What Jalen Hurts, the Super Bowl, and Leadership Have in Common (Besides Stress-Induced Gray Hair)

Let’s talk about leadership the way it was meant to be discussed: with high-stakes football, a quarterback who defies the odds, and just the right amount of existential dread.

The Super Bowl is more than a game—it’s a masterclass in pressure, preparation, and the brutal reality that no matter how good you are, someone’s always gunning for your spot. And nobody embodies this better than Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Think about it. Here’s a guy who was benched on the biggest stage in college football. Who had every reason to sulk, transfer, and take the easy route. Instead, he doubled down, transferred with intention, adapted, and turned himself into an NFL MVP candidate. That’s not just a sports story—that’s leadership in motion. And it mirrors the Apex Strategy Framework we use at All365 to help leaders navigate the chaos of high performance.

Step One: Realization – Know Where You Stand, Even When It Hurts (No Pun Intended)

Leadership begins with that gut-punch moment of self-awareness. For Hurts, it was standing on the Alabama sideline, watching Tua Tagovailoa win his national championship. For you, it might be realizing that the team you lead doesn’t trust you as much as you thought, or that the strategy you’ve been banking on isn’t actually working.

Great leaders don’t run from these moments—they lean into them. And just like Hurts, they make a choice: stay stagnant or evolve.

Step Two: Confrontation – Face the Hard Truths (Before They Sack You)

The best leaders—and quarterbacks—don’t just acknowledge the hard stuff, they do something about it. When Hurts transferred to Oklahoma, he didn’t just show up; he retooled his game, improved his passing, and turned himself into a dual-threat nightmare for defenses.

How many leaders are willing to do that? How many are willing to admit, “I need a new approach”? Not enough. Most try to finesse their way out of accountability. But in business, just like in the NFL, defenses adjust. If you don’t, you get left behind.

Step Three: Negotiation – Redefine the Playbook

When Hurts got to the NFL, he had to reintroduce himself—again. Drafted as a second-round insurance policy, he became the franchise guy not because it was given to him, but because he took it. He built relationships, learned the system, and led with a mix of quiet confidence and relentless work ethic.

This is where so many leaders fail. They believe leadership is about positional power. It’s not. It’s about trust, influence, and making adjustments that reflect reality. Hurts didn’t beg for the job—he made it undeniable that it belonged to him. That’s what great leaders do.

Step Four: Activation – The Apex Moment

This is the moment when the preparation, the failures, and the growth culminate into action. The Eagles built their system around Hurts because he proved he was the guy. And when they made the Super Bowl last year, he didn’t just play well—he outplayed Patrick Mahomes. That’s leadership. Showing up when the lights are the brightest.

In leadership development, this is where most programs stop. They give you the blueprint, but they don’t equip you to execute under real-world pressure. At All365, we go deeper—we train leaders to thrive in their Apex moment, not just survive it.

Step Five: Liberation – Sustaining the Win (Because One Good Season Isn’t Enough)

If you think leadership is about getting to the top, you’re already missing it. The great ones sustain excellence. They innovate, they evolve, they mentor. They don’t get complacent.

The Eagles, like every team, will face setbacks. The real question is: what’s next? Will they recalibrate, adjust, and come back stronger? Or will they let the weight of expectations pull them under? The same applies to leaders. One success doesn’t define you—what you do next does.

What This Means for You

You might not be leading a football team, but you’re leading something. Yourself. A team. A company. A movement. The same Apex Strategy that fuels championship teams is the one that drives high-performance leadership.

At All365, we don’t do fluff. We work with leaders who want to perform at their highest level—not just for a season, but for the long haul. Whether you’re facing a defining moment in your career, trying to navigate the complexities of leadership, or just wondering how to be great without losing your sanity, we’ve got the playbook. And we’ll make sure you don’t get benched.

The Super Bowl might come once a year, but leadership? That’s an everyday game. Ready to suit up?