You need to “work on your business, not in it” is solid advice but incomplete. In sport, everyone works toward the same goal, they just have different roles. This blog explores why the real shift is from player to coach and how that mindset unlocks space, structure, and success.

Great teams don’t just show up and hope for the best. Before every NFL game, coaches break down the opposition, design plays, and set a strategy. But once the game starts, they don’t abandon the plan, they adjust, adapt, and stay agile. Business is no different. Structure isn’t there to hold you back, it’s there to create trust, clarity, and freedom. The best teams don’t play without a system, and neither should you.

Traditional businesses reward people by moving them up the hierarchy. But in elite sports, the best players earn more by being great at what they do, not by becoming coaches. If Patrick Mahomes wants to earn more, he doesn’t climb a corporate ladder, he wins games. Your job isn’t to protect a salary pyramid, it’s to build a winning team where everyone is paid for impact, not rank. Time to rethink the playbook.