Leading with Us: Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup Masterclass in Identity Leadership
At 45, Justin Rose was brilliant on the greens at Bethpage, leading all 24 players in strokes gained/putting. When asked why, he laughed:
“I wish I knew. I wish I could be a bit more selfish and know that 25 weeks of the year. But do you know what I feel like? The power of this [points at teammates], the power of the group, who knows what it is, that ability to lock in, the ability to just want it that little bit more. The answer? I don’t know, other than the badge and the boys. That’s all that matters.”
When Europe lifted the Ryder Cup in 2025, it wasn’t just a massive upset; it was a lesson in leadership. If you watched closely, it was hard not to feel it. Especially during the team sessions. There was something present in this European team that showed up in the way they interacted, backed each other up, and ultimately performed.
As Rose put it,
“We are united by a culture and a generation of players that have come before us.”
In the past two Ryder Cups, Europe has dominated the “team sessions” (foursomes and fourballs) by an extraordinary 24–8 margin. Now I am not trying to play armchair quarterback; many factors contribute to victory, including individual capability, coaching decisions, analytics, course setup, and physical readiness.
Yet in this case, it was hard to ignore a distinct advantage: Team Europe had an identity. And Luke Donald infused that identity into cohesion, belief, and ultimately performance.
Teams whose members strongly identify with the group don’t just get along better, they play better. Research(1) finds the top 20% of teams with a strong shared identity, outperform the bottom 20% by 53%. They’re more resilient, too: when one player falters, teammates rally instead of pointing fingers. Beyond performance, these teams report better well-being and lower burnout. Everyone is more invested in each other and the team’s mission.
Research(2) shows that five beliefs in particular drive this kind of commitment:
Continuity: linking past, present, and future.
Meaning: competing for more than wins.
Efficacy: believing the team is capable of success.
Belonging: feeling unified and cohesive.
Distinctiveness: knowing the team is different from others.
Donald wove these beliefs into Europe’s fabric through his leadership. Every decision, whether it was his words, the locker room, teams outfits, all embodied the principles of identity leadership: To Create, Advance, Represent, and Embed a sense of what it means to be "One of Us”.
Creating a Sense of Us
Donald began by grounding his team in continuity. Their practice shirts carried the names of every European side that had won on American soil. He reminded his players that they stood in a long line, inheriting a legacy, carrying it in the present, and passing it to the future.
You can see it here as he describes, that future generations will be inspired by this teams performance, bringing Rory McIlroy to tears.
Or here, when he collected every living member of Ryder Cup teams to have won on US soil, building a sense of belief in what is capable.
Our time. Our place. A shared purpose and vision are at the heart of creating what it means to be one of us. To carry the legacy and win on US Soil.
And even a nod to showcasing his side’s distinctiveness, that, unlike their opponent, they are playing for more than money.
Advancing Us
Donald put on a clinic that his role was to advance the interests of the group, not his own. He described his mission, as setting up an environment to give these guys the best week of their lives. Identity is weakened when decisions are made in the best interest of the leader, instead of the group.
Listen to his interviews and notice the number of times he says "I" versus "We" and how quickly he is to share praise. And Donald, without his players knowing, went as far as changing the shampoo and bedding in their hotels, to ensure each player had the opportunity to be at their best.
Representing Us
Leaders are most powerful when they embody what it means to be “one of us.” Donald did just that. He spoke in “we” language, put his own career aside, and modeled composure in the face of a hostile crowd.
By doing so, he reinforced belonging. He wasn’t above them, he was with them. He pursued the mission with the same intensity as he hoped the athletes would. Investing in himself as a leader and becoming the protoype of what it means to be a member of Team Europe.
The players noticed. Justin Rose praised his investment in becoming the best leader possible, Jon Rahm praised his attention to detail, and McIlroy his communication. In Donald, they saw their own values reflected back to them. That’s the essence of identity leadership: the leader represents the group, and the group sees itself in the leader.
Research (3,4) supports this: leaders who closely embody their group’s values and norms (identity prototypicality) are seen as more legitimate and trustworthy, which strengthens team cohesion, motivation, and the ability to influence collective action.
Embedding Us
Finally, Donald embedded identity into the team’s daily environment.
He also embedded tradition through ritual and symbolism. The environment, down to the smallest details, served as a reminder of the team’s purpose and identity. You can see it in his tour of their locker room.
Team uniforms echoing past champions, visual reminders of Europe’s story, all made continuity tangible. They were reminders of what makes this group distinct, that everyone plays an important role, that instill a belief, and that this is about something bigger than each of them.
To be clear, the locker room is powerful, but only if the hard work is done to proceed it. By week’s end, identity was not just spoken about; it was lived. Players weren’t simply wearing the badge, they were fused with it. It created a deep sense of meaning. As Donald himself said,
“Future generations will talk about this team and what they did.”
What This Means for Leaders
Luke Donald’s captaincy is a reminder: identity matters.
For those of us leading teams in sport, business, or education, identity leadership offers a way forward.
Thomas WE, Brown R, Easterbrook MJ, Vignoles VL, Manzi C, D'Angelo C, Holt JJ. Team-level identification predicts perceived and actual team performance: Longitudinal multilevel analyses with sports teams. Br J Soc Psychol. 2018 Sep 21;58(2):473–92. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12277. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 30239010; PMCID: PMC6492250.
Thomas, W. E., Brown, R., Easterbrook, M. J., Vignoles, V. L., Manzi, C., D'Angelo, C., & Holt, J. J. (2017). Social Identification in Sports Teams: The Role of Personal, Social, and Collective Identity Motives. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 43(4), 508–523. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167216689051
Platow, M. J., van Knippenberg, D., Haslam, S. A., van Knippenberg, B., Spears, R., Oakes, P. J., & Reynolds, K. J. (2011). Embodying who we are: Leader group prototypicality and leadership effectiveness. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(5), 843–850. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.07.013
Steffens, N. K., Peters, K., Haslam, S. A., & Platow, M. J. (2018). One of us … and us … and us: Evidence that leaders’ multiple identity prototypicality (LMIP) is related to their perceived effectiveness. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 3(2), 175–199. https://doi-org.ezproxy.stthomas.edu/10.1080/23743603.2019.1624156
