When it comes to leadership style, there’s a basic difference between competencies and character. The former typically refers to the skills and behaviors that contribute to a leader’s success, while the latter typically refers to the personal values and virtues that contribute to how a leader seeks that success.
And both contribute to the effectiveness of a leader, whether it be in an executive suite or on the football field. Just ask Justin Fields, the beleaguered quarterback of the New York Jets. Fields recently led his team to their first win of the season after overcoming a series of failures, indignities and criticisms that might have broken a lesser person.
Fields has experienced the highs and lows of an exciting career. He brought Ohio State to the brink of a national championship in 2021, only to be crushed by Alabama. A first round draft choice of the Chicago Bears, he was let go after three years of uneven performance. Signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2024 season, he led the team to several wins before being replaced. He then moved to the Jets, signing a guaranteed contract as their 2025 starting QB. And that’s when things got ugly.
With a new coaching staff, the Jets stumbled out of the gate. Fields’ running skills couldn’t compensate for passing game difficulties and he was benched after seven straight losses. When asked to describe the team’s problems, the Jets’ owner remarked “It’s hard when you have a quarterback with the rating that we’ve got”… “If we can just complete a pass, it would look good”. Entering the Bengals game on October 26, Fields was starting only because his backup was injured.
And what a start he had. Brushing off the pain and humiliation of the prior days and weeks, Fields’ strong performance guided the Jets to a remarkable, nail-biting 39-38 victory for their first win of the season. But his real victory came after the game, when he shared his personal struggles while being magnanimous about the whirlwind of criticism he had to endure.
“When I was on the field, I was damn near crying,” Fields said. “Not because we won. But just how everything I’ve been through the past week, everything we’ve been through as a team these past seven weeks. Lots of ups and downs.” And as for the owner’s comments, “I get that he’s the owner of the team, but that’s outside noise,” he said. “The biggest thing was my teammates believing in me and my coaches believing in me.”
And believe they did. Center Joe Tippman noted “In the organization, we know he’s the type of guy that goes out there and attacks…[T]o see him come away with this and have a dominant performance and do what he does and have fun, it was a great feeling.” Coach Aaron Glenn attributed Fields’ success to “[W]ho he is as a person, his faith and the way he goes about his business.”
In other words, when given a prime opportunity to challenge his critics, to shove it back at them, Fields didn’t take the bait. Rather, he chose the high road. He focused on the team. That’s character in action.
But let’s be clear: a sterling character isn’t a prerequisite for effective organizational leadership. History is replete with examples of strong, positive leaders who drove organizational success despite unattractive or undesirable personal traits. And in some situations, it is precisely those unattractive traits that may be the key to a particular leader’s success. Employees don’t need to love or respect their CEO to believe in his/her management style and vision. And CEOs aren’t necessarily reluctant to hire star performers known to have difficult personalities.
But genuine decency, kindness, humility, restraint and similar characteristics rarely hurt. They’re the kind of qualities that can lead, inspire and motivate large segments of the workforce. This, especially, in an environment in which companies are increasingly stressing their commitment to social responsibility in order to attract and retain millennial and “Gen Z” workers.
As “Desert Storm” General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. once remarked, “[L]eadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” Yet not all fans, nor corporate stakeholders, might agree.
Justin Fields is unlikely to lead the Jets to this year’s Super Bowl. Indeed, he’s no guarantee to remain the team’s starting quarterback. The limitations of his skillset are unlikely to be overcome solely by his leadership skills. But those skills delivered a win that won’t soon be forgotten by Jets fans and players. For on that one special Sunday afternoon, character did matter.