The principles that rebuild a football team can also help AEC leaders earn trust, navigate change, and grow a business.
Some of the most important leadership lessons I've learned didn't come from business school or a management seminar. They came from playing Division I football at Iowa State.
Sports taught me a lot about teamwork, accountability, and perseverance growing up. But it wasn't until years later that I fully appreciated one of the biggest lessons football gave me. When I arrived at Iowa State and began competing at the Big 12 level, I was introduced to an environment with high expectations, constant competition, and relentless pressure to perform. Looking back, I realize that experience prepared me for the realities of business far more than I understood at the time.
During my freshman year, we went 2-10 and laid a goose egg during Big 12 Conference play. Not only was it a disappointing season, but things became even more uncertain when our head coach left for another program. Most of us found out through ESPN before we heard it internally.
Suddenly, we had more questions than answers. Would our scholarships stay intact? What would happen to the program? Who would lead us moving forward? Like many organizations facing change, our team found itself at a crossroads.
How trust and process helped rebuild a team
I'll never forget the first message our new head coach Paul Rhoads shared with the team when he arrived. He talked about two kinds of trust: blind trust and earned trust. His point was simple. At the beginning of any relationship, people have to extend a level of trust before it's earned. But over time, trust must be reinforced through actions, consistency, and accountability. Coaches had to earn trust from players, and players had to earn trust from coaches. That lesson has stayed with me throughout my career.
Coach Rhoads also challenged us with a goal that seemed almost impossible at the time: going to a bowl game. Coming off a 2-10 season with an entirely new coaching staff, plenty of people would have dismissed the idea. But he didn't just give us a goal. He gave us a process.
He handed out hard hats and mechanic-style work shirts as a reminder that success would come from showing up every day and doing the work. (At the time, I had no idea how much that hard hat would symbolize the construction engineering path my career would eventually take.) We focused on daily improvement, trusted the process, and committed to one another. At the end of that season, we achieved the goal. Not only did we make a bowl game, we won it.
Applying lessons from the field to business growth
Over a decade later, when I was asked to help grow Garver's Field Services presence in Texas, I found myself relying on many of those same lessons. Texas represented a tremendous opportunity, but it was also unfamiliar territory. I had spent the first decade of my career in Kansas, building relationships, and establishing my reputation. When I moved to Texas, I had no established network, no family connections, and no history in the market.
There was already a team in place working hard to build the business, and I knew the opportunity was significant. The challenge wasn't creating a business plan; it was executing one. That's where I think many organizations struggle. Anyone can create a strategic plan that looks great on paper. But if people don't understand it and believe in it, it has little value.
When I arrived in Texas, I took the same approach I learned from Coach Rhoads and had applied to my work in Kansas. I asked for trust, and I set out to earn it. We held vision meetings to openly discuss where we wanted to go and how we planned to get there. We shared the reasons behind decisions and made sure everyone could see the bigger picture. Transparency created buy-in and buy-in created accountability.
Most importantly, everyone was willing to do the work. Our leaders weren't sitting on the sidelines. They were in the field, on night shifts, and alongside the team. We checked our egos at the door and focused on building something together. The results followed.
Over the past several years, our Texas Field Services operation has grown from a relatively small presence into a business, generating more than $10 million annually. While I'm proud of that growth, the numbers aren't what matter most. What matters is the people.
I've always believed my resume is my team. It's the individuals I've worked alongside, the careers I've helped develop, the clients we've built relationships with, and the challenges we've solved together.
The leadership principles that sustain growth
That's why three principles guide my leadership today:
- Respect creates the foundation for healthy relationships.
- Accountability drives performance.
- Trust ties everything together.
I've also learned that growth requires discomfort. Before every football game, you get butterflies. Early in my career, a coach told me that if you don't, you're probably not ready. I still believe that.
Any time you're pursuing something meaningful – whether it's entering a new market, growing a business, or taking on a new leadership role – there should be some uncertainty. That's often a sign you're stretching beyond your comfort zone.
The organizations that thrive aren't the ones that avoid adversity. They're the ones that respond to it well. Just like a football team adjusts at halftime or during a transition of leadership, successful businesses stay adaptable, embrace change, and continuously look for ways to improve.
In both football and business, success isn't about one individual. It's about getting the right people moving in the same direction, trusting one another, and committing to the work every day. When that happens, wins follow.
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Dakota Zimmerman, PE is Garver’s Texas Field Services Director. Connect with Dakota on LinkedIn. |
