Adaptive Thinking

Key Takeaway: Successful leaders apply adaptive thinking.

The national sports media has been saying what Buckeye fans already knew: the 2019 football team is elite and, arguably, the best in college football.

So what makes them so good? The answer is leadership.

Many argue the difference is talent, but there are many teams with talent who aren’t performing as well as the Buckeyes. Last year, Coach Urban Meyer handed over the helm to Coach Ryan Day. The transition was nearly flawless. The leader changed, but the culture stayed the same and success followed. That is a testament to the leadership of both coaches. An important aspect of the current coaching staff’s success is adaptive thinking.

The staff handles change exceptionally well. For example, the Buckeyes average 22.6 points in the second quarter while their opponents are averaging eight points per game. Why is that significant? Because it shows how good the staff is at managing change within the game itself.

Just like a military operation, a game follows a cycle: ACTION -> REACTION -> COUNTER ACTION

Managing this cycle allows adaptive leaders to get ahead of changes. As for the coaching staff, they have their game plan, they see the opponent’s reaction and they follow that up with a reaction of their own, called a counter action. This counter action exploits an advantage. Coach Day’s staff is doing this better than any staff in college football, which is validated by their tremendous success in the second quarter.

The Buckeyes are a great example of adaptive thinking. Leaders in any industry can apply what they and the military are doing by crafting their own version of adaptive thinking.

Reference:

https://www.milsci.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.mili.d7/files/si…