Last Saturday night was not a fun one for us fans of University of Utah football. My Utes fell to the Arizona Wildcats 23-10 in their first loss of the season, headlined by multiple efforts in the red zone—yards short of scoring—when the team literally and metaphorically dropped the ball.
While it’s never easy to watch a team you root for come up short, the loss got me reflecting on the power and impact of defeat. More specifically, on the power and impact of one’s response to defeat. As leaders, we talk a lot about celebrating “wins” in the workplace. We champion successes on our teams and seek out moments of triumph and accomplishment. But it is just as important for us to lean into the losses and mine them for growth opportunities.
In sports, as in leadership, success can sometimes make us complacent. When everything is going right, it’s easy to assume that what we’re doing will always work. We follow the same plays, stick to the same strategies, and rely on the same approaches that brought us victory in the past. It’s when we face defeat that the real work begins.
That moment—whether a failed project, a missed goal, or an unexpected challenge—serves as an invitation to reevaluate our assumptions, question our methods, and open the door to doing something different. Something better. When we take an “L,” we’re forced to ask the tough questions: What didn’t work? What did we miss? Where can we improve?
The Utes have a bye this weekend, but they’ll be back next week to take on the Sun Devils, and they won’t be the same team that fell to Arizona. They’ll take the lessons from this setback and adjust. They’ll be a stronger team for doing so. And no matter what, I’ll be rooting for them.
As we head into the last quarter of the year, I encourage you to reflect on the “losses” you and your team may have faced recently. What are they teaching you? What doors have they opened? How can they be catalysts for innovation?
The season isn’t over—far from it. Whether in football or in leadership, each setback offers us the chance to write a new playbook.
-Bill Adams, Co-Founder & CEO
