Remontada Spirit

The key for writing my previous article, was a question that I asked myself after noticing an outstanding success in meeting one of our company’s objectives by one of its dedicated teams. Therefore, I asked myself “why some people succeed in meeting their objectives while others fail on doing so?”. And the answer which came to my mind, was the “Burning Desire for Success” that some of us possess and others do not, that makes such difference. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/burning-desire-success-tarek-soliman/ .Herein, I can add another factor that I can name it as “The Remontada Spirit”.

Remontada in Spanish language means comeback (act of overcoming a substantial disadvantage). The word is often used when a team is behind on goals and needs to turn things around in order to win. They need a big comeback “REMONTADA”.

Though it is not common to use this work “REMONDATA” in business, but I do believe that the spirit behind it, is a key factor in achieving marvelous results. It is the real motive that makes the seemingly impossible, possible. The most famous two Remontadas in history was that of Barcelona Vs PSG in March 2017 and Liverpool Vs Barcelona in May 2019. Almost everyone on this planet did not expect that outstanding performance from the team that is supposedly or let us say clinically out of the tournament. Meanwhile, the team members and their manager totally believe the opposite. They believed in their capabilities, knew that the final say is not yet said and they managed by their well preparation and faith to turn the tide direction, and finally win. We all remember Barcelona slogan before the second leg “Yes we can”. I believe that there is a lot of life lessons and not only a lesson for sportsmen/women and athletes to learn from.

Let us start by the healthy and encouraging work environment that helps team members to excel. In football, the stadium is not just a playground where the match is played. The historic stadium is much more than just a field. It serves as the home ground for the club and holds the very essence of the soul of the team. Meanwhile, the exact same can be said in business. In some companies which have a “soul”, all team members’ performance, whose values coincides with this “soul” increase to reach an outstanding level. Exactly like what we see of an outstanding performance of a football when playing on his historic stadium rather than any other stadium.

One important factor is the team spirit. I could not find any other elaboration for this spirit rather than Van Dijk statement when he referenced the spirit within the club as a whole, and the relationship the players have with supporters as being key to that success, and he is totally right.

Another factor is making good us of all team resources. We all noticed that outstanding performance of Gini and Divock who were not on the main list of the team before. When the team needs them due to the unfortunate injury of Salah and Firmino, they stepped off the bench and were up to their leader, CLOPP, expectations to make a massive impact on the team performance and match result.

Another lesson is that depending on a team is much more useful than depending on a single star whatever the capabilities of this star are. Nobody can deny or underestimate Messi’s talent as one of the best football players all over history. We all noticed that Barcelona have been extremely dependent on Messi for success this season. Their coach clearly stated this several times in his interviews, and actually he is right as Barcelona has largely benefited from this dependence. Unfortunately, in their important match against Liverpool, Messi failed to do what he used to do, which is normal for any person on his earth, and Barcelona found themselves paying heavily for it.

Another important factor is that this match was their only gate to glory this season. We all noticed their long marathon in the premier league with Man City. They gained points that may have let them won several other champions league before. But unfortunately, they lost it this year by only one point after a long marathon. Therefore, I believe that this loss, was one of the main motivating factor for them to excel and for winning a well-deserved title at that season. The lesson learnt here is “Make any setback or defeat your step for your next victory”.

Finally, let me end by repeating what I do believe in, which is the importance of passion, persistence and hard work. I could not find something better than Lionel Messi’s quotes to explain this

“The best decisions aren’t made with your mind, but with your instinct.” – Lionel Messi

“You can overcome anything, if and only if you love something enough.”- Lionel Messi

“My ambition is always to get better and better.” - Lionel Messi

 “I think my desire to always get better, to always want more, to always be my top critic, and accepting the good and the bad.” – Lionel Messi