The Captain Class: The Hidden Force that Creates the World's Greatest Teams

Walker examines a trend that emerged around 2007: the systematic devaluation of team captains across professional sports. Walker documents how organizations from the NFL’s New York Jets to the NBA’s Boston Celtics began eliminating captain positions entirely, while others—including Arsenal, Brazil’s national soccer team, and the Edmonton Oilers—started appointing captains based on star power, market value, or contract size rather than leadership ability. This shift coincided with an explosion in sports broadcasting revenue that fundamentally altered team economics. When television rights deals started generating unprecedented wealth, the primary goal shifted from winning championships to creating compelling television content. This elevated celebrity coaches and superstar players while marginalizing the middle-management role of traditional captains.

Walker connects this sports phenomenon to parallel developments in Silicon Valley and corporate America, where “flat” organizational structures have gained popularity. These models eliminate middle management layers to facilitate direct communication between executives and star employees, based on the theory that talented workers perform better with autonomy and direct access to decision-makers. However, Walker argues that both sports teams and businesses may be making a critical error by abandoning the crucial mediating role that effective captains have historically played between management and talent.

The chapter’s most significant contribution lies in its challenge to conventional leadership theory.