Today’s guest column is from professors John Cairney and Rick Burton.
With spring here, we thought we’d look at what sports leaders can learn from fishing—or more accurately, from a particular fish, a glass wall and what happens when the environment thwarts an organization’s best attempts to reach a goal
To borrow from behavioral science, it’s well known quiet but powerful shifts show up under pressure. It’s not in the playbook or replay. It’s in the mind—and once it takes hold, it can change everything. For coaches and leaders, the challenge is understanding this shift doesn’t just affect performance, it reshapes how teams think, decide and act in the most meaningful moments.
Here’s what we mean. A classic experiment in the 1870s was conducted by German zoologist Karl Möbius. A predatory pike was placed in a large tank with small bait fish. As expected, the bigger fish immediately attacked and ate them.
Möbius then inserted a clear glass barrier between predator and prey. The pike continued striking, repeatedly colliding with the unseen barrier until it was effectively conditioned by the experience. Each attempt resulted in failure, even pain, so, over time, it stopped trying.
