Innovate or Die: How José lived long enough to see himself become the villain due to his dated management style

The year is 2004 and he has just won the Champions League with FC Porto, José Mourinho sits at his first press conference since becoming the manager of Chelsea. With many deeming this role as a step-up, José, still the coolest man in the room, gives us one of the most iconic lines in Premier League history. ‘Please do not call me arrogant because what I say is true. I’m [a] European champion. I’m not one out of the bottle, I think I’m a special one.’

Prior to joining FC Porto, Mourinho had spells with fellow Portuguese clubs Benfica and Uni?o de Leiria where he achieved success in relatively short spells at the club. Upon joining FC Porto at the start of 2002 season, they sat in fifth place in the league and were last in their Champions League group. FC Porto ended up finishing the season in third place, qualifying for what is now known as the Europa League (the second tier of European football).

In first full season with Porto, during preseason, Mourinho posted the club’s fitness regime on the club website which showed that players were required to run 12 miles in sessions, highlighting the hard work and combative nature needed to play for one of José’s teams. Subsequently, Porto went on to win the league that season finishing 11 points above his former team Benfica, who finished second. Porto also won the domestic cup and the UEFA Cup (Europa League) completing a treble. ?In the 2003/04 season José pulled off what is widely considered the biggest upset in Champions League history; he won the Champions League with Porto, beating Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the process.

You can imagine the demand for a manager like José Mourinho after his recent success, as he was someone that improves the results of an organization wherever he went.

In his first season at Chelsea, ‘the special one’ proved his point. He won the Premier League with Chelsea, after a 50 year wait, accumulating the most ever points (95) in a season at that time whilst conceding the fewest goals in a single season in Premier League history (15) a record still held to this day. If that wasn’t enough, he had a replica season the next year winning the league again with Chelsea and won the League Cup and FA Cup the season after in the 2006/07 season. Unfortunately, after a series of disagreements with then owner Roman Abramovic, in late 2007 he left Chelsea by ‘mutual consent.’

In 2008, Mourinho was appointed as the manager of Italian side Inter Milan where he won the Italian league in his first year and then won the treble (Italian league, Champions League and the Copa Italia) in his second beating what many may call the best club team in history, Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.

He then had stints at Real Madrid, where he won 3 trophies in two years and then returned to Chelsea where he won the Premier League one more time.

Fast forward nearly ten years and ‘the special one’ has just been sacked by Italian side Roma and has been fired from his last two roles prior to that at Manchester United and at Spurs, where he actually won The Europa League and the League Cup with Manchester United, whilst leading them to their highest place league finish since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure. He also got Spurs to their first final since 2019 and would have had the opportunity to break a 13-year trophy drought if he didn’t get sacked mere days before the final. Even at Roma he managed to get his hand on European Silverware, winning the UEFA Conference League (the third tier of European football). So, where did it all go wrong for Jose, and why hasn’t he been able to adapt?

Since arriving at Chelsea in 2004, Mourinho’s tactical style has always been seen as quite pragmatic. His teams have always defended well and are rarely outdueled. From a psychological aspect, he was always able to tap into a player’s motivations ensuring they would essentially run through a brick wall for him. He would occasionally publicly criticise his players, which surprisingly did more good than harm in his early days. His tactical and psychological astuteness were the main ingredients to his success. However, just like the workforce’s general motivations to work have shifted with a new generation on the horizon, the same can be said on the football field. In a 2017 interview, Mourinho highlights the difference between the mentality of young players now, compared to young players in the early 2000s. He brands the new generation as ‘brats who don’t deserve to be called men’ (Luke Brown, Independent, 2017). In the same interview, he also says there is now a lack of loyalty, something many execs in the corporate world believe about the current generation.

It's quite easy to find similarities with the new age ‘player’ and the new age ‘worker.’ According to Trinet, the gulf between Gen X (born between 1965 – 1980) and Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) is smaller than that of Millennials and Gen Z. Both Millennials and Gen Xers care about stability and can be left to their own devices. Although Gen Xers value having a work/life balance, they are seen as workaholics, doing anything to get results. Millennials do feel more of a responsibility towards socioeconomic factors than their predecessors, meaning they are more likely to leave jobs that don’t match up with their values or are not seen as meaningful to them.

Fast forward to the present, Gen Zers. They account for 32% of the global population. Generally, Generation Zers have grown up around technology, so if tech was a language, they would be fluent in it. However, this means they are less likely to be patient. Years ago, you would have to read an encyclopedia or many documents to find the answers to things, Gen Zers haven’t really had to do this – they just ask Google. So, although they have grown up with more accessibility to information, they are used to getting results quicker than other generations and are likely to lose interest in things that are mundane. Similarly to millennials, Gen Zers care about social issues, such as diversity. Gen Zers are keener to work in workplaces where Diversity and Inclusion is at the forefront.

Due to the generation change, the game shifted right under Mourinho’s feet. During his heyday, players would do anything to win – put their bodies on the line, gamesmanship and even play anti football. He alluded to the fact that players now don’t grow up as quickly, which has diluted his tactical game as it was based on maturity and discipline. In the present day, when he’s had a problem with a player, going to the media exacerbated the problem rather than solving it. His style of football got repetitive and boring, thus, being less sustainable as the younger generation tend to want to play a more attractive brand of football and have fun whilst doing it. Although he was still able to win trophies and get results, he wasn’t getting the required buy in from his stakeholders to push on as he started to lose the dressing room.

In the workplace, we see dated management styles that have conjured success in the past but now don’t have the same effect due to the subjects of that management style. Millennials and Gen Zers make up the majority of the workforce so as a manager, your style will need to adapt to their motivations.

In order to engage the new generation, and not get left behind as a manager, you need know how to tap into your teams. Find out their purpose. Chances are their purpose differs to yours, so you will need to adapt your ‘style of play.’ Will your team members ‘run into a brick’ wall for you? How are you enabling them to collaborate? How diverse is your team? Do you provide a tangible work life balance? What’s your culture like? These are the questions you need to answer if you don’t want to get left behind as a manager. The new generation aren’t worse than previous generations, they are just different, and you need to figure out what gets them going.