and trust beat individual brilliance, and why a leader’s job looks a lot like a coach: prepare people well, then give them real autonomy when the whistle blows. We also get candid about emotional regulation, because teams mirror what leaders model under stress.

Then we zoom out to the human side of this tournament: the community stories, the feeling of belonging across language barriers, and the concept of collective effervescence, that electric sense of “we” that teams and workplaces often miss. We also highlight Kansas City’s leadership in women’s sports through the Kansas City Current, and ask the question we keep coming back to: where are we waiting for permission to build what people already need?

If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who leads teams, and leave a review. And tell us who you think wins it all, plus the best World Cup story you’ve seen so far.

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Transcript

Dr. Katie 0:32

Hi everyone and welcome back to the path to leadership. I'm Dr. Katie and I'm Rhonda Jolene. We're so thrilled to have you. And I cannot wait for this conversation, Rhonda. We are we've had some really great conversations over the last couple weeks.

Rhonda Jolyean 0:49

Yeah, and this one is we don't have a guest today, but this one is super timely. I don't know, I know we have a lot of international listeners, and this conversation applies to everyone, no matter

Why The World Cup Matters

Rhonda Jolyean 1:04

where you live. It's very near and dear to our hearts because there's been a lot of buzz in Kansas City and all over the world because of a little thing called the World Cup. Yes. Have you heard of this?

Dr. Katie 1:19

Yes, I know. Well, and it's so cool that it's here in Kansas City with us. Yeah. And also so cool that it is really resonates, like you said, around the world. And quite frankly, I think the international communities, you know, they're living soccer, living, breathing, like it's their number one sport. And for us, soccer in in the United States, it's not as big for most people.

Rhonda Jolyean 1:45

Right. It's becoming bigger. And specifically in Kansas City, it's been coming bigger over the years. And we'll talk about that later in the podcast. But I had suggested this topic to you because it is such a wonderful thing. Of course, well, let me back up a little bit. I have a lot of friends who are wonderful and lucky and enough to be in the marketing world here in Kansas City. And they work for a lot of the sponsors, the companies who sponsor this event for Kansas City. And so I've gotten the behind the scenes look at the wonderment that is leading up to the World Cup, but also the stress. So there's been a lot of anxiety leading up to how do we welcome the world to this event that we've never hosted before. So there's been that, but what has truly happened now that we are seven weeks in has been camaraderie, community, hope, togetherness, a buzz, a vibe, as the young kids would say. There's been all of this positivity, even through some of the tactical issues that happened at the beginning. You know, there's all of this positivity. And so I had mentioned this topic to you a couple of weeks ago because we can, as leaders, learn so much from these huge sporting events, but not only sporting events in and of itself, it's when the world's eyes are on you. The stage is huge, the stakes are huge. What can we all learn from these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for a lot of these folks? Like, you know, how can we come together and reflect on what we've been feeling? And so I just think it's a really cool time for us to do that. And you wrote for it. So I'm excited for a conversation.

Dr. Katie 3:55

Yeah, I am too. And I know we're gonna talk about kind of like the tactics of soccer because I loved like the team dynamics and you're gonna talk a little bit about the community and belonging and all of that. But as you were talking, I was just thinking about yeah, how Kansas City has had to come together for this and for people around the world or around the country. Kansas City, it it has been kind of controversial that Kansas City not just is hosting World Cup games, but we have four teams in Kansas City. Well, technically three, and then one up in Lawrence, which is 30 to 50 minutes away, depending on what part of the city you live in. And so there's been some of that like, why Kansas City and why is Kansas City the center of soccer? And why do people care? But I really feel like it's been through the execution. Like even people outside of Kans City won't know, but like the logistics to get people to the game, the first soccer game was a little messy. There was some challenges, and the leaders in Kans City came together. And instead of being like, Well, we tried our best, right? Like, what more do you want from us? They really worked hard to how do we fix it and how do we come together and how do we do that work? And it's been a really cool example of how to be agile and how to be resilient and how to have a growth mindset and to stay positive. And I mean, they're having to kind of think on their feet. Even we've had such rainy weather and such craziness, and the FIFA Fan Fest, which I haven't had chance to be go to, but you have it look like even like how do they keep people safe when the weather's bad and all that? It's just been uh to me a logistical nightmare that Kans City has handled so beautifully.

Rhonda Jolyean 5:49

Yeah. And to that point, from a change management perspective, when the transportation logistics had some snafus at the beginning, the leaders who came together from FIFA, Kansas City as a city, the Kansas City Sporting Commission, all of the people who had to come together to fix that, they took accountability and they did a lot of communicating about that, not just, well, we don't know what to do, or we'll

Accountability After The Transit Mess

Rhonda Jolyean 6:21

let you know. It's more we are working on this, and here's what we know thus far. And I was listen, I don't have any stake in this. I didn't, I wasn't at that game, but I have several friends who were at the Argentina game, and they said, yeah, it was pretty much a cluster. However, however, they had fixed it for the next game that they went to, and that you could see on social media that they had, and through the news and all of that, that they really took accountability and tried to, as you said, be agile. And that I think for leaders, that's something that we really can take away as a lesson learned. And that's not easy to do when the world's eyes are on you, and especially like you've got to think about the language barriers, you've got to think about so many the weather, like you said, all of that. So I have had a lot of positive talks with people who have gone. I've had a lot of, you know, I can be pretty judgmental when it comes to event experiences. And I have really been nothing but proud of our city. And I'm not one of those people that is always rah-rah, Kansas City. You know, I'm I'm proud of certain things and organizations and people, but I have been really proud of our city. I think we've done a really good job. And so I know that you have some points about, you know, in general, what sporting teams can teach us about leadership, especially because you know, you have lots of experience with this in corporate America, but also a lot of people you've talked about this before, but your family is a big sports family in itself, it with golf.

Dr. Katie 8:11

Yeah, yeah. We love sports, and yeah, we love to play golf, but we love all sports, whether team sports, individual sports, we love it. And I think being a part of a team, whether it's a sports team or a if you're in a play or you're in a choir or a band, you know, I think about, you know, from a big group acts aspect, it teaches us so much when it comes to leadership and how we grow and how we work. And even thinking about just being a part of

Stars Need A Full Roster

Dr. Katie 8:43

a team, you know, in middle school, high school, whatever, how we work together, we learn so much. But for today's conversation, we're going to talk about it from a soccer team standpoint. Um, but this really equates to everything. And I think the the first thing when we think about the World Cup, we think about the big stars. I know when Kansas City was announced that Argentina and England were going to be in Kansas City, it was big like, oh my gosh, okay, we're going to have Messi in Kansas City. Like, that's a huge, huge deal. Uh, now he's playing for his country. When he came here and played for his MLS team, they had to move the game to a bigger to a bigger space because he was here. And so he's such a big name and he's such a big deal. And then you look at England and Harry Kane and and the other kind of headliners. And yes, we can say Messi is is scoring goals and he's doing the doing the work, but he can't do it alone. It's really about the depth of the players. And so we're recording this before the round of eight starts. So we just got through the round of 16, but Argentina almost didn't make it out of the round of 16. It was you believe. I know, I know it was crazy. And typically Messi, like if you watch him play, he's scoring within the first three to five minutes of a game. And so for him to be held to not scoring, he didn't score the first goal and he didn't score the game winner. And so while he's important because he pulls attention away to open up other people, he couldn't do it alone. And I think that's the important thing that we have to remember. It takes a whole roster, not just the headliners at work. It's not just the, you know, the high performers, which I actually hate high performers. We could do a whole conversation around that. I don't hate, I don't hate high performers. I hate the idea that they're the only most important people in the organization because really we have to have the whole roster around us to help us be successful.

Rhonda Jolyean 10:56

Right. That's really good points. And I think you could see that it's harder, I think, to see that in the teams like Argentina or England or Portugal with Ronaldo and you know, etc. But I think about the teams like Kate Verde, who should not have made it that far, quote unquote, you know, and it's like every player sticks out because they have to, and nobody really knows who they are. And then, and you hear about how they all have second jobs, like that is not their first job, and it's just and also I'm just getting like all warm fuzzies and chills right now because the these are the you know, humanity comes through with all of this and connects us and empathy. And this is how we learn about what's really important in life, etc. etc. However, this is when those teams are the teams where you really learn it, really truly does take the team. And that's again, not to take anything away from Messi. What I have heard and what I have seen is that he's a super humble leader, servant leader, etc. So he would want it to be about the team. Unfortunately, he is just so good. Yeah, yeah. He just yeah.

Dr. Katie 12:11

Well, and you, I mean, I know, please. I guess we'll get some engagement on this. You know, you talk about Ronaldo, and you know, they're they're out, and there's big conversations. I, you know, I'm rooting for USA, and you know, there's big if you're not in the United States right now, there and maybe even if you are, I mean, there's big conversation around, you know, the the stars of the the US team and how they did or did not perform and you know how how it came to be. And so, I mean, there's just a lot of the if we rely only on our headliners and we don't have those bench players, then there there is a very, very, very good chance that we can't be successful.

Rhonda Jolyean 12:56

Yeah, I think that is so important for us as leaders to remember. And again, I'm not a huge sport analogy person ever. Because I yeah, because I know so many people aren't. So I don't like to alienate folks at work, but this is just so timely. And again, I like the human piece to it. So yeah, yeah.

Dr. Katie 13:19

Well, and the other important thing that I love again about soccer, but all sports and and in the workplace is once the game starts, the coach cannot touch the ball. Like the coach, the coach can scream from the sidelines, the coach can coach on the bench, but the once the whistle blows, they really have to step back and trust that they prepare their team. They have to trust that they have given them all the tools, all the resources, everything that they can go out

Coach Prep And Leader Autonomy

Dr. Katie 13:51

and handle it on their own. And even in kids' sports, when my kids were growing up in sports, I there was always this conversation you can't coach during a game. You're not the coaching happens in practice, the prep happens in practice. Yeah, you can switch tactics or you can kind of move things around or you know make substitutions and and move people around and do stuff like that. But really, you cannot be teaching the game while the game is going on. They have to know it, they have to be prepared. And when you think about that from the workforce, as leaders, we have to give enough to our employees the inspiration, the tools, the resources that they can own their work, that they can do their job. I mean, that goes to my research of self-determination theory. I mean, there is a point for people to be motivated, they have to have autonomy. And when you're playing in a soccer game, you're playing your game. There's no way to lay out here's exactly how the ball's gonna bounce, here's exactly where everything's gonna happen. And so the coach can only give them enough, and then they have to step back. But I will also argue the coach can't disappear. Like I hot take in the US game. I feel like Ponchantino, when we were down and losing, you know, he was just sitting there and you know, he looked defeated and he looked beat. And yeah, there's a video of him, you know, kicking the water bottles. And it's like, dude, like you have to have that emotional regulation, or how's your team going to have it? So I really feel like in the in the heat of the battle, in the game, the coach has to be the one to reassure the team that they're trained for this and they can do it.

Rhonda Jolyean 15:51

Well, and that's such a good point. We've talked about this with leaders. You have to model what you want to see through action. So it makes me think about the time that we discussed, even just as a leader walking the halls and saying, I'm going to be available every you know, Friday, one, Monday, Wednesday, Friday from two to three. I'll be up, you know, walking the halls or open door. And you can just come and we can have coffee or you can talk to me about whatever. And that visibility, even at a super high level, C-suite of huge corporations, you know, makes you so much more accessible, vulnerable, etc. And to that point, it's it models that behavior that you want your lower level middle managers to have for their teams. And also you are, it's not necessarily you're just a cheerleader at that point. You are also part of, it's almost like you're part of the vision that you want to carry out. You're almost a part of that talisman for folks because, like you said, you can't coach them during the game. There's times where you have to give them that autonomy, but you still have to have that emotional intelligence for that rock, be that rock for them. And that's such a good point. And I really like that analogy of think about that coach kicking the water bottles. Don't be that leader.

Dr. Katie 17:26

Right, right. Yeah, right. It's so important. And you know, as you were talking, it it really ties beautifully to literally the session I did right before we jumped onto this in my leaders program. The the D is develop and how do we develop strong teams? And it really comes to the third point that I was talking about earlier, unintentionally ties beautifully of alignment, right? The coach has to create that vision and that inspiration. And then we have to have that alignment and how we're going to move forward. And so that's really where this shared identity, the

Alignment And Trust Beat Talent

Dr. Katie 18:01

shared alignment, the shared expectations outperforms raw talent. If Messi didn't buy in to the identity that was laid out by the coach, if if the inspiration wasn't there, if they didn't trust each other. So often in soccer, I the best plays, I think, are the ones where it was, it's, you know, the kind of blind pass that they make, just knowing the person is not there on the field right now, but they're gonna be there. And so trusting that we have this laid out and they're gonna be there. And then the ball lays beautifully at their feet, and then they just so gracefully, you know, hit it into the goal, it's it's it's having that trust, it's having that cohesion, it's having that connection with each other that beats individual brilliance, right? It beats that every time, and it's the same in the workplace. Like if we if we're not aligned, if we're not all going in the same direction, if we're not going towards the same goal, it doesn't matter how great we are individually, we're gonna be going great in different directions. If if one fantastic player is going to the right and one phenomenal player is going to the left, we're going the wrong way. We've got to come together in this cohesive, aligned way. And that is really powerful both on the field and at work.

Rhonda Jolyean 19:24

Yes, because in the day-to-day, it's so easy to get caught up in the minutiae of it all that you forget what that vision, that alignment is supposed to be. And so to have a leader that can really hold the line, if you will, that your people can look towards, that that's a huge part of your job. And that's a that's such a great point. Yeah.

Dr. Katie 19:47

Yeah. And I, you know, the thing I really want to challenge our listeners to think about is, you know, who's your bench player? Who's the person that, and we see this in soccer all the time. It's the the unknown, it's the no names, it's the he just got signed to the team, it's the ones that have those really powerful stories that come in at the end when your stars are out of breath, that when you've got to change tactics a little bit. It's who are those people that come in for a few minutes that can change the dynamics? It's the silent contributors that we're not celebrating enough because we're only celebrating the big names. Because those people on the bench have their own way of contributing to the team as well. And they've got to be ready.

Rhonda Jolyean 20:30

Yes, exactly. Well, speaking of own way of contributing, my goodness, has there been some stories in Kansas City? I mean, there have been stories in North America because, as listeners will know, there's been games all over North America, which has also been really cool to see, especially in Mexico and Canada, which we don't get pictures of a lot when it comes to sporting games. However, in Kansas City, we've had a lot of hopeful, wonderful,

Bench Players And Silent Contributors

Rhonda Jolyean 21:02

positive stories. I can name a couple, like the three Argentinian men who spent nine months cycling from Argentina to come up here to Kansas City and made it right before the Argentinian bus made it here. Oh my gosh, that was incredible! And they were welcomed by people from all over. There's the story of Lawrence and Katie said that's a town, it's a pretty well-known college town here in Kansas. It's about 30 to 40 minutes away from Kansas City, and but we claim it. But they had just completely embraced Algeria. I mean, just threw basically a parade for them, went to all of their practices, showed up for them. And you know, a lot of people could say, well, okay, but some of these Americans don't even know where Algeria is. Like, yeah, you know, back in the day, I you used to hear the term bandwagon fan. And I kind of I get it. I get why people would say bandwagon fan. You only want to be a fan when it is advantageous to you andor when the teams are winning. But there's actually, you know, when when there's so much excitement, when there's so much involvement from communities like Lawrence, when there's people like those cyclists who got up here and people who know who Messi is. But have never been to Argentina, who don't watch a lot of soccer, when they embrace them, there's actually a sociology, a sociological reason behind what is happening. And I love this term so much, Katie. It's called collective effervescence. I would never heard of that.

Dr. Katie 22:54

I love it.

Rhonda Jolyean 22:55

I know. I know. Isn't that such a wonderful term? It just makes me, it makes me, it gives me the chills because it's really that. And you you have felt this before if you're listening. I feel it just to talk about sports in my own way that is more dear near and dear to my heart and is timely because it's going on right now and I have major FOMO. The Tour de France

Collective Effervescence And Belonging

Rhonda Jolyean 23:18

is huge for my husband and I. We have been to it three times. We are missing it this year, and I'm so sad. Anyway, it's that in your body sense of belonging that shows up when you're in a group and you feel something larger than yourself and you feel something together. I mean, people from all countries are coming together. Doesn't matter the language barrier, but you know how you're feeling. You know that is just a party, something to be hopeful for, something to celebrate. And you know me, I'm all about celebration. Yeah. So this collective effervescence, especially, and I talk about this a lot, in such seasons of dark times, is so important. And you know, the idea that leadership can tie this in is really crucial. And I believe in a strategy behind this. The best leaders don't just organize people, they create a sense of we. And we've talked about this before. You can do celebrations, alignment, like you've talked about. You can make a team feel like a community, not a family. We I don't know if we've ever talked in depth about why your team shouldn't feel like family, but I feel like that's a good topic for us to maybe take on. But you know, a team that feels like a community and that sense of belonging. We talked about that and how people want to feel seen. Those are so important to people, to retaining folks. And of anybody that feels like they're part of a community, they're gonna outperform a team that just merely shares a mission statement or that just merely says get your work done. Show up, get your work done, and go home. I mean, you're not gonna retain people like that. So, you know, maybe you're not gonna get your folks to feel like they are partying at FIFA fan fest in Kansas City. No, not every day, but there are times where we can do many celebrations. And if you want some of those recommendations, go back to our episode where we talk about celebrations and get some ideas. Though those will give you more of a sense of collective effervescence.

Dr. Katie 25:43

Yeah, I I do. I love the term collective efferves effervescence. I'd never heard of it, but it does tie in and it is really cool to see, not just in Kansas, but to see around the world. And you know, you talking about Algeria and Lawrence. I mean, the University of Kansas band learned their national anthem so they could play for them. And I just saw on the news the other day that a Parkville is a little community for those of you outside of Kans City, it's a little community just north downtown Kans City, and an American Legion bar like turned their their whole outside of their bar, they covered it in orange for Netherlands, because Netherlands and and so and you know you can see why people are cheering and rooting for these communities. And the other cool thing is whether you I don't know if you're on Twitter now, X, whatever, I'm on it every once in a while, and all through social media, TikTok, there's been trends of people coming to the United States and experiencing our culture for the first time and experiencing ranch dressing. And there was an individual on X. Now there's argument whether he's real or not. I'm gonna choose to think he's real because I want to growth mindset, think best in people. But there was a guy named Freddie. Did you see this whole buzz around Freddy? Okay, so it it talk about collective effervescence. Like people were all in on Freddy, but just like people do, they get gross at the end and they you know start like, he's not real, this isn't happening. But uh for for the sake of the story, I'm gonna believe he's real because I love it. He was from Germany and he was experiencing the United States, not for the first time because he had come to major cities and he'd been very clear about that, but just the heart of the United States, like just kind of driving through these small towns in Iowa and Minnesota and all through kind of he was in Auburn, Alabama for a warm-up game and and just sharing his experiences and sharing this. And it but the collective people started coming out of the woodwork. And so Ella Langley, for people who don't know, she's a a really big country star in the United States, and so she was following his story, and so she invited him and his friends to come to a concert in Oklahoma and like gave him the VIP treatment, and then he went to NASA down in Houston, like all it is, it was huge. Like people were coming out of the woodworks to celebrate his experiences. Yeah, they we weren't we weren't experiencing Ella Langley, but they were and and like JJ Watt, who's a retired American football player, like bought them the presidential suite, and then their plane ticket was canceled to Toronto and AirShare, who's based out of Kans City, who's a phenomenal. I've never flown them because I can't fly a private jet or even buy an i private jet, but like their their American airline ticket was the flight was delayed, and so they went on Twitter and was like, We're gonna miss the Germany game. And AirShare was like, We'll get you there. Where do you need the private plane? And all of these other and American Airlines came through and they got them where they needed to be. But I mean, it was this talk about collective effervescence of people being like, I'm here for your experience. And there's nothing any, none of them got anything back out of it, other than maybe some goodwill. But it has been really neat to see how our communities have embraced, especially in these tough times that we're going through, whether you agree with what's happening in the United States or not. I don't I don't controversial hot take. If it is a hot take, don't worry, we don't, we don't care. We don't, I don't like what's been happening where we're we're not creating a sense of belonging. And I feel like the World Cup has given us an opportunity to create community and belonging that we so desperately need right now.

Rhonda Jolyean 29:52

Well, not only that, for me, I think, well, I'm a huge advocate of travel, and I know that I'm very privileged to be able to travel and not everybody is. This has been such a great opportunity to bring, you know, people of different backgrounds to our community and for people to hear their stories, to meet them, to empathize with them. That's the only way that we are going to learn and to grow, is to hear those stories of different people's humanity. And then they can say, hey, you're not so different from me. And that's how we become better people is through those stories. And I think that has been so encouraging. And that's why people root for other people too, is just that like, oh, wait, you're a fellow human, and I think it's cool that you get to do these things, you know, those that positivity. We just need that positivity. And we can't do that if we don't have open hearts and open minds. And I think we as leaders can bring a lot of that in with that collective effervescence, whether it be knowledge sharing, growth mindset, many celebrations, etc. And yeah, we are we're very lucky to have experienced this just even for a moment here in our community.

Dr. Katie 31:16

Yeah, yeah. And I will say, I really feel like we have to give a quick shout out as soccer has been growing in Kansas City and we've had an opportunity to see the growth. I am hoping that as people are listening to the podcast that may not know how badass Kansas City is in the women's soccer community. We have some amazing women in Kansas City and men who have stepped up and said,

Kansas City Current And Better Standards

Dr. Katie 31:48

we believe in women's sports. So the Kansas City Current, which is our NWSL team, our women's professional soccer team, many, many years ago, the owners said, you know what? We believe in this, we believe in women's sports, we believe in the investment in women's sports. And so they created the first stadium that was specifically made for a women's professional team in the world, which is so fantastic and cool and risk. And what were what was really exciting was about a month ago, they announced an expansion to the stadium because it's been so successful. And they're like, we need to make it bigger. They've sold out every match. Tickets are hard to come by, but when you do go, the experience is fantastic. And they're not just investing in the stadium, they're investing in the team and they're investing in the in the players. And they've had some some kind of internal challenges that they have met with real true leadership. How do they get the right people in the right seats doing the right things to create a really cool experience of inspiring women's sports around the world? And I know Indianapolis is in the middle of building a design just for the Indianapolis fever for the women's basketball team. They're like, we've got to go all in in women's sports. And I think that's pretty cool, not just from a leadership standpoint, but community. I mean, that's great.

Rhonda Jolyean 33:24

I I fully believe in the Kansas City current. I not only for me, I mean, I'm not as much into soccer, to you know, whatever, anything whatever about it. However, I love, I got to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium, and they are leading efforts in sustainability, in experience, in hospitality. And those are things that need to be taken from leaders, from corporations, from other stadiums. I hope other stadiums start paying attention. You do not have to have plastic cups, you do not have to have plastic, you know, everything. You can, you know, there's a sustainable way to do things and still be profitable. You can have local restaurants and make money, you know, you and support your community. They are doing so many things right, and we are proud of them. And I hope it's things like that that continue to get us these big events, especially knowing that we are going to make a bid for the women's world cup in the next couple of years. So that would be really cool.

Dr. Katie 34:35

Well, and and what's really cool is Alona Marr. I don't know if you're familiar with her. She is on the U.S. women's rugby team. She was kind of the breakout star of the US women's rugby in the Olympics. And she's really, really cool. And the U.S. women's rugby team played here in Kansas City, and she was talking about on her podcast many, many months ago. And she was like, that is the largest crowd we have seen for women's rugby was at the current stadium. And it just like to me, it's, you know, it begs the question where are we waiting for permission to build the things that we know people already need? Like we know the needs there. What are we waiting on in our company, in our community, in in our houses? Like, what are we why are we waiting for permission to do what needs to be done?

Rhonda Jolyean 35:28

That's such a powerful question. I it's like, why do we do the hard things sometimes or the things that don't matter? Why aren't we asking the questions that actually matter doing the things for our teams that we need? Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Katie 35:45

Well, I think that leads to a really big question that we've got to answer. So the United States is out. Yep, which is very sad. I thought this was gonna be the year, even though we knew better. So who are you? Who are you written for?

Rhonda Jolyean 35:56

Who's gonna win it all? My God. I mean, I probably Argentina. I would like to see like an underdog. I mean, not they're not underdogs at this point, none of them are. However, it would be kind of cool to see Norway or England win just because of some of the stories that have

Permission To Build And Final Takeaways

Rhonda Jolyean 36:17

been pretty cool, but uh, I think it'll be Argentina.

Dr. Katie 36:21

Yeah, yeah. I I do too, and it's funny because so I sorry, my brain is like boo, boop, boop, boop, boop. So I'm rooting for the US and they're out. And then, you know, I really want France to win. I have a good friend in France who loves the French team, and it's not not looking like that's gonna happen. So I'm with you. Argentina's probably gonna win it, which would be lovely because we're hosting them in Kansas City, but I really want to see Norway win, and I want to see the the Norway row. That has been so much fun to see the communities doing that, and it blends into to soccer because anyone who or into golf, because Victor Hoblin just won a golf tournament last week and he was doing the row uh because he's he's from there. So it's it's just it. I really hope Norway pulls it out. It's gonna be really tough, but at this point, anyone can win it. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, yeah. Well, and and we've talked a lot about community stories and kind of everything else and players and coaches. Is there any that you've really admired? I mean, you mentioned the Cape Verde. For me, the goalie there is the story that I love.

Rhonda Jolyean 37:39

Yeah, his story, probably the biggest. And I think just the people like the fans who have really opened up their homes to folks who needed it and the sharing of cuisine. And I mean, yes, like it's been hilarious to see people try like some of our dumb food, you know, but and like go to Costco and listen, I'm in love with Costco, so I love that. However, it's been really awesome to see people bring their food here and to have our, you know, citizens be able to try that because again, not a lot of people get to travel. And so I think it just is a great opportunity to empathize, have more of that human-to-human connection, and really say this is more powerful than anything that's happening in DC or anything that's gonna bring darkness rather than light.

Dr. Katie 38:35

So yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. Well, and I think you know, the the World Cup is once every four years. Um, but this is such a great reminder. It's so cool that it's in our backyard that we really have to think about what makes a great team, what makes a great community, what makes a great workplace. It there's it's all flows together, right? We have to have trust. We trust that we prepare our people, that we prepare ourselves, it that we we've done the the work. It's the the depth, the whole roster matters. We're not just individual stars. You hear a lot of times in sports, care about the name on the front of your jersey more than the name on the back, and the name on the back is your name. And so, really important. The belonging, how do we create this real we of getting stuff done, of having joint success, of of that full buy-in. And then nerve, you know, someone has to be willing to do it first. That permission, let's let's do it, right? Let's make that run, let's take that shot, let's let's do the stuff. And and I think the World Cup just gives us a really cool opportunity to reflect. So I'm so glad you suggested this subject, especially since the games have been on 24-7 in his house, and the group chat, my family group chat has been going crazy. So I'm glad because I kept seeing it from a soccer perspective. And someone who does leadership all the time, it's been really nice to look at it from this lens that I haven't really done a lot of.

Rhonda Jolyean 40:15

Yeah. I'm sad for it to be over in a few weeks, but I'm also kind of ready. Yeah, it's been on in my house too, and it'll be good to not have soccer on all of the time.

Dr. Katie 40:30

Yeah, yeah. Well, and I'm ready for the Kansas City community to be able to celebrate what has happened, but also to be able to take a breath. It feels like there has been this positive energy, this nervous energy, this stressful energy, you know, this all of this anxiety. And I know, I mean, Kansas City is a is a great host city, and and I'm excited for us to be able to show it on a world stage. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah. Well, thank you, everyone. We can't wait to hear. This is gonna come out before the championship game. So we want to hear from you who's gonna win, what are the aha's? Share this with your soccer loving friends because we we hope that this resonates with others.

Rhonda Jolyean 41:17

Yeah, even tell us if you got to go to a game, what happened, who did you meet? I would love to. I know people here who got to go to games, but not very many people in other cities that got to go. So let us know that. Uh, let us know if you're an international listener and you came here. What'd you think? If you've never been here before, we would love to hear all of that.

Dr. Katie 41:39

Yeah, yeah. So you can reach out to us on social media, LinkedIn. I know on Apple Podcasts, there's actually a spot in the description where you can send a note to the podcast. So let us know. You can do it in the comments. We comments, we would love to hear from you. And as we're wrapping up, we're gonna have a couple more episodes and then we're gonna take a little break. So the next couple episodes, the one after this, it's gonna be a fun story. We've teased this a couple of times. It's gonna be a fun story about how I've decided that feed not all feedback is a gift, and how sometimes you might just be an asshole. So make sure you tune in next week to hear that. And then the final episode of the the season is we'll do a little wrap-up and some of our recommendations, some of the things that we're loving and seeing and experiencing that we want to share with others.

Rhonda Jolyean 42:30

Yeah, especially like a little mini sabbatical that you can take and have some cool, juicy resources maybe you and your team can have. Yeah. I love it. I love it.

Dr. Katie 42:44

All right. Well, thank you everyone for tuning in to the Path of Leadership, and we'll talk to you next time. Bye, everyone.