Why the Leader With the Longest Time Horizon Always Wins the Game

Winning everything in 10 years' time begins with envisioning 10 years from now, today.

What “winning” the game looks like depends on the leader’s vision and the outcomes they want to generate. If creating a special youth academy is the impetus, then you’ll craft an Organizational Vision that is idealistic, specific to your people, and focus your iterations toward that vision. This approach is playing and winning at the infinite game of development.

But if you are the director of a youth academy (or any coach), there are certain finite wins you aim to achieve along the way:

1. Separate from the competition.

2. Produce players for the next level.

3. Consistently win matches following your specific approach.

Because a Developer’s navigation is development, it doesn't mean they don’t like winning. Their vision’s components aim to improve players for the finite game (the match with a clear result), and push them to higher levels. These wins might be byproducts of a process, yet Developers appreciate these byproducts when they emerge.

For Developers, these are significant small wins. They offer social proof that their vision and artistry are exceptional, motivating future iterations.

To create the conditions for winning every week, the Developer must make decisions based on a much longer time horizon.

But how does a director, who guides an entire club, use a longer time horizon to guide today's actions?

Here are 5 ways any leader can employ a long time horizon to guide their actions, inevitably resulting in various wins down the line.

1. How they communicate their vision

They communicate their vision in a way that convinces people of the merits of a longer time horizon.

Winning today’s match doesn't hold a candle to its significance in preparing players for the future game. For example, when addressing the youngest age groups and their parents, they will champion the small wins, articulate the exact vision for the age category, and continue to reinforce it over a course of a season. In this way, the director helps the parents adopt a longer time horizon, which invariably will support their child’s development.

The leaders who communicate their vision well create a healthy parent culture that enables development to persist and future wins to accumulate.

2. How they use metrics

They use metrics that prepare players for the future game and focus their efforts on small improvements that can push those metrics to higher levels.

Another example would be how a leader deals with age brackets where there is a huge disparity in physical qualities because of puberty. A director at the U13 level might prioritize pass strings (the amount of consecutive passes in a possession) over shots on goal, for example, because pass strings are more indicative of a step towards the future game (and what they want their players to excel at in 5 years time) that is less impacted by physical superiorities where shots on goal would be much more multivariate.

The metrics you measure need to matter for the future game.

3. How they support their coaches

They provide guidance and emotional support to ensure every coach is at their best.

Our soccer culture can be difficult to contend with, especially as a young coach just getting their feet wet. A director will hire a young coach, not just for their knowledge, but their spirit. The coach’s game knowledge will grow over time as long as he is emotionally able to iterate, so it’s important that a director is helping their coaches stay on their trajectory while incrementally closing the gap on that better version–years down the line.

Having a longer time horizon allows directors to truly invest in their coaches without being prisoners of a moment.

4. How they support their players

They consistently support their players by always seeing the bigger picture (or time horizon).

Players only know what they know, and a lot of times, that can be detrimental information or pressure they take on from their parents or the culture at large. A director makes it clear as often as possible to the entire organization, specific teams, their coaching staff, parents, or specific players that development is a long-term process that requires trust and willingness to continue iterating week after week. They support their players simply by defining and educating people on development as often as they can, while finding ways to continually convince players of their boundless potential.

Development or playing a longer game is counter-cultural in many ways, so a director supports their players by making sure the longer time horizon is shared by everyone at the club, including the players.

5. How they deal with unruly parents/players

No player, parent or family is bigger than the long-term vision of the club.

Directors get this wrong all the time. They’ll let a special talent stay at the club because of their performance today, knowing full well that their behavior or that of the parents is taking the team (and club at large) off track. It’s the directors' artistry on how they deal with these issues, but when education turns to placation, we are no longer making decisions on behalf of a longer time horizon.

Remember, when you make decisions based on a different time horizon, many people won’t understand, but that’s the job of leadership–do what’s in the best interest of serving the Organizational Vision, so your people are able to pursue their potential.

Conclusion

Having a long time horizon is predicated on a few things:

1. Being the primary leader or having a primary leader that shares the same timeline and vision, which provides the true opportunity to have a long time horizon and see it through. In order to really make decisions on a long time horizon, there has to be at least some confidence in seeing that out.

2. Your artistry (decision-making, leadership, and overall vision) is exceptional and capable of producing results over enough time. The future game will reward the best leaders.

3. Humility and empathy continue to be the main driver of your work because if ego starts to take the wheel and become preoccupied with the shiny things in front of them, it’ll only be a matter of time until your vision starts to slowly dissipate.

In the end, the best leaders don’t just see today–they see how today affects tomorrow.

What’s your time horizon?

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