The Leadership Lesson Of Harrison Ford – And Neymar Jr.

A second consecutive article about an ideal of leadership.

Jason Segel, Apple TV+ “Shrinking” show’s lead actor and co-producer, recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and described how Harrison Ford – one of the last living legends of cinema – joined the cast for his first major television role.

The crew was understandably intimidated by Ford’s stature and charisma. But from the outset, he made it clear that his sole ambition was to help the show succeed. He was there to serve the collective project, not to make it his own. As Jason Segel explained, once a star of Harrison Ford’s magnitude set that selfless tone, everyone else on the team had little choice but to follow his lead.

In terms of sheer aura, Neymar Jr. is roughly to soccer what Harrison Ford is to Hollywood. But that is where the comparison ends. Neymar Jr. is one of the most objectionable figures in a sport that has no shortage of them, while Harrison Ford is one of the most admirable personalities in a town that has precious few.

On Sunday night, the former Paris Saint-Germain player came on in the 67th minute, with Brazil and Norway still scoreless. He then distinguished himself in two ways:

• He received a yellow card for a reckless foul born of frustration against an opponent who was having an excellent game.
• After converting a penalty, he taunted the Norwegian goalkeeper, a display of ego and arrogance made all the more remarkable by the fact that his team was still trailing 2–0 and only minutes away from elimination.

When Harrison Ford joins a team, he deliberately reduces the symbolic weight of his presence. He knows that his iconic career can impress, or even inhibit, the people working alongside him. So he tries to ease the tension his presence inevitably creates.

Neymar Jr. does the opposite. He adds tension to an already precarious situation. He makes his team more fragile by making it more dependent on his own personal narrative.

Within any organization, exceptional talents and dominant personalities can use their influence in one of two ways.

They can treat it as a privilege: Monopolizing attention, imposing their presence, trying to make themselves indispensable, and reminding everyone, implicitly or explicitly, that they stand above the rest. That behavior creates dependency.

Or they can treat their influence as a responsibility: Setting an example of collaboration, helping others perform at their best, and reducing the pressure their presence alone might generate. That behavior creates trust.

In doing so, they display what Harrison Ford might teach us to call leadership grace: Adapting to others rather than demanding that others adapt to them. Turning their importance into an asset for the team rather than a liability. Helping others shine instead of condemning them to orbit their own star.

At the end of a match he had made worse both tactically – weakening his team’s defense without improving its attack- and morally, Neymar broke down in tears.

Whether he was mourning his country’s defeat or what he had made of his extraordinary talent, no one can say.