Jake's Road Report is Gemini Sports founder Jake Schuster’s weekly update from professional football's frontlines. He travels globally, meeting club executives to share candid insights on AI's role in football. These raw, actionable thoughts are delivered weekly, with meeting details kept confidential and specific intel omitted.

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The most innovative leaders I know collect moments where they were wrong — not as failures, but as evidence they're still learning.

I was recently asked what makes someone “innovative” in the player trading and tech space.

Is it signing players from hipster markets? Employing PhD research types? Purchasing a data feed others haven’t yet made use of?

Those things obviously help, and we certainly observe plenty of publicity around these approaches.

But I realized one thing was immediately top-of-mind across those I most enjoy working with. One thing was prevalent in every person I knew with sustained success.

That one thing? Humility.

To me, this translates as a lack of ego. An awareness of your limitations. A willingness to change your mind. New information — regardless of the source — influences the best leaders. Sunk-cost bias is behind so many wrong decisions, and true innovators tend to pivot without ego. The exec who invites dissent in the boardroom doesn’t weaken their authority, they strengthen adaptability.

When a leader insists on their way, the organization shrinks. It revolves around one person’s preferences, biases and limits. Progress slows. Innovation stalls. People disengage. The most innovative leaders resist that pull. They ask the harder, humbler question: What’s the best way forward for the team and the mission, regardless of how we’ve always done it?

So many teams end up buying the wrong player or paying the wrong price because they did so much research on them, they reached a point where they didn’t feel like they could back out.

So many sporting directors stick with archaic technology stacks because they paid good money for them, or worked hard to convince the owners of it, before realizing there was something better out there.

In an industry full of gigantic egos, I’ve found an abundance of humility can be a strategy rather than just a virtue. Learning from those around you and fostering better relationships is a hallmark of an effective, innovative leader. When everyone around you is stubbornly clutching to their old ways, adaptability becomes your secret weapon.

So here's the question every sporting director should ask themselves: When was the last time you changed your mind about something important?

In football's rapidly evolving landscape, the ability to change your mind isn't just valuable.

It's essential.