What Ted Lasso Teaches Us About Dealing With Change
Spoiler alert! If you haven't seen the show I would recommend you do so before reading this post. It's definitely worth it.
In Ted Lasso, change is a constant, much like in life. It comes uninvited, challenging every character’s sense of stability and, in turn, forcing each one to confront the rough edges they’ve tried to ignore. Whether it's about grappling with new career paths, navigating relationships, or rethinking what happiness means, Ted Lasso maps out a blueprint for how we grow through change. The characters are relatable because their changes don’t happen overnight. They’re incremental, messy, and often uncomfortable. And perhaps this is the show's best lesson for us: growth is hard, but it’s necessary.
Take Ted himself. He’s dropped into an unfamiliar world with no understanding of the job he’s been hired to do. He’s an American football coach tasked with leading a British soccer team—a move that would’ve broken most people. But Ted leans into the discomfort. He’s honest with himself about what he doesn’t know, and he puts his trust in the people around him. For most of us, change feels like a threat, a force that alters everything familiar. Ted’s approach is to see it as an opportunity to connect, to build something he couldn’t have imagined before. He takes the leap into the unknown, showing us that adapting to change isn’t about being fearless; it’s about learning to manage your fears.
The other characters, too, deal with change, and often not gracefully. Rebecca, for instance, initially hires Ted to ruin her ex-husband’s beloved team. She’s hurt, angry, and blinded by a need for revenge. But as Ted’s optimism wears down her defenses, she confronts her motivations and begins to rebuild her life in a more genuine way. Rebecca’s journey shows us that growth often starts with facing the parts of ourselves we’d rather ignore. Change, in her case, doesn’t arrive with a gentle nudge. It’s painful and, at times, humiliating. But it’s this discomfort that leads her to find purpose beyond her past relationships.
Then there’s Roy Kent, a seasoned player who’s grappling with the end of his career. This is a universal kind of change—realizing that something that once defined you, something you’ve invested years into, is no longer sustainable. Roy’s response to this shift is classic: he resists, clinging to the identity he knows. But eventually, he finds new ways to contribute, realizing that his value isn’t tied to his youth or his playing skills. He shifts into coaching, allowing him to stay in the sport he loves while evolving his role within it. Roy’s story reminds us that sometimes the biggest step forward is letting go of who we were.
And then we have Nate, whose arc is perhaps the most painful. Nate starts as an underdog, ignored and dismissed, and slowly earns respect and confidence under Ted’s guidance. But with success, he grapples with insecurity, pride, and resentment. Unlike Ted, who welcomes change with humility, Nate clings to the idea of power and recognition. He begins to equate his worth with status, leading him down a darker path. Nate’s story serves as a cautionary tale. Growth can happen in the wrong direction if we lose sight of what truly matters. His journey reminds us that handling change requires self-awareness and humility. When we let external validation dictate our growth, we risk losing ourselves in the process.
So, what can Ted Lasso teach us about dealing with change? First, that it’s rarely easy and often painful. Second, that it’s possible to find meaning in change if we’re willing to look beyond our immediate discomfort. And third, that growth isn’t a straight line. Some changes lead us forward, some take us back, and others show us sides of ourselves we didn’t know existed.
In real life, like in Ted Lasso, change comes whether we want it or not. Sometimes it’s a new job or a relationship; sometimes it’s the loss of something that once felt permanent. How we respond to these shifts shapes who we become. The characters in Ted Lasso don’t all succeed in handling change gracefully, and that’s part of what makes them feel real. They struggle, they mess up, and they occasionally revert to old habits. But even in their failures, there’s a lesson: growth isn’t about always getting it right. It’s about making progress, however small, and finding ways to stay true to ourselves along the way.
At its core, Ted Lasso reminds us that change is both the challenge and the reward. It’s the thing that pushes us to become better versions of ourselves and sometimes, as with Nate, the thing that tempts us to compromise what we value. But if we can approach change with honesty, humility, and a willingness to learn, we might just come out the other side a little wiser.
As you build your team, whether at a high-paced startup or traditional business. Keep these lessons at heart. You might not be playing football in the English league but these arcs are observable across life itself!