The toughest call: when talent won’t buy in
By Jack Welch
Change is rarely comfortable. For some employees and athletes alike, it feels like an unwelcome disruption, no matter how well it’s explained or supported. Leaders face a common frustration: certain individuals simply won’t buy in. Sometimes this resistance isn’t loud or defiant, it can be quiet, subtle, and persistent, showing up in missed deadlines, half-hearted effort, or a reluctance to engage in new processes. Over time, that quiet resistance can be just as damaging as outright refusal.
Often, these employees or players aren’t without talent. In fact, some have great potential. Their past results haven’t been stellar though, and despite new tools, training, and encouragement, they cling to the old way, often convinced they know better. They may even believe they’re protecting the team from a bad change, when in reality they’re holding back progress. This creates a leadership dilemma: how long do you keep trying to help the person before making the hard call to redirect, reassign, or release them?
Jim Collins, in Good to Great, wrote that great organizations “get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus.” It’s a simple truth, but Collins never gave a precise timetable for when to act. That decision is the leader’s burden.
Wait too long, and resistance spreads, slowing momentum and undermining credibility. Act too soon, and you risk losing someone who might have become an asset with more guidance.
The key is recognizing the difference between potential and willingness. Potential is capability. Willingness is commitment to change. Without both, performance won’t improve.
This isn’t just a business problem, it’s a coaching problem too. Athletic coaches face the same decision with an uncooperative player. How long do you work with them before moving on to someone ready to buy into the system? The parallels are striking: both require balancing patience with decisive action.
Strong leaders and coaches set clear expectations, provide resources, and give a fair chance to adapt. They measure progress, offer feedback, and decide based on evidence, not just hope.
Leadership isn’t about dragging the unwilling forward; it’s about moving ahead with the right people in the right seats, or in sports, the right players on the field.
Thought for the week, “Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight; indecision, a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it” Maianne Williamson
Dr. Jack Welch serves as President of Fort Scott Community College. With a career spanning professional sports, public education, and rural community development, he brings a servant-leader mindset and a passion for building trust-driven cultures that empower people to thrive in
the classroom, on the field, and in life. He is also the author of Foundations of Coaching: The Total Coaching Manual.
Dr. Jack Welch serves as President of Fort Scott Community College. With a career spanning professional sports, public education, and rural community development, he brings a servant-leader mindset and a passion for building trust-driven cultures that empower people to thrive in the classroom, on the field, and in life. He is also the author of Foundations of Coaching: The Total Coaching Manual.