Ted Lasso For a Day!

I once grew a full beard just to shave it into a mustache.

Two months before Halloween in 2023, I stopped shaving and let it all grow out. People at work started guessing who I’d show up as - maybe someone rugged, wizardly, or weirdly follicular. I kept quiet the whole time, just building anticipation, because I do love a costume.

Then, the night before Googleween in Singapore, I shaved everything off… except the stache. I tossed on a visor (and a wig), baked a batch of homemade shortbread, practiced my best fake Missouri accent, and showed up the next day as Ted Lasso.

I didn’t just look like him - I was him. Full character, voice, mannerisms, biscuits in hand. I even brought my own BELIEVE sign. I “coached” our normal meetings like it was halftime, and in our weekly revenue call I asked my manager not to “get his britches in a bunch” about some numbers.

It was mostly a gag back then, but something has changed as I’ve been rewatching the show with my daughters. It’s our fourth time through (I’d say we’re slightly obsessed). Somewhere between Danny Rojas screaming, “Fútbol is life!” and Roy Kent grunting through emotional growth, I realized this show is also a masterclass in leadership training. It shows what happens when someone believes in you before you’ve earned it.

I love Ted’s relentless, stubborn, borderline irrational belief in his team. Even when they don’t believe in themselves, even when they’re losing, even when they’re jerks - he sees what they could be, and then coaches them to live up to that potential. That mindset is exactly what we try to recreate in our leadership escape room training sessions: a space where teams discover strengths they didn’t know they had, and where belief fuels collaboration under pressure.

Sometimes, that’s all leadership is. Not just as a CEO, facilitator, or parent - but as a person. To choose belief, especially when it’s inconvenient. One thing I’ve seen time and time again in team development training is that people remember the feeling of being believed in long after the workshop ends.

I’ve never been shy to say this is how I want to lead: with humor, patience, accountability… and belief. It’s how I want my daughters to see the world, and it’s how I want my team to experience work. That’s also why we’ve built escape room Singapore workshops at Teamwork Unlocked - because experiential team building makes belief and trust more than abstract ideas; they become lived experiences.

So yes, I’ve been Ted Lasso for Halloween. But I’m also trying to be a bit more Ted Lasso on the other 364 days of the year.

Fewer biscuits, maybe. But a lot more belief.