The Summer of Soccer Thinking

I'm not spending way too much time watching soccer this summer. I'm working on my management skills, looking for leadership insights, and sharing what I've learned. Really.

Lessons from Mexican and Jamaican players: Competitors are people before they are rivals.

Non-contact injuries can be the most devastating. Collisions hurt and leave ugly marks. But hamstrings, ACLs, Achilles, and other muscle and ligament injuries can end tournaments, seasons and careers. Half an hour into Mexico's opening game of the Copa America, facing Jamaica, Mexican captain Edson Alvarez went down clutching his hamstring.

What everyone did next matters. As Stuart James and Thom Harris wrote in The Athletic:

"Alvarez was consoled by Jamaica players as well as his own team-mates as he was helped off the pitch by two members of Mexico’s medical staff, pain and anguish etched across his face. It was notable that every player on the Mexico substitutes’ bench stepped forward to comfort him."

Alvarez had recently been named Mexico's captain. It's a team that needs a boost, and this is the last major test for teams in North and Central America before the 2026 World Cup.

Alvarez's injury is terrible for him, but good news for Jamaica (and Canada, the US, and every other team in the Copa America). It was also good news for his replacement who will now get a chance to play in big games in a big tournament. But everyone on the pitch - opponents and teammates alike - responded like people rather than rivals. Everyone saw how much physical and emotional pain Alvarez was in, and stepped up for him. Every player knows one tear or one twist can turn them from players into spectators.

The best staff, managers and organizations behave like the players did on the field last night. Yes, there are competitive advantages and money to be made and all of that when your rivals fail. But your rivals are people before they are opponents. Treat them that way.

Lessons from Chris Richards in patience and perseverance

One person who knows how Alvarez feels is America's Chris Richards. A rising star for Crystal Palace in the English Premier League, Richards was forced to watch the World Cup in Qatar on television because of a hamstring injury.

Matt Woosnam recently wrote about Richards for The Athletic (you should subscribe - it's great, and if people don't pay for quality journalism quality journalism will go away). As Woosman explains, Richards stuck it out at Palace. He trained, worked and waited. He got his chance when a teammate hurt his Achilles. Once in the side, he fought to stay there. He played different positions, learned from his teammates, and he worked relentlessly.

The perseverance and patience have paid off. He's a fixture at Palace, and tonight he starts at center back in the US opening game against Bolivia.

Setbacks happen. It's what we do about them that matters. The most successful staff, managers and organizations know that patience and persistence usually pay off.

In addition to this being a good way for me to think out loud and attempt to justify the absurd amount of time I'm spending watching soccer, it's a way to plug my 2018 book, Soccer Thinking for Management Success: Lessons for organizations from the worlds game. Some of the people I quote have moved on - Ben Olsen now coaches the Houston Dynamo and not DC United, Michael Williamson went from Inter Milan, to Miami FC, to Wrexham (seriously). But I think the lessons hold up.