You hear it ad nauseam when it comes time for the playoffs in major sports. The team that has “chemistry” is the one that often goes on to win the championship, even if their talent level isn’t the best. Chemistry in this case is just another word for culture and it is one of the most important aspects of team dynamics.
There are of course other characteristics that can lead a team to success. The strength of its leaders, the amount invested in it, the environment that the team competes in all play a part in how that team does. One thing is true however. Whether it is in the professional world, or in the sports world, the Human Constant is undefeated.
Currently My Professional Sports Fandom Is Diverging
The idea for this particular piece of content stems from watching two of my favorite sports teams play for the past month. The Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League and the New York Mets of Major League Baseball.
One of these, is not like the other.
The Hurricanes are currently in the second round of the playoffs and to this point have dominated their competition. In fact, they have not trailed in a single game so far this post season. On the other end of the spectrum, the Mets have had a disastrous start to what will likely be a very long and dreadful season. The team currently sits 12.5 games out of first place and the calendar just turned to May. That is impressive for all the wrong reasons.
Money Doesn’t Equal Success
To the non-sports fan just looking at the numbers, what is happening with both teams really shouldn’t be. The Hurricanes are a “small market” team that doesn’t get a lot of attention nation wide. They don’t have superstars in the traditional sense, but for the past 8 years have made the playoffs and have found a steady increasing level of success over that time.
The Mets on the other hand have the richest owner in baseball by a country mile. Steve Cohen currently has an estimated net worth of 23 Billion Dollars. The second closest would be Rodgers Communications (a family trust) that owns the Toronto Blue Jays and they are worth about $9 Billion. Owners do matter and the Hurricanes Tom Dundon exemplifies what a good owner should do to make a team successful, but by comparison his net worth is only 2.3 Billion.
It is unfair to compare team salaries because the sports are not an apples to apples comparison. MLB is free to spend as much as they want on a team’s payroll, but the NHL has a salary cap, which more or less keeps the level of team parity high. This however means that for our example the Mets should have a distinct advantage over their competition and they do.
Outside of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have a huge influx of Japanese money due to the success of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Mets are the second highest paid team in baseball with this year’s team making a combined $368.7 Million. That is an extremely high price tag for a team who is currently the worst team in Major League Baseball at an abysmal 11 wins and 22 losses.
Both Teams Were Built Around a Strong Core
Both the Hurricanes in and the Mets were in virtually identical places success wise as recent as 2024, in fact, you could argue the Mets were slightly ahead, losing to the Dodgers one round before the World Series and the Hurricanes being knocked out by the New York Rangers two rounds away from the Stanley Cup Finals.
Their paths to getting there may have been different but one similarity was true. Both teams spent a long time establishing a core of players that together built success over a long period of time. In 2024 the Canes core of Jordan Staal, Jacob Slavin, and Sebastian Aho had been there for 12, 12, and 9 years respectively with 3 more players having been there for 6 years or more. The culture was built around them and their head coach Rod Brind’Amour who took over the team 8 years ago.
The 2024 Mets, while not as long had a core of four players, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz who had been with the team for at least 5 years and were clear leaders of the squad.
The Demolition of a Team Core
Both teams have had choices to make recently. While the Hurricanes have had profound success in the playoffs, the narrative is that they just don’t have “enough” to get over the hump and win the championship. At each fork in the road at the end of each season, they have opted to stay with their coach and their core and continue to add depth to the roster. The core now adding two more years of experience to their resume and cementing the Hurricanes in a solid culture with a crystal clear identity. They know who they are.
After a disappointing 2025, the New York Mets opted to go in a different direction and every single one of the core players mentioned above was traded to another team or allowed to walk in free agency. Francisco Lindor, who is currently on the injured list, because the longest tenured Met with only 5 years with the team. The Mets decided to throw a lot of money at Juan Soto, the biggest free agent of 2024 and a number of players that had extreme success with their respective clubs last year.
Lack of an Identity
One month into the season and the New York Mets have no idea who they are supposed to be. Their career statistics on the back of the baseball card, along with their salaries say that they should be a juggarnaught. They are anything but. There is a void of leadership on the team not only from the core of players but on the coaching staff. Manager Carlos Mendoza, who among those in baseball agree is one of the better leadership guys around, only has 3 years of managing experience under his belt.
In addition to the core being blown up, other than Mendoza, much of the coaching staff was also released last year. Despite having some of the best minds, the best facilities, and the best support out of any team in the league, a team without an identity and a culture is a team that is destined to fail.
Which Kind of Team Would You Rather Be a Part Of?
On the other side, whether or not the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup, their level of sustained success has become so common place its almost overlooked by those in the hockey world. Other teams who haven’t been to the playoffs in 15 years steal the accolades because it’s so rare to see them there. Meanwhile, ho hum the Canes are in the second round again.
Being a fan of both teams, I can tell you who I would rather watch on a daily basis. In the locker room, the players would probably tell you the same about the type of team they would rather play on.
Good Culture Can Sustain a Workplace Through Tough Times
Shifting gears to my agency, our local office is built much more like the Carolina Hurricanes. We aren’t flashy but we are steady, we stand up for one another and more importantly we sacrifice for one another. The core employees have been in place since before I joined the office six years ago.
Recently, changes and opportunity has led a number of our group to move on to other opportunities and retirements have led to a ton of experience walking out the door. This is a critical time for the culture of our workplace. Throw in a massive reorganization of the agency and it is easy to see how and why the culture of the office may take a dip, and naturally it has.
The establishment of a solid culture foundation years in advance can really help weather the storms that come along. When times are great it is easy to maintain a good culture when everyone is feeling good about themselves and their situation. In these times it can also be easy to ignore working on culture because we just assume it will always be there.
Culture, much like Canes Coach Rod Brind’amour who shows up at the gym every day to out bench his players who are 20-30 years younger than he is, it is the process of working on culture every day that helps when it really starts to hit the fan.
The Workplace Responds to Healthy Culture
Let’s be real for a second. I’m not saying it’s always going to be unicorns and rainbows out there and we all know that. There are still arguments, differences of opinion, varying outlooks on the future of our agency that can in some cases be extremely pessimistic. Culture absolute takes a dip in hard times. The question is whether that dip is temporary or the beginning of a long fall off of a cliff from which it is impossible to climb back up from.
While our office, like most others in my agency at this time has taken some visible steps back, I have also seen the signs of a healthy culture that gives me strong confidence in our ability to weather whatever storms come our way.
I have seen people holding healthy conversations on what to do next. I have seen an ability to be agile and adjust to whatever the rules of the game are on any given day. I have seen people naturally step up into roles that they have been preparing for when someone moves on to another opportunity. They don’t just wait around looking at each other to see who is going to step up and do the job.
They also have sacrificed. Overtime is taken so leave can be covered for someone who is burnt out and needs a break. They continue to complete the mission even when circumstances to do so are not ideal.
The Response to Difficult Times is Not an Accident
For those who claim that culture is nice to have but not required to be successful, I vehemently disagree with you. We are in tough times and there is no better case study to look at then the one we are currently in. In the midst of big changes, our office has it’s head above water and are moving forward with whatever is thrown our way. Despite being short staffed and not exactly knowing what the future holds.
This is not by accident. We have worked on this for years and our team core is strong. Other stories out of other offices have not been good. Vitriol is rising and conditions are becoming more and more toxic as some local cultures go off of a cliff. If you aren’t convinced that culture is important in the workplace, then take the example presented above from professional sports.
Would you rather be the Carolina Hurricanes or the New York Mets? Whether they win a Stanley Cup or not, my choice is crystal clear.
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