I found this Athletic article on NFL quarterbacks fascinating, not only because I’m a Bears fan, but also because it embodies some good lessons in organizational leadership.

It starts with the pressure teams feel to build around a solid QB. QBs are drafted young and expected to make an immediate impact. Teams may have a development plan that’s quickly abandoned. How can a team justify benching a top pick, or worse, leaving him in the game when he’s playing poorly?

So “The QB never gets a fair shot.”, and “they move off one player to chase another, intoxicated by hope, the cycle restarting itself all over again.”

“I believe organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations.” - Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell

The article calls out a few things that organizations can do to develop QBs: mentorship, playing to your strengths, character, and sticking to the plan

Mentorship: The Bears brought in 11 year veteran Case Keenum to support Caleb Williams:

“There is so much value in that. Case is great at preparing. He’s competitive as hell. It’ll be so great for Caleb to be around that every day.” - Alex Smith

Playing to your strengths: Looking beyond the raw numbers to the individual QB’s strengths.

“When a coach just knows a playbook, he spends his whole career looking for players who fit that playbook. And when they don’t fit, it’s never going to work because the coach can’t adapt.” - Alex Smith

Character: “Luck says he wouldn’t draft a quarterback without elite processing capacity — and humility.”

“You wanna know if you’ve got the right guy at quarterback? Don’t watch him after he wins you the game. Watch him after he throws three interceptions and loses it.” - Bill Parcells

Finally you gotta stick with the strategy: “One thing [Peyton Manning] remains grateful for: The staff never blinked. Their belief in him remained unshaken, even as his mistakes piled up.”

“It’s not simply about finding the right quarterback in the draft; it’s about building an infrastructure that will allow that quarterback to grow into the job after he arrives.”

As an engineering manager I see a lot of parallels in tech. AI hype can be viewed as that young new draft pick, but its not a panacea. How your organization navigates that hype is important. And the fundamentals of building a good strategy and organization still apply.

Originally posted on Bluesky by @monsur.hossa.in Source: https://bsky.app/profile/monsur.hossa.in/post/3lybcm4bo222j