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The Leaders Who Win Don’t Beat the Defense. They Find the Hole.
Posted on Mar 02, 2026
You can’t find the opening if you don’t understand the field!
Before we dive into Step 2, let’s briefly revisit Step 1.
Step 1: Know the Field
Every winning strategy starts with awareness.
In football, that meant understanding:
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The opponent
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The coverage
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The game situation
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The tendencies
You can’t just show up and rely on talent. I learned that lesson early in my career. Preparation changes performance.
The same is true in business and leadership.
Before you make a move, you need clarity:
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What market are you really in?
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Who are you actually competing against?
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What pressures are shaping the environment?
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Where are you exposed?
If you missed last week’s video on Step 1: Know the Field, I’ll link it here so you can watch it before going deeper. (WATCH VIDEO)
Now let’s build on that.
Step 2: Find the Hole
Stop trying to beat the whole defense. Start looking for the opening.
In football, we never tried to defeat all eleven defenders.
That’s impossible.
We looked for one weakness.
One tendency.
One moment.
That shift in thinking changes everything.
Most leaders try to overpower the entire market. They try to fix every problem. They try to compete everywhere.
That’s exhausting. And it’s unnecessary.
After you know the field, the next move is simple:
Find the hole.
Look for:
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Vulnerabilities
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Gaps in the market
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Communication breakdowns
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Leadership blind spots
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Cultural shifts others are ignoring
You don’t need the whole defense to collapse.