Curiosity #45 - The One About the Playbook

🎤 Quotable quotes: "It’s easy to find knowledge. The hard part is figuring out how to use it."

— The Business of You

Ted Lasso could have holed up in a library, surrounded by soccer manuals, whispering “offsides” to himself until it stuck.
He could have memorized player stats like they were the lyrics to Let It Go.

But here’s the thing: knowing all that wouldn’t have made him Ted Lasso.

Because knowing isn’t the same as leading.

We live in a world where knowledge is everywhere. You can watch a video, read a blog, or ask your phone and get an answer in seconds.
But the magic trick isn’t finding the answer. It’s figuring out how to use it so it works for you, your team, and your situation.

That’s why Coach Lasso’s brilliance wasn’t in being the Premier League’s walking encyclopedia. It was in knowing how to use what he did know: people, relationships, and the power of a well-timed “BELIEVE” sign.

🏟 Why This Matters for You

In The Business of You¹, we talk about two ladders you climb in life:

• The Credentials Ladder: the degrees, certificates, titles, and shiny résumé stuff that can open doors.

• The Values Ladder: the skills, abilities, and ways of working that add real value to other people’s lives.

A lot of folks treat the Credentials Ladder like it’s the only game in town. But if your Values Ladder is short, if you haven’t built skills that help others, then all those credentials might just land you at the top of the wrong building.

Ted Lasso didn’t have the credentials to coach professional football. What he did have was a rock-solid Values Ladder: listening, motivating, inspiring, and making people feel seen. Those skills added value in ways no certificate ever could.

The real win? Climbing both ladders side by side, building the qualifications that open doors and the skills that make you indispensable once you’re inside.

¹ Yes, this is a shameless plug for our book, The Business of You, which will be available this Friday. We are super excited about it. We also promise to limit ourselves to only a modest number of future shameless plugs… probably. Maybe. We’ll see.

🫶 Stay curious,
— Nick & Marnie
Your tea-sipping, ladder-climbing, biscuit-sharing friends

More leadership musings

🍪 Biscuits with the Boss: 

Icebreaker time:  

Think of something you learned in the last month.
Now, imagine you had to use it today to help someone else.
How would you do it?
(Hint: This is how your Values Ladder gets taller.)

📚Beard’s collection:

📖 Horowitz, Ben. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers. Harper Business, 2014.

Want to know what it takes to build something from scratch? Horowitz pulls no punches, offering brutal honesty about the real challenges of leadership, growth, and tough decisions. This book isn’t about easy wins or the shiny stuff—it’s about the gritty, values-driven decisions that make the hard things worth doing. For anyone climbing the Values Ladder, this one’s a roadmap for navigating chaos with character. Ted Lasso would nod in agreement.

📖 Coyle, Daniel. The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How. Bantam, 2009.

Want to unlock your potential? Coyle digs into how talent is nurtured through deep practice, coaching, and an unwavering focus on improvement—not just credentials or innate ability. If you’re looking to climb your Values Ladder, this book gives you the tools to turn potential into performance. Forget talent being a gift—this is about the skill, the grit, and the consistent effort to get better. Ted would call it the power of belief in yourself—and others.

📖 Newport, Cal. So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. Grand Central Publishing, 2012.

Chasing your passion? Newport says, “Not so fast.” He flips the script, arguing that it’s skill development—not passion—that leads to fulfilling, meaningful work. This one’s for those climbing the Values Ladder by focusing on the value of expertise, mastery, and what you bring to the table. The book will help you embrace the grind, build rare skills, and level up your career. Ted would love the idea of getting so good, they can't ignore you.

🌎 This week in Here - There - Every F’ing where 

We love getting out and about! This week we are heading to Louisville, KY for a Lead it Like Lasso workshop (we will grab an 'ussie' to share ;) ).

We would LOVVVVVE to present at SXSW Education Conference - but we need your help! They collect votes on presentations.

Would you be willing to go here and vote for us (I have been told it is painless and only takes a few seconds). Thank you!!

We'd love to hear where you are out and about in the world as summer winds down.

Happy day!

Nick & Marnie