The World Cup is here. And the best story so far has nothing to do with a final score.
It is happening in Boston.
Scotland made the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. So their fans came. Tens of thousands of them. Kilts, bagpipes, singing in the streets before the sun was up. They drank one Boston taproom dry of its flagship beer. A local joked online that he welcomed the city’s new kilted overlords.
Here is what gets me.
Scotland has never made it out of the group stage. They might not this time either. And it does not seem to matter to a single person wearing tartan.
One fan said it plain. We take over everywhere we go. And the people here took us in too.
Read that again.
They waited 28 years. They showed up as their loudest, fullest selves. And they cannot lose. Not because the trophy is coming. Because their joy was never sitting on the scoreboard in the first place.
Now think about your own week.
How much of your joy is parked on an outcome you do not control? The number. The launch. The yes you are still waiting on. We hand our peace to the scoreboard and call it ambition.
There is another way to lead. A group of people in kilts is showing it to us.
Then there is Boston.
The city could have just tolerated the invasion. It chose to welcome it instead. People found tickets for strangers. Pubs learned the songs. One man woke up to bagpipes outside his window and threw a barbecue for the fans who had rented the house across the street.
Here is the part worth keeping.
When Boston welcomed people who were fully themselves, Boston got something back. One resident said it renewed her love of her own city. She watched strangers marvel at the things she had stopped noticing.
That is the whole job of a leader, right there.
You are not here to run a tighter scoreboard. You are here to build a place where people show up whole, tell their own story, and belong before they have proven a thing.
That is grace, really. Belonging that comes before the proving.
Do that, and you will start to see your own work with new eyes too.
So one question for your Saturday.
Where do you need to trade the scoreboard for the welcome? Pick one person this week. Make room for them before they earn it. Then watch what comes back.
Next week I will be in Miami for two of these matches. Scotland against Brazil. Colombia against Portugal. The whole world in one building, every fan certain their song is the best one. I cannot wait to stand in the middle of it.
Find your team. Then make room for everyone else’s.
See you out there!