MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel made his way across the field during a recent Wednesday practice, strutting to a Drake song playing over the loudspeakers.

It was a curiously upbeat display, given that the Dolphins were fresh off a 10-day West Coast trip in which they dropped a pair of games to teams that had not just overpowered them but seemed to be outsmarting them, too. The Dolphins had been in first place before those losses, with commentators heaping praise on McDaniel, a 39-year-old Yale graduate and former NFL assistant with a reputation for innovative game planning. Now the pundits were wondering whether the Dolphins would even make the playoffs and starting to question McDaniel, who had never been a head coach before taking the Miami position in February.

But out there on the practice field was the swaggering McDaniel, with an impish grin as he made his way in and around players going through stretches. He was wearing bright white sneakers, dark gray sweatpants rolled halfway up his shins, and a T-shirt with the words I wish it were colder a message about the teams upcoming game in New York against the Buffalo Bills.

With his thick-framed glasses and skinny, 5-foot-9 frame, it would be fair to say McDaniel looked more like a fanboy than a field general of the gridiron. And from where I was standing in the press area, he seemed to be acting more like one too.

Instead of barking at the players like legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi might have once upon a time, or scowling at them as New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick would today, McDaniel was chatting up the athletes commenting on a wide receivers new orange cleats, rearing his head in laughter at anothers joke and bending over so he could talk to one of the defensive linemen face to face while he was in the middle of a stretch.

Eventually McDaniel made his way over to Tua Tagovailoa , the third-year starting quarterback who for the first time has been playing like the star that Miami and its fans always hoped he would be. The two spoke for about 90 seconds while Tagovailoa warmed up with a short game of catch. It was impossible to hear their conversation from up in the press area, but whatever McDaniel said left Tagovailoa with a broad grin on his face.

McDaniels behavior was hardly out of character. The banter, the positivity, the obvious affection for his players all have been hallmarks of his tenure with the Dolphins . They also seem tied to his own life experiences. He talks frequently about trying to embody the kind of positive male role model he didnt always have growing up, and says he wants to help players become better human beings rather than just better athletes.

Listening to McDaniel ruminate on life and leadership which is something he likes to do, at considerable length, even when reporters ask him about schemes for attacking a Cover-2 defense its easy to see why he and the Dolphins have become one of this years most intriguing football narratives . But their story may have a relevance beyond the world of sports.

McDaniels approach to coaching is consistent with what management and psychology researchers have long said is the most effective way to run an organization: by leaning more on praise and encouragement than criticism and discipline, and empowering employees rather than enforcing rigid hierarchies. Its also the way younger generations believe they should be treated , according to surveys . But workplaces in America frequently dont operate like this, in part because the people in charge dont buy into the approach.

McDaniel could help change their minds, by showing that his style of management works even in the cutthroat, high-pressure world of professional sports. But doing so might require turning the Dolphins into a truly championship-caliber squad. And it hasnt been one of those for decades.