Megan Rapinoe & Sue Bird on leading great teams and moving on
Apr 1, 2025
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Megan Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist and FIFA's best soccer player, joins her partner, Sue Bird, a basketball legend with five Olympic golds and four WNBA championships. Together, they share insights on building great teams, drawing parallels between sports and work. They open up about their retirement journeys, the emotional challenges of stepping away from competition, and finding new purposes in life. The duo also discusses leadership in women’s sports and the importance of character over competence, all while fusing humor into their conversation.
Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird emphasize the importance of redefining personal identity and seeking new fulfillment after retiring from sports.
They discuss the complexities of team leadership, highlighting the need for open communication and trust to foster a cohesive environment.
Deep dives
The Journey From Sports to Retirement
The transition from active sports to retirement often poses significant challenges for elite athletes. The sense of identity tied to their careers can make it difficult to let go, leading to an internal conflict between their past accomplishments and the realities of aging and physical decline. Athletes like Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird discuss how the end of their careers prompted them to confront feelings of unfulfillment and dissatisfaction, particularly when they realized they were no longer performing at their peak level. Navigating this change requires not just accepting a loss of identity but also redefining one's purpose and finding new avenues for growth and fulfillment.
Leadership Dynamics in Team Sports
Leadership within sports teams is complex and multifaceted, often dictated by performance, age, or experience. Both Rapinoe and Bird highlight how team dynamics can be disrupted by changes in leadership or the arrival of new members, creating a delicate balance that requires trust and understanding among teammates. They also emphasize the importance of younger players feeling empowered to voice their opinions and ideas, suggesting that fostering an open environment is essential for team cohesion. Ultimately, successful leadership in sports is not just about authority but also about building relationships and cultivating a supportive team culture.
Cultural Differences Between Sports
Rapinoe and Bird discuss the cultural disparities inherent in different sports, particularly regarding how teamwork is structured and respected. They contrast soccer and basketball, noting how soccer relies heavily on a cohesive team effort, whereas basketball can sometimes lean on standout individual performances. This distinction impacts how athletes perceive their roles within a team and how they respond in high-pressure situations. Understanding these cultural differences is crucial for athletes seeking to thrive in their respective environments and for teams aiming to create an inclusive atmosphere.
The Pursuit of Objective Feedback
The journey to finding purposeful feedback post-retirement can be daunting for former athletes, who are accustomed to regular assessments of their performance. Both guests express nostalgia for the clear, objective feedback they received from coaches and the pressures of competition, noting the abrupt shift to environments that lack this structure in civilian life. They point out that while they once thrived on immediate evaluations, navigating life without consistent guidance can feel disorienting. This longing for constructive criticism highlights the challenge of transitioning valuable sports experiences into quieter, less objectively measured aspects of life.
Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird are two of the greatest athletes of all time — Megan is an Olympic gold medalist and was named the best soccer player in the world by FIFA. Sue has won five of her own Olympic gold medals in basketball and four WNBA championships. Now that the couple have each retired from their legendary sports careers, they host a podcast together, a Touch More, and continue to play a major role in the meteoric rise of women’s sports. They talk with Adam about how to make a team great and leadership lessons from sports. They also discuss their difficult decisions to retire, and how to know when it’s time to let go and move on.