Guilty unless proven innocent

Your character is not what or how others perceive you.

Ted Lasso will no doubt go into the halls of fame as one of the greatest TV series of all time.

There are hundreds of lessons we could learn from Ted Lasso. The one I am going to talk about today is from the final episode of Ted Lasso season 3.

Ted decides to head back to America. Coach Beard, as his right hand man, follows him back to America.

They are on the plane. And Coach Beard tells Ted he’s had a change of mind.

You can watch the short clip below:

Ted gives Coach Beard his blessings to remain in the United Kingdom to be with Jane. And proceeds to offer Coach Beard his assistance.

Coach Beard fakes a medical emergency.

A flight attendant rushes over to see what the ruckus is all about.

She calls for the medical staff.

While Coach Beard is carried off the plane by medics. The flight attendant asks Ted if he would also like to get off the plane with his friend.

Ted replies, no.

The flight attendant leaves Ted and heads back to the front of the plane. While we, the audience, hear her call Ted a F’ing Asshole.

As the audience we have the full context and know what really went down. However, for the flight attendant who only has the context of what she saw/overheard herself.

This leads us, the audience, to have a totally different view of Ted as a character versus the flight attendant.

Lesson from this scene is, having full context is very important. Don’t let your personal bias cloud your judgement of someone. Especially not from a single interaction.

And for those in Ted’s shoes. You know who you are. Your character is not defined by how others view you. But by you, yourself, and your actions.