From pitch side to the boardroom, the lessons I’ve learned

The key leadership lessons I learned from football were confirmed again during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Not many people know this, but my father used to be a football player and I tried to become one in my teenage years. I was even on the books of the second team of Willem II, who played at that time in the first division (Eredivisie) in the Netherlands. I wasn’t particularly technical, but I worked hard for the team, was fast and good at tackling.

However, in the end, I wasn’t quite good enough to receive a professional contract and fulfill the dream thousands of young boys and girls have from across the country and beyond to get paid to play the game we love. Although I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this experience, particularly around leadership, that I have carried through to me in in business.

And watching this year’s tournament—from Messi’s magic, Deschamps’ desire to protect and put the team first, through to Ronaldo’s diva antics—I’ve been thrilled by the football and reminded of good and bad leadership models.

The strength of the collective teamwork makes a winning team

Not necessarily the most capable individuals will win, but the best team invariably do. We could elaborate on the spirit of Maroc or Croatia, not best teams but their passion and energy outperforms higher profile players (think of Brazil and Spain). And even Argentina, the champions of the world, yes, they have one of if not the greatest player of all time at no.10 but alongside Messi there are tireless runners and a selfless desire to win as a team.

Diversity of any team is important; skillset, background, personality, and a strong state of mind essential (is there sufficient belief) to any high-performing team. As Johan Cruyff put it, “Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s.” In other words, everyone should know their role for a team to truly succeed. Not everyone can be the star player, and that includes managers. Good leadership is about getting the best from the group, and that’s where communication comes in.?Successful leaders create trusting teams where people are not afraid to ask for help or admit they don’t understand their role.?Every great sports team has at least one player more skilled than the rest. The job of a great coach is to help that player understand that their greatness diminishes without the other team members.

?All conditions in place around the key priority?

?Preparation is key. This comes through finding a steady rhythm and routines that feed the growth mindset needed for successful leadership. Energy management is another factor. Since the world has begun to open again post-Covid I’ve been travelling more. Combine long flights with intensive days of workshops and partner meetings where extreme focus is required, and you need to find time to relax, look back, and invite open feedback.

A culture of open and instant feedback is crucial to leadership and team success, as are the tools needed to channel the feedback. Noticeably, a lot of management and coaching staff at this World Cup prepared the players using digital tools such as iPads and data analysis has become a huge part of the game (and the dairy business).

Despite all these tools and preparations, mistakes will happen. Leaders and their employees; players, and their coaches, we all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them by stretching our own and each other’s skills and capabilities to bring out the best. A feedback-rich environment that celebrates failures, as well as wins, is essential in creating the conditions for priority alignment.

Forecasting results remain difficult; always remain agile

It’s been a year of uncertainty, yet change is a constant, and the unexpected can and always will happen. Again, the World Cup was an excellent example of this, where there were the most upsets (as in the supposed small teams beating big teams) for 64 years. This included Saudi Arabia beating the eventual champions, Argentina, 2-1 in their opening group game. In Argentina’s case, their young manager Lionel Scaloni—who had no experience managing a senior side before the national team - kept changing his teams’ tactics and personnel throughout the tournament. In short, he remained agile. Good leadership necessitates dealing with surprises and remaining cool, calm, and collected. This composure can be infectious and inspire those around you; the reverse is also true.

These are some of the learnings from football that I’ve taken with me into business. What about you, what have you learned from the ‘beautiful game’ or sport in general that has helped you in your professional life?