S4E8: Follow the Anger — On the Other Side of Fear Is Freedom
The Lady Greyhounds are winning.
They're climbing the table. The BELIEVE sign is filling up with Post-it notes. Gemma is emerging as a star.
And then everything changes.
In Season 4, Episode 8 — “Follow the Anger” — Gemma injures her knee while chasing a hat trick, throwing Alice and the entire team into a tailspin.
And Alice gives us what might be one of our favorite lines of Season 4:
“I think on the other side of you being scared is you being free.”
Fear is everywhere in this episode.
Gemma is afraid of what her injury could mean.
Alice is afraid she's responsible.
Keeley is afraid Roy will leave again.
Roy is afraid he's not worthy of Keeley.
Rebecca learns that someone is secretly trying to gain control of Richmond.
And Higgins gets some wonderfully cryptic advice from Mae:
Follow the anger.
This week, we dig into:
- Why the real question isn't how to stop being scared, but what we do while we're scared
- How psychological safety gives people permission to acknowledge what they're actually feeling
- Why sometimes the best thing a leader can do is sit down, shut up and simply be present
- Ted calming Alice without a speech, metaphor or solution
- Why support doesn't always require a solution
- The danger of giving someone advice that's really meant for a younger version of yourself
- Why parents, managers, mentors and coaches shouldn't confuse their stories with someone else's
- Why a terrible outcome doesn't necessarily mean you made a terrible decision
- How anger can be valuable data without becoming direction
- Why core values have to become behaviors, not posters on a wall
- What happens when someone can no longer produce for the organization
- Why people need to know they still matter, not just as performers, but as people
That last lesson becomes especially powerful through Gemma.
After an injury, everyone initially checks on you. Everyone is concerned.
Then people start moving on.
The calls slow down.
The messages stop.
And eventually the person who is still struggling can begin to feel like they're disappearing in real time.
Alice refuses to let that happen to Gemma.
And when Gemma arrives for her MRI, she discovers her entire team waiting for her.
Sometimes leadership isn't fixing the problem.
It's making sure someone doesn't experience it alone.
And then...
Roy and Keeley. FINALLY.
Their disastrous trip to Chelsea becomes one of the best dates they never planned.
Roy tells Keeley:
“There's no one else I'd rather be wrong with than you.”
Keeley finally admits why she's been keeping him at a distance:
“There's no one else I'd rather be scared with than you.”
Roy even pays off Keeley's earlier warning about putting her on a pedestal. The answer isn't pulling Keeley down.
It's recognizing that Roy is worthy of standing beside her.
Because he's Roy fucking Kent.
And she's Keeley fucking Jones.
Which sounds remarkably similar to something in the foreword of Lead It Like Lasso.
Coincidence?
We're choosing to believe otherwise.
We also break down Shakespeare, A League of Their Own, Alice's panic attack mirroring Ted's, Storyworthy, another terrible Derek, Zelda's mysterious scarf, Beard's strange new look, and the continuing mystery of Ted's sinking chair.
Finally, Mae helps Higgins discover who's secretly buying shares of AFC Richmond.
Rupert.
With only a couple of episodes remaining, we make our predictions about Rupert, Zelda, Alice, Ted, Roy and that damn chair.
Stay curious. Stay kind. And keep leading it like Lasso.
