Captain: The Athlete's Guide to Being an Exceptional Team Leader with John O'Sullivan and Dr. Jerry Lynch
Release Date: 06/10/2026
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info_outlineWhat if the best captain on your team is not the loudest, most talented, or most popular player?
For John O’Sullivan and Dr. Jerry Lynch, true captaincy is not about status.
It is about skill, choice, relationships, and the daily behaviors that help a team become more connected, accountable, and resilient.
In this episode of The Athletics of Business, Ed Molitor is joined by John and Jerry to discuss their new book, Captain: The Athlete’s Guide to Being an Exceptional Leader.
Together, they unpack why leadership in sports is often misunderstood, why teams should stop automatically handing captaincy to the best player, and why every athlete has the ability to develop leadership from the inside out.
John and Jerry explore what great captains actually do: they build trust, model the standard, serve their teammates, communicate with courage, and protect the culture when things get hard. They also explain why influence is relational, not positional, and why the most effective leaders are often the ones willing to do the unseen work.
From self-awareness and servant leadership to tough conversations, kindness, accountability, and gratitude, this conversation is a powerful reminder that leadership is not something you wait to be given. It is something you choose to practice every day.
OUR GUESTS
John O’ Sullivan
John O’Sullivan is an internationally known TEDx Speaker and the founder of the Changing the Game Project, which he started in 2012.
He is the author of two #1 Bestselling books, Changing the Game and Every Moment Matters, and a leading youth sports blogger, while being a host of the Way of Champions Podcast, one of the top-rated podcasts in the world for coaches.
Former collegiate and professional soccer player, and has coached for over 20 years on the youth, high school, and college levels. He has consulted with US Olympic Committee, US Soccer, USA Football, US Lacrosse, USA Swimming, Ireland Rugby, Aussie Rules Football, and many more
John is on the National Advisory Board for the Positive Coaching Alliance and the National Association for Physical Literacy.
Dr. Jerry Lynch
Jerry first learned about extraordinary performance and excellence as a nationally ranked competitive athlete sponsored by Nike, running world-class times from 5,000 meters to the marathon, setting an American record in the half-marathon, winning a National Championship, and many other races against athletes half his age.
He took what he learned about himself and life from his competitive days and parlayed it into a dynamic, successful career helping athletes and coaches in all sports to use his performance and leadership strategies to up their game and discover the best version of themselves.
Dr. Lynch has been recognized as one of the top five in his profession nationwide. He has worked with teams, coaches, and athletes in the NBA, Pro Lacrosse, Major League Soccer, with men's and women's basketball, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, golf, and other sports at the universities of North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, California, Syracuse, Stanford, Harvard, and Middlebury.
Dr. Lynch is the author of 18 books in over 10 languages and the founder and director of WAY OF CHAMPIONS, a human potential and performance consulting group helping others master the deeper inner game for sports, business, and life. Jerry is a dynamic, entertaining, inspirational, provocative, and humorous teacher and speaker with topics on leadership, coaching, team culture building, winning the relationship game, and core value development.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:
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Why captaincy is a skill that can be taught, practiced, and developed.
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Why the best player is not always the best leader on the team.
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How coaches and teammates can identify real leaders through behaviors, traits, and trust.
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Why influence comes from relationships, not titles or positional power.
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How captains serve as the bridge between coaches, teammates, and the team culture.
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Why great leaders must learn to have hard conversations with courage and respect.
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The difference between being liked, being respected, being nice, and being kind.
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Why self-awareness is the foundation of exceptional leadership.
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How elite athletes like Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant modeled servant leadership.
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Why gratitude, joy, and service can elevate both leadership and performance.
RESOURCES & LINKS
John O’ Sullivan & Dr. Jerry Lynch
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Website: https://changingthegameproject.com/
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Website: www.wayofchampions.com
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Get the Book: Captain: The Athlete's Guide to Being an Exceptional Team Leader
Ed Molitor
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LinkedIn: Ed Molitor
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Website: CoEffex
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YouTube Channel: The Athletics of Business
TIMESTAMPS
● 00:01:07 Why winning takes more than talent
● 00:02:00 Introducing Captain: The Athlete’s Guide to Being an Exceptional Leader
● 00:03:10 Why teams often choose captains for the wrong reasons
● 00:05:24 Why captaincy should be treated as a skill
● 00:10:08 Why captains are connectors between coaches and teammates
● 00:11:53 Why influence comes from relationships
● 00:14:45 The hardest conversations captains must learn to have
● 00:16:00 Why respect matters more than being liked
● 00:19:15 The three-part structure of Captain
● 00:26:44 Why self-awareness is the competitive advantage
● 00:33:45 The difference between being nice and being kind
● 00:39:18 Tim Duncan and the power of leading by example
● 00:42:37 How Kobe Bryant learned to bring teammates along
● 00:45:36 Where to find the book, podcast, and leadership resources